lissen dial.
(ˈlɪs(ə)n)
Also 7 lisne, 7–9 lissom.
[Of obscure origin: cf. list n.3, which has some affinity in meaning (cf. sense 4 of that word).]
1. A cleft or seam dividing the strata of a rock.
| c 1640 J. Smyth Hundred of Berkeley (1885) III. 175 A strange stone..wherein is noe chinke, cracke, chopp, or Lisne at all. a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vii. 192 In the Lisne of a Rock at Kingscote in Glocestershire, I found at least a Bushel of Petrified Cockles. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 58 We have another fine Earth..found frequently in the lissoms or seams of the Rocks. 1847 Halliwell, Lissen, a cleft in a rock. Glouc. 1890 Gloucester Gloss., Lissen, a cleft in a rock; the parting of stone in a quarry. |
2. A layer or stratum; † a support for a beehive.
| 1790 Trans. Soc. Arts VIII. 126 (Let. fr. Faringdon, Berks.) Two [hives]..that I was obliged to raise on lissoms nine inches high. 1879 in G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., ‘In burnin' lime we putten first a lissom o' coal, an' then a lissom o' lime-stwun’. |
3. A strand of rope; ‘one of the rows of straw plait in a bonnet’ (Devon 1837 in E.D.D.).
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Lissens, the ultimate strands of a rope. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Lissom, the strand of a rope; each lissom may be composed of several yarns. |