† arain Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 4 arayne, iran, -ain, -eyn(e, irany, yreyn(e, 5 aranye, aranee, arein, erayne, -ane, -eyne, erany(e; dial. 7 arain, 9 arran, arrand.
[a. OF. araigne (aragne, iragne, iraigne), cogn. w. Pr. aranha, eranha:—L. arānea.]
A spider.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxxviii. 12 And to skulke als irain þou made saule his. 1388 Wyclif Isa. lix. 5 Thei han..maden webbis of an yreyn. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lv. (1495) 896 The hony sholde be corrupte that is in the combes and Araynes sholde be gendrid. 1440 Promp. Parv. 14 Aranye or erayne, Aranea. Ibid. 140 Eranye or spider. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 297 A thing withoute soule wers than a tode or a ereyne. c 1460 Bk. Quintess. i. 2 By generacioun of flies, and areins. 1674 Ray N. Countr. Words 2 An Arain: a Spider..used only for the larger kind of Spiders. Nottinghamshire. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley v. 45 ‘You never heard of Bruce, perhaps?’ ‘And th' arrand?’ |