▪ I. wainscot, n.
(ˈweɪnskɒt, -skət)
Forms: α. 4–5 waynescot, (4 -scote), 4–7 waynscot, 5–6 wayn(e)scotte, wayneskote, weynscot, (5 -scotte, 6 -skot), 5–7 waynscote, -scott, (5 wenscote, wansqwatte, waneskott, waynskote, waynscowttez (pl.), Sc. wanskoth), 6 wayn(e)skott, wenskot(te, weinscot, wainescot, (weanscott, wainscoate, wanskot(t, wenskett, Sc. wynscott), 6–7 wa(i)nscote, wainskot, wanescot, (6 -skot, 7 -scott), 6–8 wainscott, wanscot, (7 vain-, Sc. vandscott, weanscot, waynskot, wayn-scote, waincot), 7–9 wainscoat, (8 wanscoate), 6– wainscot. β. 4 north. vayneschote, wandschoth, 5 weynshet, 6 wa(y)ne-, weyneschot.
[ad. MLG. wagenschot (1389 in Schiller and Lübben), app. f. wagen carriage, wagon + schot (of uncertain meaning; cf. bokenschot, mod.LG. bökenschot, beechwood of superior quality). Cf. 16th c. Flemish waegheschot, waeghenschot (Kilian), WFlemish wageschot (De Bo), Du. wagenschot, WFris. wagenskot. The synonymous Flem. or Du. wandschot (Kilian), which may be the source of some of the Eng. forms, is either an etymologizing perversion of wagenschot or an independent formation on wand wall of a room. The Eng. examples of the word are earlier than those given in the MLG. and MDu. dicts., and the first element appears already in the earliest instances assimilated to the Eng. wain n.1
The etymology as above stated does not clearly account for the meaning, and there have been attempts to explain the first element differently. Kilian (1598) identifies it with Flem. waeghe wave, taking it to refer to the undulation in the grain of the wood. Some modern scholars regard it as an alteration of MDu. weeg wall (= OFris. wâch, OE. wáh, wough). These suggestions are however open to strong objection, and the probability is that the first element is really wagen, though the original meaning of the compound remains for the present obscure.]
1. a. A superior quality of foreign oak imported from Russia, Germany, and Holland, chiefly used for fine panel-work; logs or planks of this oak; oak boarding for panel-work. Now only technical.
| 1352–3 Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907) II. 153 Item solut. pro cc et dimid. de Waynscot empt. ad Lenne prec. de cent. xvs. xd. 1{supl}. 19s. 7{supd}. 1391–2 Norwich Sacrist's Roll (MS.), Pro tabulis de Waynscot. 1404 in Royal & Hist. Lett. Hen. IV (Rolls) I. 262 Nova navis cum tritico, braseo, farina..et lignis voaghenschot [? read waghen-] onustata. [1407 in Hakluyt Voy. (1599) I. 173 The said marchants [of the Hans of Almaine] doe alleage, that the customers & bailifs of the town of Southhampton do compel them to pay..for ech hundreth of bowstaues & boords called Waghenscot, 2. d.] a 1419 Liber Albus (Rolls) 238 De chescun c du bord appelle ‘weynscotte’ obole. 1426–7 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 66 Also for wayneskote, vj d. 1483 Churchw. Acc. S. Mary Virg., Oxford in MS. Wood D. 3 fol. 260 De 4 s solut pro 4 asseribus vocat: weynshet. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 270 Chayres of waynscotte. 1496 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 290 Item, for xxiij burdis callit wanskoth, xvj s. viij d. 1522 Bury Wills (Camden) 117 A brode cheste of wayneskott. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 60 The Dutchemen bryng ouer Iron, Tymber, lether and Weynskot ready wrought. 1550 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 104/2 Exceptis..300 asseribus querneis lie waneschot nuncupatis. 1583 Rates of Customs D vij b, Playing tables Flaunders making of wainscot the dosen xvs. 1589 [? Nashe] Almond for Parrat 1 A brother in Christ of his..kept his wainscot from waste, and his linnen from wearing; sufficeth he tombled his wife naked into the earth at high noone. 1611 Coryat Crudities 231 In the midst of the Synagogue they haue a round seat made of Wainscot. 1652 Urquhart Jewel 252 Seeing a wedge of Wainscot is fittest and most proper for cleaving of an oaken tree. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 108 An unlearned rout of contemptible people..who perhaps shall understand very little more than a hollow pipe made of tin or wainscot. 1732 M. Green Grotto 161 As spiders Irish wainscot flee. 1842 Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §1686 The wood [of Quercus robur] is tolerably straight-grained and pretty free from knots, in many instances resembling the German species called wainscot. Ibid. 1689 There is a species of oak..imported from Holland, known under the name of Dutch wainscot, though grown in Germany, whence it is floated down the Rhine for exportation. |
† b. A piece or a board of wainscot oak.
