▪ I. † ˈformel, formal, n. Obs.
Also 4–5 formaylle, 7 formale, fore-male.
[a. F. formel adj. (see formal), which occurs in faucon formel, and latinized as formelus in a letter of Magnus of Norway to Edw. I, as an epithet applied to hawks. As the female hawk was greatly superior for purposes of sport, the sense of formel in this application may be ‘regular’, ‘proper’ (see formal a.).
Cf. F. forme, ‘a term of Hawking, the female of a bird of prey that gives its name to the species’ (Littré).]
The female of the eagle or the hawk. Also attrib.
| c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 371 To chese or for to take, By hir acord, his formel or his make. Ibid. 373 Nature held on hir honde A formel egle. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 4003, I salle neuer..ffawkone ne formaylle appone fiste handille. a 1605 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xviii. 38 Quhilks vhen they sau they wroght in vane, The formels fair auay they fure. 1616 Surfl. Markh. Country Farme 712 Of Merlins there are both males and females..the female is called the formale. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. ii. (1677) 215 If you will fly with a Merlin at a Partridge, chuse the Formal, which is the Female. The Jack is not worth the training. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 239/1 Fore-Male, the term given to all Females of Hawks. |
▪ II. forˈmel, v. dial.
[a. ON. formǽla to appoint, f. for-, for- prefix2, fore-1 + mǽla to speak.
The pa. tense and pa. pple. formelt in Cursor Mundi may belong to *formeld, f. for- prefix2 + meld.]
trans. † a. To mention beforehand; also intr. to speak beforehand of. b. dial. To bespeak.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10181 Þe toþer part, als was for-melt, It was bi-tuix þe prestes delt. Ibid. 10387 (Gött.) Þe hundrid schepe þat i for-melt To all þe comune war þai delt. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 18 To Format [sic: read Formal] or Formel: to bespeak anything. 1869 in Lonsdale Gloss. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss. s.v., ‘He formelt a par o' shun wi' stee cokers and girt heedit nails at t' boddam’. |