▪ I. lazar, n. and a. arch.
(ˈleɪzə(r))
Forms: 4–7 lazare, lazer, laser, (4 lacer, lazre, 5 lasyar), 6 lasar, (laiser, laizer), 4– lazar.
[a. med.L. lazarus, an application of the proper name Lazarus, Luke xvi. 20. Cf. F. ladre, It. lazzaro.]
A. n.
1. A poor and diseased person, usually one afflicted with a loathsome disease; esp. a leper.
| 1340 Ayenb. 189 Ine þe uorbisne of þe riche manne, þet onworþede þane lazre. c 1350 St. John 254 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 37 Þe Lacer, þat died in disese. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1093 Lazares ful monye, Summe lepre, summe lome, & lomerande blynde. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. st. 274 Blynd lazerus and croked in chirche to lede. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 37 There atte laste were guarysshed & heled..viij lazars of the palesey. 1572 Nottingham Rec. IV. 142 A lasar of the Spyttyll' House. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1082/2 They prouided for the lazer to keepe him out of the citie from clapping of dishes, and ringing of bels. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 522 Lazers..so they used to tearme folke infected with the Elephantiasie or Leprosie. a 1743 Savage Epitaph on Mrs. Jones 15 Did piteous lazars oft attend her door? She gave—farewell the parent of the poor. ? 1795 Coleridge Sonn., ‘Sweet Mercy’, The Galilean mild, Who met the Lazar turned from rich man's doors, And called him friend, and wept upon his sores. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. iv, I marked a group of lazars in the market-place—half-rag, half-sore—beggars. |
† 2. (See
quot. 1710.)
Obs.| 1573 Tusser Husb. xlix. (1878) 108 If Lazer so lothsome in cheese be espied, let baies amend Cisley, or shift hir aside. 1710 D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. (1744) 52 What he [Tusser] calls Lazer, which is an inner Corruption, or Rottenness of divers Colours, is chiefly occasion'd from their using Beastings, or Milk soon after Calving. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
lazar-like,
† lazar-man,
lazar-sore;
† lazar's clicket,
clapper,
snapper = lazarus clapper;
lazar-haunter, one who frequents places where lazars are. Also
lazar-cote,
lazar-house.
| 1611 Cotgr., Claquette, a *Lazers Clicket, or Clapper. |
| 1835 Browning Paracelsus iii. 760 You are not a *lazar-haunter; How should you know? |
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 72 And a most instant Tetter bak'd about, Most *Lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, All my smooth Body. |
| 1552 Latimer Serm. 3rd Sund. Epiph. (1584) 309 Note here also the behauiour of this *Lazer man. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxix. 463 He saw him there lapping vp his sores among the Lazermen. |
| 1658 tr. Bergerac's Satyr. Char. xxvi. 98 *Lazeres snappers [orig. cliquettes de ladres]. |
| 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 123 Exposing our *lazar sores at the door of every proud servitor of the French republick. |
B. adj. Affected with a loathsome disease,
esp. leprosy; leprous. Also
fig.| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 108 b/1 For the cruelte of Constantyn god sente hym suche a sekenes that he becam lazare and mesell. 1530 in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 157 To the lazar people beyng at St. Margarets near the towne of T[aunton] xij{supd}. 1546 Supplic. Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.) 62 Blind, lame, lazar, and other the impotent creatures. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 80 Fetch forth the Lazar Kite of Cressid's Kind, Doll Teare-sheete. 1792 D. Lloyd Voy. Life 148 Studious to heal a Lazar world. |
Hence
† ˈlazarly a., lazar-like, diseased.
| 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. iv. xi, And like another Ierusalem, for those five leprous and lazarly orders, hath built five porches. |
▪ II. lazar obs. Sc. form of
leisure n.