Obs.| 1388 in Nicolas Hist. Royal Navy (1847) II. 476 Parcels in the store-house..‘xxiii. barrell de tarre,..cc. waynscots’. 1396 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 123 Et in iij vayneschotes emp. pro j selour et j reredos..18 d. 1486–7 Priory of Finchale (Surtees) p. ccclxxvi, Pro xvj waynscowttez ad vjd., viij s. 1532 Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, V. 448 To John de Garnathoo of the Company of the Easterlings, for 100 wainscots, 66s. 8d. 1603 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 515/2 Ilk geist, corball and waynescott..ane penny. 1641 S. Smith Royal Fishings 4 Waynskots, Clapboards, Deale. |
† c. Furniture made of wainscot.
Obs.| 1589 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) 144, I will my wainscott, as well chamberes and parleres, all wainscot beddes covered with wainescott. 1597 Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 227, I give to my sonne..all the waynescott glasse painted clothes borders above the waynscott tables. |
2. Panel-work of oak or other wood, used to line the walls of an apartment.
| 1548 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's, Bp.'s Stortford (1882) 131 Item the weyneschot of the rode loft that was taken downe. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 194 Chambers boarded after the maner of owre waynscotte. 1584 Leycesters Commw. (1641) 154 The greedy Burglarer is lesse patient of stay..when he..perceiveth only some partition of wane-skot or the like, betwixt his fingers and the cofers or money bags. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. i. 88 This fellow wil but ioyne you together, as they ioyne Wainscot, then one of you wil proue a shrunke pannell. 1611 Coryat Crudities 244 In the Quire the whole history of S{supt}. Bennet is very curiously made in Wainscot. a 1667 Cowley Ess., Greatness (1906) 432 A convenient brick house, with decent Wainscot, and pretty Forest-work hangings. a 1701 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 77 It was carv'd in such a manner, as to resemble a piece of wainscot. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 235 ¶2 A certain Person..who when he is pleased with any Thing that is acted upon the Stage, expresses his Approbation by a loud Knock upon the Benches or the Wainscot. 1715 ― Drummer i. i, Like a rat behind a wainscot. 1730 W. Warren Collectanea in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 225 The Stair-case new lin'd with Deal wainscot painted. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) I. 290 When we look upon the wainscot of a room where the panels are painted of a different colour from the stiles and mouldings. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 116, I twirl my thumbs, fall back into my chair, Fix on the wainscot a distressful stare. 1815 Scott Guy M. xlii, The great oak-parlour, a long room, panelled with well-varnished wainscot. 1830 Tennyson Mariana vi, The mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 613 The Jacobite country gentlemen..burned their commissions signed by James, and hid their arms behind wainscots or in haystacks. 1875 M. E. Braddon Strange World II. i. 3 The wainscot was almost black with age. |
† 3. transf. and
fig. (
Cf. 5 b.)
Obs.| 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 31 His face is made of seasoned wainscot, and wil lie as fast as a dog can trot. 1607 Middleton Fam. Love iii. iii, Cedars to make good wainscot in the House of Sincerity. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. King & No King v. i, This Rascal fears neither God nor man, he has been so beaten: sufferance has made him Wainscot. 1630 D. Dyke Myst. Selfe-Deceiuing 374 Howsoeuer sometimes this kind of men haue faces of wainscote. a 1659 Osborn Charac. &c. (1673) 640 How a few years hath changed Alabaster into Wainscot, and ruffled her Neck like a walking Buskin. |
4. A book-name for several moths. (See 5 c.)
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 399. Ibid. 419. 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 87. |
5. attrib. passing into adj. a. Made of wainscot. Of a room, lined with wainscot panelling.
