▪ I. gleed, n.
(gliːd)
Forms: 1 glœ́d, gléd, 2–6 glede, 4–6 gleede, 5–6 Sc. gleid, 6–7 glead(e, 7– gleed.
[Common Teut.: OE. glœ́d, gléd str. f. = OFris. glêd, OS. glôd- (MDu. gloet, gloed-, Du. gloed), OHG. gluot (mod.G. glut), ON. glóð (Sw., Da. glöd):—OTeut. *glôđi-z, related to glow v.]
1. A live coal; an ember. Now only arch. or dial.
c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xviii. 18 Woeron stondende ða esnæs & embeht-menn æt gloedum forðon cald uæs. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxl[i]. 2 Swa ricels byð, þonne hit ᵹifre gleda bærnað. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 43 Summe þer wepeð, and all heore teres beoð berninde gleden. a 1225 Ancr. R. 122 Seint Lorens also iðolede þet te gredil hef him upwardes mid berninde gleden. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶474 Looke how that fir of smal gleedes that been almoost dede vnder asshen wollen quike agayn whan they been touched with brymstoon. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 15 Thine owne fire (friend) so it bee but a gleid, It warmeth well, and is worth gold to thee. 1563 Sackville Induct. Mirr. Mag. lxviii, I can no more but tell howe there is seene Fayre Ilium fal in burning red gledes downe. a 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. §37 Yet, when I stir up these embers to the bottom, there are found some living gleeds, which do both contain fire, and are apt to propagate it. 1814 Cary Dante, Parad. xiv. 47 As the gleed Which gives out flame. 1847 Longfellow Ev. i. v. 98 The wind seized the gleeds and the burning thatch. |
fig. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. Prol. 29 Foure gleedes han we whiche I shal deuyse Avauntyng liyng Anger Coueitise Thise foure sparkles longen vn to eelde. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ii, So of enuy hotter brent the glede. 1589 R. Robinson Gold. Mirr. (1851) 35 My name is Mars that am the bloody God The gleids that glow within my breast breed mischief al abrode. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl. O.T. xx. ix, Yet even now out of the gleeds of Judah doth God raise up a glorious light to his forlorne Church. a 1656 ― Occas. Medit. §22 Those few weak gleeds of grace, that are in me, might soon go out, if they were not thus refreshed. 1678 Bunyan Come & Welc. 57 The sweet and warm gleads of the promise are like the comfortable beams of the Sun, which liven and refresh. |
† b. Frequent in similes, as red (hot, fierce) as a gleed; to burn (glow, glister, glitter) as a gleed; to spring as gleed or as spark of gleed. Obs.
c 1300 Havelok 91 That he ne sprong forth so sparke of glede. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 295 Was no cheyne so hie, þat he ne sprong ouer als glede. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1139 The crueel Ire reed as any gleede. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 116 His brode eghne That fulle brymly for breth brynte as the gledys. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. (1869) 23 She hadde hire handes vnder hire sides, and hire eyen glowynge as gleedes. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. x. 1 Turnus hym self, als fers as ony gleid, Ful bissely addressit on his weid. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 67 Tha fled als fast as spark gois out of gleid. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. ii. vi. H viij b, Where scarlet vestures reade, On Iuery beddes, did glose with gleames, as it were glowing gleade. a 1650 Arth. & King Cornw. 113 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 63 The eyes that beene in his head, they glister as doth the gleed. |
† 2. A fire. Obs.
13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1609 Braydez out þe boweles, brennez hom on glede. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, George 682 Þane com a fyre..fra of þe hewine..& brynt þe temple in a glede. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 193 He..sente hire..wafres pipyng hoot out of the gleede. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 751, I haiff seruit to be brynt in a gleid. c 1500 New Notbroune Mayd 353 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 15 Though he deserue To brynne and sterue In the infernall glede. 1567 Turberv. Epit. etc. 42 And when you see the Pellet pierce the Skyes And Powder make a proufe of hidden gleede. 1755 R. Forbes Ajax's Sp. 5, I..stood the brunt An' slocken'd out that gleed. |
† 3. A beam (of light). Obs. rare.
