vellum
(ˈvɛləm)
Forms: α. 5 velym, 5–6 velyme, 5, 7 velim, 6 velime, velem, 7 vellem. β. 5, 7 velum, 5–7 velume (7 velumne), 7– vellum. γ. 7 velom, 7–8 vellom. δ. 7 velame, 7–8 velam, vellam.
[ad. OF. velin (vellin, veelin, etc.; mod.F. vélin), f. vel veal n., with change of n to m as in pilgrim, venom.]
1. A fine kind of parchment prepared from the skins of calves (lambs or kids) and used especially for writing, painting, or binding; also, any superior quality of parchment or an imitation of this.
vegetable vellum: see vegetable a. 7.
| α c 1440 Promp. Parv. 508/2 Velyme, membrana. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xv. 81 That Holi Writt mai be take for the outward lettris writun and schapun vnder dyuerse figuris in parchemyn or in velim. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 80 b, That stouffe that we wrytte vpon, and is made of beestis skynnes, is somtyme called parchement, somtyme velem. 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 127 The Painters vse general groundes..; saue vpon paper, parchment or velime. 1644 Direct. Publ. Worship Ord. 3 A fair register book of velim. |
| fig. 1611 J. Davies (Heref.) To Worthy Persons Wks. (Grosart) II. 62/1 Vpon th' unspotted vellem of thy face Nature hath printed characters of grace. |
| β 1474 Caxton Cheese iii. iii. (1883) 93 The Notayres, skynners, coryours, and cardewaners werke by skynnes and hydes, As parchemyn, velume, peltrye and cordewan. 1499 Croscombe Church-w. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 24 A mass boke of velum lymmyde. a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. xi, A childe..With gilded leaues or colourd velume playes. 1616 Drummond of Hawthornden Flowers of Sion, Bk. World, But sillie wee (like foolish Children) rest Well pleas'd with colour'd Velumne. 1699 Bentley Phal. xvi. 506 And without doubt it was immortal Vellum, and stoln from the Parchmentes of Jove. 1700 Congreve Way of World v. iii, I have an old fox by my thigh that shall hack your instrument of ram vellum to shreds, sir! 1710 J. Clarke tr. Rohault's Nat. Philos. (1729) I. 243 The Retina [of an artificial eye] was made of a very white thin Piece of Vellum. a 1781 R. Watson Philip III, iii. (1839) 159 The deed..was written on paper, and not on vellum, as was usual in all transactions of importance. 1819 Keats Fall Hyperion i. 5 Pity these have not Trac'd upon vellum or wild Indian leaf The shadows of melodious utterance. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. iii, The Paradise of Dante in the proper old Italian binding of white vellum and gold. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Gk. Test. 16 The durable fine vellum of our oldest extant codices. |
| fig. 1784 Cowper Task i. 569 The sportive wind blows wide Their flutt'ring rags, and shows a tawny skin, The vellum of the pedigree they claim. |
| γ 1601 Hakewill Van. Eye xxii. (1615) 110 [To] beholde the heavens, and in them (as in large characters drawn in faire velom) the glory of their maker. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing i, One of the first Books Printed on Paper; (that of Tully being on Vellom). 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Parchment, What we call Vellom is only Parchment made of the Skins of abortive Calves, or at least of sucking Calves. |
| δ 1600 Fairfax Tasso xiv. lxxvi, The house is builded like a maze within,..The shape whereof plotted in velam thin I will you giue. 1617 Barbier Jan. Ling. 114 He cancelled a line in the margent of the velame. 1632 Quarles Div. Fancies ii. xiii, Hee..Whose milk-white Vellam did incurre No least suspition of a Blurre. 1706 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 258 A MS. in velam. 1715 Ibid. V. 130 King Henry the VIIIth's Primer upon Vellam. |
| fig. 1631 Massinger Emperor East iv. iv, Can you think This master peece of heauen, this pretious vellam, Of such a puritie and virgin whitenesse, Could be design'd to haue periurie, and whoredome,..writ vpon 't? |
2. A piece or sheet of this material; a manuscript or testimonial written on vellum.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 204 A froward velym upon to wryt. 1687 Death's Vision (1713) 2 note, Like a Velum upon the Head of a Drum. 1878 G. Vigfusson Sturlunga Saga I. p. clx, A quarto of 200 leaves when entire (about the largest size ever reached by an Icelandic vellum). 1900 Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 6/3 He and his brother..received the vellum of the Royal Humane Society for their plucky conduct. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. Attrib. in the senses ‘made of, resembling, of the nature of, bound in, vellum’.
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. iv. 507 With shere and velume wings. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. a j, All these, liuely designementes..be in velame parchement described. 1586 Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 94/1 He ought rather to make sute for some good vellam parchment for the ingrossing thereof. 1636 Davenant Platonick Lovers iv. i, Not all thy Leathern, nor thy Vellum friends, those dead companions on thy Shelves shall be more faithful [etc.]. 1651 Cleveland Poems 46 Who place Religion in their Velam-ears; As in their Phylacters the Jews did theirs. 1707 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 330 A very Ancient Vellam MS{supt}. 1740 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 216 Mr Longman has already furnished me with a vellum-book of white paper. 1820 Lamb Elia i. South-Sea House, The costly vellum covers of some of them [sc. books]. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. v. 88 A large vellum envelope. |
b. Comb. With
pa. pples., as
vellum-bound,
vellum-covered.
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. iv, With vellum-covered books under their arms. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 605 A square vellum-bound book, with massive silver clasps. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 11 Her writing-table, with vellum⁓covered account-books on it. |
c. Special
Combs.:
vellum-binder (see
quot. 1858);
vellum-binding, the process or trade of binding account-books; also
attrib.;
vellum cloth, tracing-cloth;
† vellum mode (see
mode n. 11,
quot. 1795);
vellum paper, a paper made to imitate vellum; hence
vellum-papered adj.;
vellum post (see
quot.);
vellum thunder poet., the noise made by the parchment of a drum.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Vellum-binder, a book⁓binder who covers books with vellum, and makes account⁓books. 1891 Pall Mall G. 20 Nov. 3/1 Three of them are concerned with the bookbinders—that is, the binders of printed books—and the fourth with the vellum-binders, the technical name for account-book binders. |
| 1835 J. Hannett Bibliopegia iii. (Heading) 139 Of Stationery, or *Vellum Binding. 1891 Pall Mall G. 20 Nov. 3/1 As soon as it was known that the bookbinders were going to concede the eight hours, several of the best vellum-binding firms conceded it also. |
| 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 151 *Vellum laid paper, a laid writing paper with a vellum surface. Ibid., Vellum wove paper, a wove writing paper with a vellum surface. |
| 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883) 73 Look at..the..*vellum-papered 32 mo. |
| 1847 Webster, *Vellum⁓post, a peculiar sort of superior writing-paper. |
| 1716 Gay Trivia ii. 18 Here Rows of Drummers stand in martial File, And with their *Vellom-Thunder shake the Pile. |
Hence
ˈvellumy a., relating to or resembling vellum.
| 1846 Worcester, citing Ec. Rev. 1925 H. A. Maddox What Stationer & Printer ought to know about Paper (ed. 3) i. 14 There are smooth vellums which derive their title from..a vellumy thickness and clarity of appearance. |