▪ I. pize, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(paɪz)
Also 7 pise, 7–8 pies, 9 (dial.) pars.
[Of uncertain origin.
Suggested to have been an arbitrary substitute for pest or pox, the latter used in the same way from c 1600; but the form is unexplained. The E. Yorksh. pars, pahs, is the regular phonetic repr. of (paɪz); cf. knahve, shahve, etc.]
A word used in various imprecatory expressions, as pize on, pize upon, pize of; pize take, pize light upon; out a pize, what a pize: cf. pest, pox, mischief, in similar use.
| 1605 1st Part Ieronimo iii. ii. 22 Rog. Pox ont. Bal. Pies ont. a 1627 Middleton Five Gallants iv. ii, Pize on't, I pawned a good beaver hat last night. a 1643 W. Cartwright Ordinary ii. iv, Pies take him, does he play for cloaks still? 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. i, Out, a pise o' their breeches. Ibid. iii. i, Out a pise. Adod, I ha' business and cannot. 1688 Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia i. iv, Ah, sweet rogues! while in the countrey, a pies take them. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 63/2 A pize upon them! I could get no eatables upon the road. 1754 Foole Knights ii. Wks. 1799 I. 82 A pize of your pots and your royal oaks! 1754 Richardson Grandison (1810) VI. xliii. 284 What a pize are you about? 1826 Scott Jrnl. 2 Nov., Another gloomy day—a pize upon it. 1833 Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 893 A mere mistake of Allsop's,..a-pize upon him! [In dialect use from Yorksh. to Kent, Shropsh. to Sussex.] |
▪ II. pize, v. dial.
(paɪz)
[Origin uncertain: perh. ad. MDu. pisen (see quot. 19683).]
a. trans. To strike; spec. to hit (a ball) with the hand in the game of pize-ball (see next). Also const. down. b. intr. and trans. To throw (a ball) in the game of pize-ball; to act as bowler in pize-ball. c. trans. To throw to (the batter) in pize-ball.
| 1796 S. Pegge Derbicisms (1896) 54 To pize a ball, to strike it with the hand; so the game is call'd pize-ball. To pize down a hare, i.e. with a gun; meaning to strike her down. 1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds 385 Pize, to throw a ball gently for another to bat with the open hand, as at the game of ‘Pize-ball’. Ibid., The game of ‘Pize⁓ball’, in which the ‘pizer’ ‘pizes’ the ball to a member in succession. 1968 A. S. C. Ross in Proc. Leeds Philos. & Lit. Soc. (Lit. & Hist. Section) XIII. ii. 59 If, however,..the Pizer delayed too long,..the players would chant: ‘Pize your neighbour while you're able, While the donkey's in the stable!’ Ibid., The player who had got round most times..might be the winner (and pized next game). Ibid. 63 Pize is a word entirely without an etymology. I suggest that it is a borrowing of MDutch pisen..name of a game about which further particulars are lacking. Ibid. 69 Applied to the ball, pize means both ‘to throw’ and ‘to strike’. |
Hence pize n.2, a throw in pize-ball; ˈpizer, a bowler in pize-ball; ˈpizing vbl. n.
| 1862 Pizer [see above]. 1869 ‘T. Treddlehoyle’ Bairnsla Foaks Ann. 55 Throo thrawin a stones, tipsey lakein, an pizein a balls it publick street, good Bairnsla deliver uz. 1896 Leeds Mercury Weekly Suppl. 7 Mar. 3/8 Let me hev a pize, an' ah'll mak' him send a cop. 1968 Proc. Leeds Philos. & Lit. Soc. (Lit. & Hist. Section) XIII. ii. 56 The thrower, or Pizer, stands some distance in front of the homey and throws the ball to the striker. |