▪ I. murrain, n. and a.
(ˈmʌrɪn)
Forms: 4–5 moryne, 4–6 mor(e)yn(e, 5 morayne, morein, muran, murreyne, 5–6 moren, 6 morraine, -eine, -eyn(e, moryen, murrayne, -ein, murryn, 6–7 moraine, murraine, -en, -ion, 7 murain, murrin, myrren, 7– murrain.
[a. F. morine (12th– 13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.; AF. moryn 1321–2 in Rolls of Parlt.; Anglo-L. morina 13th c.) = Sp. morriña, Pg. morrinha cattle plague, commonly regarded as a derivative of L. morī to die; cf. It. moria plague.]
A. n.
† 1. Plague, pestilence. Obs.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16453 What for moryne, what for dere, ffewe þer wore þat might liue here. c 1340 [see manqualm]. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas iii. xx. (1494) m vj, Nye all his people was slayne in that moreyne. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 177 b, Famyn and pestilence or a morreyn wherof the people died in euery place. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 161 A murren, procured..by Iewish exorcismes intending a plague to the men. |
| fig. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 265 b, There be many noble men..that are not coathed as yet with this Lutheran moraine. |
† b. In imprecations: a murrain of (it), murrain meet them, murrain on (one), may a murrain or pestilence fall upon (some one). Also in exclamations of anger: with a murrain, what a (the) murrain, how a murrain. Obs.
| a 1530 Heywood Weather (Brandl) 523 A myller wyth a moryn and a myschyefe, Who wolde be a myller as good be a thefe. c 1560 Ingelend Disobed. Child C j, What a Murryn I say, what a noyse doest thou make? c 1560 [Richardes] Misogonus i. iii. 12 A moringe lighte one that foules face of thine! 1575 Gamm. Gurton i. iii, How a murryon came this chaunce. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. i. 20 A red Murren o'th thy Iades trickes. 1607 Dekker & Webster Westw. Hoe iv. i, Luce. Who am I? Tent. What the Murrion care I who you are. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. iii. vi, A murren meete 'em! 1611 Tarlton's Jests (1638) A 2 b, A murren of that face. 1624 Davenport City Nightcap iv. (1661) 36 Marry come up with a murren, from whence came you tro, ha? 1705 Vanbrugh Confed. i. i, What the murrain have they to do with quality? 1711 Steele Spect. No. 113 ¶3 At last, with a Murrain to her, she cast her bewitching Eye upon me. |
2. An epizootic disease in cattle.
| 1421 Coventry Leet Bk. (E.E.T.S.) 25 We commaund þat no bocher sell noo beestis of moren, ne no roten Schep. c 1450 Merlin 3 Thei..tolde their maister the mervelle of the moreyn, that was fallen a-monge the bestes. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 37 Why lose we our sede, our labour, and expence? Where cometh moryen, & grevous pestylence? 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 129 b, The Pestilence, or Murraine, is a common name, but there are diuers kindes of it. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. vi. Wks. 1851 V. 241 The next year..was calamitous, bringing strange fluxes upon men, and murren upon Cattel. 1715 Garth Claremont 162 In fillets bound, a hallow'd band Taught how to tend the flocks,..Could tell what murrains in what months begun, And how the seasons travell'd with the Sun. 1758 R. Brown Compl. Farmer (1759) 28 For the Garget, Plague, or Murrain in Bulls, Cows or Oxen. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 145 The early stage even of murrain is one of fever. 1884 G. Fleming in Encycl. Brit. XVII. 57/2 It is now an established fact that murrains are all infectious. |
b. transf.
| 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 130 The murrain among bees is very rare. 1817 Sporting Mag. L. 261 The roup, the gargut and the murrain, are terms often applied indiscriminately to the diseases of fowls. 1880 Disraeli Endym. III. xiv. 141 A murrain had fallen over the whole of the potato crops in England. |
† 3. Flesh of animals that have died of disease; also in wider sense, dead flesh, carrion. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Jer. vii. 33 And ben shal the moreyn [Vulg. morticinum populi] of this puple in to mete to the foules of heuene, and to the bestus of erthe. c 1610 in Gutch Coll. Cur. II. 15 That he bring no rotten flesh, no myrren, no sufferers, but lawful and wholesome for man's body. |
† b. As a term of contempt (nonce-use).
| 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iii. i, If our fresh wits cannot turne the plots Of such a mouldy murrion on it selfe. |
† 4. Mortality (usually, by pestilence); occas. slaughter. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 387 Also Beda..seiþ: Pestilens of moreyn bare doun Hibernia. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 5708 He cleff Gregeis as men do swyn, He made of hem gret moryn. 1530 Palsgr. 246/1 Moreyne dethe, mortalité; mourine. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 32 The Athenians, being consumed with warres & morraine of people, to augment the city, decreed that euery man should haue two wiues. a 1632 T. Taylor God's Judgem. i. ii. xl. (1642) 303 By the murraine of men by pestilence..the tillage of the earth was put off. |
5. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as murrain cattle, murrain flock, murrain sheep; murrain-rotted adj.
| c 1490 Caxton Rule St. Benet aa viij b, They shall departe from the congregacyon, leest that suche a moreyne shepe empoysen and enfecte the residue of y⊇ flocke. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 97 Crowes are fatted with the murrion flocke. 1900 H. Sutcliffe Shameless Wayne xix, Clear the pens of yond murrain-rotted ewes. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 1 May 8/2 Tuberculous people and murrain cattle. |
b. instrumental, as † murrain-strike v. (nonce-wd.), to infect with murrain.
| 1613 Heywood Silver Age iii. i. H 1 b, Il'e breake thy plowes, thy Oxen murren-strike. |
† B. adj. Ill-conditioned, ‘plaguy’. Also quasi-adv. as an intensive, ‘confoundedly’. Obs.
| 1575 Gamm. Gurton ii. iv, It is a murrion crafty drab, and froward to be pleased. Ibid. iii. iv, Ich know thars not..A muryner cat than Gyb is, betwixt the Tems and Tyne. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xii. xxxiv, Thou foole and murren lier. 1664 Visct. Falkland Marriage Nt. iii. i. 25 That same's a murrain wise boy, if you mark him. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. i. 17 My Lady was in such murrain haste to be here, that set out she would. |
Hence ˈmurrained a., infected with murrain. † ˈmurrainly adv., ‘plaguily’.
| 1548 L. Shepherd John Bon (1808) 6 Ye are morenly well learned I se by your recknynge That ye wyll not forget such an eluyshe thynge. 1575 Gamm. Gurton iii. ii, And yead bene here, cham sure yould murrenly ha wondred! 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son xciv, The Europeans..died like murrained sheep. |
▪ II. murrain
obs. form of morion1.