1566 W. Adlington Apuleius ii. (1596) 20, I thought that..I shuld see and heare some Oracle from heauen, and from the gleede of the Sunne. 1566 J. Studley tr. Seneca's Medea iv. 41 The bygger beare with golden gleede the greekish fleete doth guyde. |
4. local. pl. Cinders, coke used as fuel, esp. by nail-makers.
1853 Ann. Reg. 89 She went to work at Pelsall, washing ‘gledes’ at a shilling a day. 1870 Gd. Words 1 Apr. 253/2 A little girl..blows the ‘gleeds’ (refuse fuel from the puddling-furnaces of the Black Country) into blue interlambent flames. 1882 Standard 26 Dec. 2 In the centre of the shed..there is a ‘hearth’, fed by ‘gledes’ or breezes. 1891 T. Anderton Lett. fr. Country Ho. 237 They poke out the gleeds at the bottom with the tickler, and put them at the top with the tongs. |
5. Comb., as gleed-like, gleed-red (cf. ON. glóðrauðr) adjs.
a 1240 Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 249 Euch an bereð..an unrude raketehe gled read of fure. Ibid. 253 Eawles gled reade. 1839 Bailey Festus (1848) 75/1 The grave was gone, And in the stead there stood a gleedlike throne. |
Hence gleed v. pseudo-arch., (a) intr. to burn, glow; (b) trans. to light up. rare.
1567 Turberv. Ovid's Ep. R ij, The nearer I approche, the more my flame dooth gleede. a 1823 Baronne o' Gairtly vi. in A. Laing Thistle 13 The fyre flaucht gleeds the skie, Ye're welcome, quo' the baul Baronne, To licht me on my wye. |
▪ II. gleed, gleyd, ppl. a. Obs. exc. north. and Sc.
(gliːd, glaɪd)
Forms: 5 gleyit, 5–7 gleid, 6 glyed, 7 glide, 6, 8–9 gleyd, 9 gleyed, 8–9 gleed.
[f. glee v. + -ed1.]
1. Of persons: Having a cast in one or both eyes; squint-eyed. Also, one-eyed (see quots. c 1470 and 1866).
c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 469 [He] couth weyll luk and wynk with the ta E; Sum scornyt him, sum gleid carll cald him thar. 1482 Acta Dom. Audit. (1839) 101/1 The sade gleyit andro being oft tymes callit & nocht comperit. 1535 Coverdale Lev. xxi. 20 For who so euer hath a blemysh vpon him shal not come nere whether he be blynde..or hath eny blemysh in the eye or is gleyd. c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) p. xvi, The crooked Hume and the glyed Hepburn. a 1605 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 751 Gleyd glaiker. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 90 There will be gleed Geordy Janners. 1812 Macneill Poems (ed. 3) II. 117 Gleyed Sawnie, the haivrel, he met me yestreen. 1866 Gregor Banffsh. Gloss., Gleyt, blind of an eye. Rarely used in the sense of squint-eyed. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Gleed,..squinting. ‘Gleed Will’—squinting Will. |
b. Of the eyes: Squint-.
a 1613 Overbury Crumms Wks. (1856) 256, I think such speech becomes a King noe more than glide-eyes does his face, when I think he looks on me, he sees me not. |
2. Not straight, crooked, twisted. Also transf. of character. to gang gleed: to go wrong.
c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 115 And there to jeopardy a rose-noble on a cast, against a gleed half-peny. 1808–80 Jamieson, Gleyd,..oblique, not direct..That wa's gleyd, that wall stands obliquely. 1818 Scott Rob Roy vi, ‘What is Miss Vernon, Andrew?’.. ‘Other than a gude ane, I'm fearing’, said Andrew..‘something glee'd—your honour understands me?’ 1822 ― Nigel xxxii, Did you ever hear of the umquhile Lady Huntinglen..ganging a wee bit gleed in her walk through the world. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Gleed, Glide, crooked, or twisted, not straight. |
Hence † ˈgleedness.
1673 Wedderburn Voc. (Jam.), Strabismus, gleidness. |
▪ III. gleed(e
var. glede.