† ˈevese, v. Obs.
[OE. efesian, efsian, f. efes, eaves; the original sense must app. have been ‘to cut the thatch at the eaves of a building’ (cf. eaves-knife); but all the known OE. examples have the wider sense ‘to clip’.]
trans. To cut, clip (a person's hair, the coat of an animal, a tree, etc.); to cut short the hair of (a person).
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxvi. (Z.) 157 Ic efesiᵹe oð ðe ic scere scep oððe hors. a 1225 Ancr. R. 398 Absalones schene wlite, þet ase ofte ase me euesede him me solde his euesunge—þeo her þe me kerf of—uor two hundred sicles of seolure. c 1300 Marina 64 in Horstmann Leg. i. 172 A robe he dude hire apon, Ant euesede hire ase a mon. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 144 Monn top vus pri estancez [Gloss., evese my cop]. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 184 Watz euesed al vmbe-torne, a-bof his elbowes. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 166 Orcheȝardes and erberes euesed well clene. |