lithy, a. dial.
(ˈlɪðɪ)
Forms: 1 liðiᵹ, 4 leoþi, 4–5 leþi, 4–6 lethy, -ie, 5–6 lithie, -ye, 6 lythey, 6–7 lythy, -ie, 7– lithy.
[OE. liðiᵹ = ON. liðug-r yielding, nimble, free, unimpeded, MDu. ledech unimpeded, unoccupied (Du. ledig, leeg empty, vacant, unoccupied), MHG. ledic free, unimpeded (mod.G. ledig unoccupied, vacant). The ulterior etymology is obscure; see Kluge s.v. ledig.]
Pliable, flexible, supple; soft, unresisting.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1885) I. 224 Þa ᵹelæhte petrus hire liþian hand. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. xlvi. (1883) 234/22 Heo [sc. a man's heart] biþ liðiᵹ swa clað..onᵹean deofles lare. c 1315 Shoreham (E.E.T.S.) vii. 590 Ȝef eny loȝ þer leþi were. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. vii. (Skeat) l. 101 So oft falleth the lethy water on the harde rocke, till it haue through persed it. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. vi. (Tollem. MS.), Suche children ben nesche of flesche, leþi [ed. 1535 lethye, ed. 1582 lythie] and pliant of body. Ibid. xvii. ii. (1495) N iiij b/2 That stalke is fyrste feble & lethy: and that for defawte of harde humour. a 1400 Disp. Mary & Cross 483 in Leg. Rood (1871) 147, I bar þi fruit leoþi and lene. 14.. Sir Beues (MS. M.) 647 All to leþy the spere was wrought. a 1425 Cursor M. 9779 (Trin.) Þenne were he leþyere [Laud lethier, Cott., Gött. wayker] þen he was ere. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 121 marg., Y{supt} thei might haue their ioynctes nymble & lithye. 1573 Twyne æneid. xii. M m ij b, And up shee leapes, and lithie raignes with hand she turneth round. 1598 [R. Carew] Herrings Tayle B, Their lithie bodies bound with limits of a shell. a 1618 Sylvester Spectacles xli, The World's Weapons were but lythie Wax; And Vertue's Shield is of celestiall Fier. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 227 It hath many small weake, but lithy and tough slender greene stalks. 1843 Borrow Bible in Spain x, His limbs were now thoroughly lithy, and he brandished his fore legs in a manner perfectly wondrous. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIV. 259 A man..in the full active use of his lithy form. |
† b. fig. Weak, feeble. Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 184 Ac theologie..A ful lethy þinge it were ȝif þat loue nere. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 157 My cause..may be made lethy [L. infirmari], and it may be reysed up. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Ll iv, Ye are..in aduersitie feeble and lethy. |