| 1575 in Archæologia XXX. 8 Item..ij waynscot chaires viij⊇. Ibid. 14 Item a waynscott cheste, vs. 1580 Ibid. LXIV. 357 To mak..tow dores on for the portall and on other for the lytle wayneschot chambre. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 229/2 Mensa vndulata vndatim crispa,..a wainscot table. 1593 Drayton Ecl. iv. 91 The loftie Pines were presently hew'd downe, And Men, Sea-Monsters, swam the bracky Flood, In Wainscote Tubs to seeke out Worlds vnknowne. 1594 Nashe Terrors Nt. Wks. (Grosart) III. 265 Through him my tender wainscot doore is deliuered from much assault and battrie. 1649 Davenant Love & Hon. iii. iii. 124 Look for one of my cheek teeth That dropt under the wanscote bed. 1702 Post Man 6–8 Jan. 2/1 Advt., At Stanmore..is a fair House to be let, 4 Wainscot rooms on a floor, with a Kitchin, [etc.]. 1711 in G. Lorimer Leaves fr. Bk. West Kirke vii. (1885) 64 Item,..a green pulpit cloath with silk fringes, six wanscot stools for the Collections. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. 205 They all remained in the next parlour, a wainscot partition only parting the two. 1796 J. Owen Trav. Europe 1791–2 I. 85 Those sculptural vagaries, in which a human figure is often made..the support of a wainscot pulpit. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. i. 6, I am in the wainscoat parlour to-day. 1848 Dickens Dombey liii, My room..was divided from the Manager's room by a wainscot partition. 1851 W. Laxton Builder's Price Bk. (ed. 28) 58 Wainscot floors. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 5719, A wainscot sideboard. 1913 Blackw. Mag. July 14/2 The room..had..a wainscot table, rosewood chairs [etc.]. |
† b. Resembling wainscot, hardened or coloured like old wainscot.
Obs.| 1577 Grange Golden Aphrod. K ij b, Your waynscot face and brasen countenaunce. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. (1595) 91 b, Audacious and wainscot impudencie on the other side returneth the greatest impediment in anie thing to bee obtained. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 117 But it is not the wainscott forhead of a Rudhuddibras, that can arreare such an huge opinion. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 47 If you marke it, mustard looks of the tanned wainscot hue, of such a withered wrinklefaced beldam as she was, that was altred thereinto. 1626 Middleton Quiet Life iv. ii, How does thy Mistriss that sits in a Wainscot Gown, like a Citizens Lure to draw the Customers? 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 469 They are Wainscot Faces compair'd with white men. a 1745 Swift Dick, a Maggot 11 'Tis beyond the pow'r of meal The gypsey visage to conceal; For, as he shakes his wainscot chops, Down ev'ry mealy atom drops. |
c. In book-names of certain moths: see 4.
| 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 187. |
6. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple
attrib., as
wainscot board,
wainscot colour,
wainscot log,
wainscot oak,
wainscot rafter,
wainscot timber,
wainscot work;
wainscot chair, a panel-back chair (see
panel n.1 21).
