▪ I. leesome, a.1 Obs. exc. Sc.
(ˈliːsəm)
Also 3 lefsum, leofsum, 6 lesum, 8 leisum,
[Early ME. leofsum, f. leof lief a. + -sum -some.]
Lovable; pleasing; pleasant.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 181 Wowe beð wunsum þeih hit ne bie naht lefsum. a 1225 Juliana 17 Towart te liuiende godd mi leofsume leofmon. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 195 He culd nocht find that he had far misgane, Sen lesum wes to haif ma wyffis nor ane. 1792 Burns ‘In simmer when the hay was mawn’ v, The tender heart o' leesome luve, The gowd and siller canna buy. ? a 1800 Thomas o Yonderdale x. in Child Ballads (1892) IV. 410/1 Fair and leesome blew the wind. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 62 Some gentle cushie-dows, That saw The leesome la'rick's wae. |
¶ b. leesome lane: a variation of lee-lane (see lee-lone). (Cf. leeful b.)
| 1824 Scott Redgauntlet let. xi, There sat the Laird his leesome lane. |
▪ II. † ˈleesome, a.2 Chiefly Sc. Obs.
Forms: 4–5 lefsum, Sc. 5–6 lesum, (6 lesume, 7 lesome), 6 leifsum (?), le(i)uesom, 6–7 leasum, leasom(e, leisoum, leisome(e, 7 leisum, 8 leesome.
[ME. lēfsum, f. lēf leave n.1 + -sum -some.]
Lawful, permissible, right.
| ? a 1400 Langland's P. Pl. B. xi. 92 MS. B. [reads lefsum for licitum of other texts; MS. O has leueful]. 14.. Henryson in Bannatyne Poems (1873) 611 Hir kirtill suld be of clene constance, Lasit with lesum lufe. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. iii. 25 So that it lesum be Dido ramane In spousage bund. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 6079 The Secretis quhilk he saw Thay wer nocht leifsum [? leissum] for to schaw To no man. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus i. 776 To set ane Court in leissum time and place. 1560–78 Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. (1621) 75 Without this lawfull calling it was never leasome to any person to meddle with any function Ecclesiasticall. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 15 Puir men labouraris hauntand to thair lesum bussenes. a 1600 Montgomerie Sonn. lxx. 2 Blind brutal Boy, that with thy bou abuses Leill leesome love by lechery and lust. 1681 Act Secur. Peace Kingd. Scot. in Lond. Gaz. No. 1648/4 His Majesty..Declares, that in this Case, it shall be leisum to Heritors to put their Tennants off their Lands. a 1758 Ramsay Jenny Nettles iii, The leel and leesome gate o't. |
Hence ˈleesomely adv., lawfully.
| 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 21 We may lesumlie desyre o' God our necessarie sustentatioun. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 46 He may lesomelie distrenzie them, for the releiue and service aucht to him for his lands. |