▪ I. tass1 Now only dial.
(tɑːs, -æ-)
Also 4 tas, 4–5 tasse, 5 (7) taas.
[a. OF. tas masc. (Wace, 12th c.), also tasse fem. (13th c. in Godef.), = Pr. tatz; generally held to be of Low German origin: cf. Du. tas, MDu. also tass heap (not known elsewhere in Teut.): see Franck.]
A heap, pile, stack.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6719 Thei lay of paiens mani tasse, Wide and side more and lasse. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 147 To ransake in the taas of the bodyes dede. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 2397 Worþi knyȝtes..In þe feld on ouþer part y-lorn, Which in þe taas ful besely þei souȝt. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 487/1 Tasse, of corne, or oþer lyke, tassis. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 42 Bestowe your Corne in severall tasses and moowes. 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Taas, an heape. 1735–6 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Tass⁓cutter, that utensil or implement with which they cut hay in the stack. Ibid., An hay-tass is an hay-mow. 1887 Kentish Gloss., Tas, or tarse, a mow of corn. |
▪ II. tass2 Now chiefly Sc.
(tæs)
Forms: 5–9 tasse, 6 tais, tas, 6– tass.
[a. OF. tasse goblet (1380 in Godef.), in mod.F. cup = Pr., Cat., med.L. tassa (1337 in Du Cange), Sp. taza, Pg. ta{cced}a, It. tazza, app. a. Arab. ṭass, ṭassah basin, usually held to be ad. Pers. tast cup, goblet.]
A cup or small goblet, esp. one of silver or the like; the contents of this; a small draught of liquor.
| c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 21 Pawteners, tasses [Fr. Aloyeres, tasses], Coffyns and penners. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. ix. 25 The cowpis greit and drynkyn tassis fyne. 1549 Compl. Scot. xvii. 145 To drynk vattir..in ane glas, or in ane tasse of siluyr. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis Pref. 136 We toome a tass of wyne. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. li, Great antick vessels, huge pots,..big tasses. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iii. ii, Elspa, haste ye,..And fill him up a tass o' usquebæ. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xviii, A tass of brandy or aquavitæ, or sic-like creature comfort. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Tass, a dish or a dram; as a tass of tea, or a tass of brandy. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. liv, A little tass of Cherry-brandy! 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy 321 Scottish stone-ale, ‘virulent as a tass of raw brandy’. |
▪ III. tass
obs. form of tache v.1, to stain.