▪ I. † enˈchase, n. Obs. rare—1.
In 5 enchace.
[f. enchase v.1]
Chase; hunting.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans e. j I shall yow tell which be beestys of enchace. |
▪ II. † enˈchase, v.1 Obs.
Also 4–5 enchace, 5 enchasse.
[a. OF. enchacier, f. en- (see en-1) + chacier (see chase, catch): cf. It. incacciare to drive.]
trans. To drive away, banish; to hunt, pursue.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2906 To the Galwis-warde..þay enchacede þan baroun. 14.. Tundale's Vis., Purific. Marie 128 And then all fylth from hur to enchase. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi, Aurora..Is wonte t' enchase the blacke skyes doune. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. v. (1520) 43/2 The folke of Saxon..you have dryven and enchased. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII c. 20 §6 The distres so take to lead dryve enchace and bere awey, etc. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 30, Swans twelue in coompany flushing..enchast with a murtherus eagle. 1741 T. Robinson Gavelkind ii. viii. 263 He may lawfully enchase and drive them out. |
▪ III. enchase, v.2
(ɛnˈtʃeɪs)
Forms: 6–8 enchace, 6–9 inchase, 7 inchace, 5– enchase.
[In senses 1–3, 6 clearly a. F. enchâsser to enshrine (sacred relics), enclose, set (gems), encase; f. en in + châsse shrine, casket, case, setting:—L. capsa case n.2 Whether senses 4–5 belong to the same word appears doubtful; they may naturally have been developed from 3, but in our quotations 4 appears as the earliest recorded sense, both of this word and of chase v.2 which is supposed to be an aphetic form of it.]
I. With the idea of ornamentation.
1. To ‘set’ as a jewel in (gold or other setting); also, of the enchasing material (quots. fig. only), to serve as a setting for.
| 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Q, A man being a diamond enchaced among men, yet..quicke and mery amonge women. 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. v. 98 Because the Sacrament is not without the word, they are a jewel enchas'd in gold when they are together. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic vii. 159 A speaking head..of the sage Minos, which he had enchased in gold. 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring L. 246 A gold ring with a ruby enchased. |
| fig. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 23 My ragged rimes are all too rude and bace Her heavenly lineaments for to enchace. 1607 Chapman Bussy D'Ambois Plays 1873 II. 9 Thou hast..Glosse enough T'enchase in all shew, thy long smothered spirit. 1761 H. Walpole in Four C. Eng. Lett. 268 Gray has translated two noble incantations..They are to be enchased in a history of English bards. 1765 Gray Lett. in Poems (1775) 314 Four small lakes..whose deep blue waters..contrasted with the black desert in which they were inchased. 1867 Swinburne in Fortn. Rev. Oct. 420 Interludes..known..to many ignorant of their original setting, in which they are now again enchased. |
2. To set (gold, etc.) with gems.
| 1615 G. Sandys Rel. Journ. i. 75 The ornament of her head..of beaten gold, and inchaced with gems. 1690 Songs Costume (1849) 196 In box of beaten gold..Inchas'd with diamonds. a 1882 Longfellow Morit. Salutamus 199 Golden cups enchased with rubies. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 77 Like to the purest molde, Enchac'de with daintie daysies soft and white. 1593 Drayton Eclog. i. 38 Whose floore with Stars is gloriously inchased. c 1611 Chapman Iliad (1857) Pref. 71 Plato..with his [Homer's] verses, as with precious gems, everywhere enchaceth his writings. |
c. Said of the gems.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 725 To drink in Bowls which glitt'ring Gems enchase. |
3. To inlay or variegate (metal, etc.) with gold or silver.
| 1640 G. Sandys Christ's Passion 18 See those Roofs..the Beams With burnisht gold inchac'd, and blazing Gems. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. x. 36 There was..a set of fine china for the tea-table enchased in gold. 1725 Pope Odyss. xv. 129 This silver bowl, whose costly margins shine Enchas'd with gold. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xliii. 603 His armour was enchased with gold. |
4. To adorn with figures in relief, esp. of repoussé-work. Hence in wider sense, to engrave, ornament with engraved figures or patters.
| 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 23, I wille she haue..my flat pece enchased to make with a saltsaler of sylver [in this document freq. chased in same sense]. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece ii. 181 Figures of Inchased Work. 1717 Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 515 The house..being enchased with beautiful relievos of antiquity. 1828 Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1860) I. 259 They are not enchased and relieved with the same skill. |
b. To engrave (figures) on, in a surface; to portray by engraved figures.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 27 Wherein is enchased many a fayre sight. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 566 Within the hollow part and concauitie he inchased the conflict between the gods and the gyants. 1766 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 112/2 He [a type-founder] has found means to enchase the points or vowels, without which that character would be unintelligible. 1868 Sill Poet's Apol. i. v, Truth enchased upon a jewel rare, A man would keep. |
5. transf. and fig. To adorn or variegate with figures resembling engraving.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 24 A wandring vine, Enchaced with a wanton yvie twine. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 47 A thousand colours did the bow enchace. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. viii. 117 His manly breast inchaste With sundry shapes of Beasts. 1816 Coleridge Lay Serm. 346 The vegetable creation..inchases the..volume of the earth with the hieroglyphics of her history. |
II. With the idea of inclusion.
6. To enshrine (as a relic) in. [The original sense in Fr.]
| 1643 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 46 Enchased in a crystal covered with gold. 1688 H. Wharton Enthus. Ch. Rome 24 [He] might..have his Bones enchased in Gold. 1823 Scott Romance (1874) 68 The highly ornamented Church with which superstition has surrounded and enchased it [the famous hut of Loretto]. |
b. fig. (often passing into 7.)
| 1615 Chapman Odyss. ii. 415 And if, like him, there be in thee enchac'd Virtue to give words works. 1626 T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 37 God seemeth to haue enchased all Christian perfection, in Charity. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. vii. 31 Thy holy Humanity inchased in the adorable Divinity. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 100 Thy bright Idea in my Heart Enchase. |
† 7. To close in, shut in, enclose. Obs.
| 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 626 The Lyon..Enchaste with chaine and circulet of golde. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 626 They [magicians] giue direction..to inchase or inclose it [Chlorites] with a piece of yron. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xii. 56 They charge him close, and stand (as in a tow'r They had inchas'd him) pouring on of darts an iron show'r. Ibid. xix. 346 Herself the skies again enchased. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Hist. Mem. Th. I. iv. xvi. 219 Samothrace..where was first invented the Art of encircling, or enchasing Iron with Gold [cf. 3]. |
8. To ‘let in’ to a ‘chase’ or mortice. Also transf. and fig.
| 1611 Cotgr., Iabler, to make the Croes of a Caske: viz. a furrow or hollow..whereinto the head-peeces may be enchased. 1616 J. B. Sermon 18 The Soule and the Body are olde friends, so enchased, one into another, that, etc. a 1774 Goldsmith tr. Scarron's Comic Romance (1775) i. 81 His whole head was enchased into his hat. |