b. parasynthetic, as
† wainscot-faced adj.;
c. similative, as
wainscot joined adj.| 1420 in For. Acc. 3 Hen. VI, G/2 In diuersis peciis maeremii *Waynescotbordes. 1594 Blundevil Exerc., Navig. xxiv. (1597) 331 Another square boxe of thinne wainscot boorde. |
| 1663 in Farm & Cottage Inventories of Mid-Essex 1633–1749 (Essex Record Office) (1950) 95 One *Wainsscott Chair. 1891 I. W. Lyon Colonial Furnit. New Eng. v. 145 The wainscot chairs which figure in the early records were doubtless those made up—back, seats, and all—of wood, the wood being most invariably oak. Ibid. 146 Wainscot chairs were quite common in England and Scotland in the seventeenth century. 1925 [see panel-back adj. s.v. panel n.1 21]. 1978 P. Van Greenaway Man called Scavener i. 11 A long passage lined with Pembrokes, a Wainscot chair, a rare Caquetoire. |
| 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 525 Most Rooms are now Painted *Wainscot Colour. |
| 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 30 Our impudent, shamelesse, and *wainscote faced bishops. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. 22 But now mee thinkes I spie againe a Sunn burnt wainscot-fac'd Satyr. |
| 1554 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Mary (1914) 164, viij targettes of tree shelboard of *waynscot ioyned fair worke for the said maskers. |
| 1812 J. Smyth Pract. Customs 249 *Wainscot logs, 8 inches square or upwards, are charged by the load of 50 cubic feet. |
| 1832 Planting 130 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, That which is brought down the Rhine from the forests of southern Germany, and imported into this country by the name of *wainscoat oak. |
| c 1560 Aberd. Reg. (MS.) XXVI. (Jam.) *Wynscott rauchter. |
| 1875 T. Laslett Timber xvi. 96 Riga *wainscot timber passes through the process of bracking prior to its being shipped. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 198/2 *Wainscot or seeling worke. 1609 Acc. Balliol Coll., Oxford (MS.), Item, for 2 seates, and wainscott worke, in the librarie, 5 li. |
▪ II. wainscot, v. (
ˈweɪnskɒt,
-skət)
Inflected
wainscot(t)ed,
-ing. Forms: see the
n. [f. prec. Cf. Flemish † waeghenschotten (Kilian).] 1. trans. To line (a wall, roof, etc.) with panel-work of wood.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 177 To Waynscotte, contabulare. 1599 Rutland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1905) IV. 415 For waynscotting the roofes of his chamber, xxs. a 1650 Boate Ireland's Nat. Hist. (1860) 121 To mend this inconvenience the English did wainscot those walls with oak or other boards. 1676 Glanvill Ess. Philos. & Relig. vii. 3 He led me into an handsome square Chamber wainscotted with Cedar. 1678 Moxon Mech. Exerc. vi. 105 Of Wainscoting Rooms. Ibid. 106 In Wainscoting of Rooms there is, for the most part, but two heights of Pannels used; unless the Room to be Wainscoted be above ten foot high. 1730 W. Warren Collect. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 232 The Treasury..is wainscotted with Deal. 1821 Scott Kenilw. vi, This apartment..was now beautifully wainscoted with dark foreign wood. 1839 Longfellow Hyperion iii. iii. Pr. Wks. 1886 II. 162 It was a large room..wainscoted with pine. 1883 G. Moore Mod. Lover xiv, [The room] was wainscotted in light oak. |
| in fig. context. a 1704 T. Brown Quakers Grace Wks. 1730 I. 107 That we..may live to be saw'd out into deal-boards, to wainscoat thy New Jerusalem. |
b. To grain in imitation of oak.
| 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, Parish iii, The house..was fresh painted and papered from top to bottom; the paint inside was all wainscoted. |
2. transf. To line (the walls of an apartment) with marble, tiles, or the like; to panel (a wall) with mirrors or pictures.
| 1613–39 I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 50 To wainscot their Buildings with rich Stones. 1620 Donne Serm. 2 Apr. (1661) III. 138 The Scriptures are as a room wainscotted with looking-glass, we see all at once. a 1668 R. Lassels Italy (1698) I. 93 Witness those chambers..wainscoted with great Looking-glasses and rich gilding. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., The winter apartment was wainscoted with inlaid work of mother of pearl. 1745 Pococke Descr. East II. ii. i. 5 The east side of it within is wainscotted with jasper and beautiful marbles. 1775 Johnson in Boswell 14 Oct., The ladies' closet wainscotted with large squares of glass over painted paper. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xviii. viii. (1826) 154 But enough..of Portraits; though, in truth, the walls are wainscotted with them. |
Hence
ˈwainscot(t)ed ppl. a.| 1605 P. Erondelle Fr. Gard. N 2 b, God grant me alwaies the key of the fieldes, I would like it better, then to be in bondage in the fayrest wainscotted or tapistred Chamber. 1694 W. Westmacott Script. Herb. 40 Solomon and others..did build their Magnificent Houses,..and Wain-scotted Rooms therewith [Cedar]. 1814 Scott Wav. lv, The apartment of Colonel Talbot..was divided from his own by a wainscotted partition. 1848 Dickens Dombey iv, The little wainscoted back parlour. 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. xiii, They were taken..into a wainscoted parlour. |
| transf. and fig. 1602 F. H[ering] tr. Oberndoerffer's Anat. True Physit. I, This lost Companion [a quack], hauing a Foxes Head and an whorish and wainscotted Face. |