gramarye Obs. exc. arch.
(ˈgræmərɪ)
Also 4 grammarie, 5 gramery, -ory, 9 gramarie, -ary, grammary(e, gramowrie.
[a. OF. *gramarye: see grammar.]
† 1. Grammar; learning in general. Obs.
| c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 183 Therinne was paint..eke alle the seven ars The first so was grammarie. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 242 Yee speke all by clerge..Cowth ye by youre gramery reche vs a drynk, I shuld be more mery. Ibid. xxx. 253, I se thou can of gramory and som what of arte. 1483 Cath. Angl. 162/2 Gramery, gramatice. |
2. Occult learning, magic, necromancy. Revived in literary use by Scott.
For the connexion between senses 1 and 2 see quot. 1870 (cf. glamour, and F. grimoire).
| c 1470 K. Estmere 144 in Percy Reliq., My mother was a westerne woman, And learned in gramarye. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iii. xi, Whate'er he did of gramarye Was always done maliciously. 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow B. xxx. (1860) 298 It was like casting a spell of ‘gramarie’ over his opponents. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 96 All learning fell under suspicion, till at length the very grammar itself..gave to English the word gramary. 1883 Century Mag. XXVII. 203 All white from head to foot, as if bleached by some strange gramarye. |