▪ I. sowel Now dial.
Forms: 1 saᵹol, sahel, 3 saȝel; 2, 9 sowel, 4–5 soul(e, 9 sole, zooul.
[OE. sáᵹol, = MHG. (now Swiss dial.) seigel rung of a ladder. Cf. sail n.4]
† 1. A stout stick or staff; a pole, cudgel, etc. Obs.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. ii. vi. 88 Ealle þa consulas..Claudium þone ænne mid saᵹlum ofbeotan. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 47 Þa com iudas an of þam twelfum & micel folk mid hym mid swurdum & sahlum [Hatton Gosp. mid sahlen]. c 1150 Semi-Sax. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 549 Fustis, sowel. c 1205 Lay. 12280 And ælc bær an honde ænne saȝel [c 1275 staf] stronge. |
2. A stake sharpened at the end, esp. one used in the construction of a hedge or fence; in later use, a hurdle-stake (cf. quots.).
| c 900 Wærferth Gregory's Dial. 24 His oðer fot wearð fæst on anum saᵹle [v.rr. sahle, heᵹesahle] þæs ᵹeardes. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 3616 In ich half y-sett arawe, Scharpe soules doun of þe hulle y-drawe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cliv. (Bodl. MS.), Soules & stakes beþ iclensed ere þei be ipiȝt in þe grounde. 1844 Barnes Poems Rur. Life (1848) 387 Sowel, or Sole,..a shore or stake, such as is driven into ground to fasten up hurdles to. 1881 I. of Wight Words, Zooul, a stake to fasten sheep-hurdles. 1890 Glouc. Gloss., Sole, a stake driven into the ground to fasten up hurdles. |
▪ II. sowel
var. sowl n., food, etc.