▪ I. lich Obs. exc. arch. and in Comb.
(lɪtʃ)
Forms: α. 1–2 l{iacu}c, 4–5 liche, lyche, 6 lytche, 7, 9 litch, 3–7, 9 lich, lych; in comb. 5 lege-, 6–9 leech-, 9 leach- (see also lich-gate, lich-owl). pl. 1 l{iacu}c, 3, 5 liches. β. 2–5 lik(e, (4 lijk), 7, 9 like, lyke. pl. 9 likes.
[OE. l{iacu}c str. neut. = OFris. lîk, OS. l{iacu}c (LG. liche, like, Du. lijk), OHG. l{iacu}h neut. and fem. (MHG. lîch fem., also weak lîche, G. leiche dead body), ON. l{iacu}k (Sw. lik, Da. lig), Goth. leik:—OTeut. *lîko{supm} neut. Comparison with the cognate words (see liche, like a., like v.) suggests that the original sense was prob. ‘form, shape’.
The OE. l{iacu}c became by normal development lich(e in the south and like in the north; hence the diversity of forms above. Cf. ditch, dike.]
1. = body n. a. The living body. Also the trunk, as opposed to the limbs.
| Beowulf 733 Þæt he ᵹedælde..anra ᵹehwylces lif wið lice. a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1326 Þendan bu somod lic & sawle lifᵹan mote. c 1205 Lay. 17694 For an his bare liche he weorede ane burne. a 1225 Juliana 16 He het..beten hire swa luðere þat hire leofliche lich liðeri al oblode. a 1275 Prov. ælfred 471 in O.E. Misc. 131 So deð þe salit on fles, suket þuru is liche. c 1300 Beket 259 The here he dude next his liche his fleisches maister to beo. 1340–70 Alisaunder 195 Liliwhite was hur liche. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 2 A wyf..Þat lene was of lich and of louh chere. a 1400–50 Alexander 2931 Þe litillaike of his like lathely þat þai spyse. Ibid. 141 He..him..clethis All his liche in lyn claþe. |
b. A dead body; a corpse.
| Beowulf 2127 Hio þæt lic ætbær feondes fæðmum under firᵹenstream. c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §23 Ealle þa hwile þe þæt lic bið inne, þær sceal beon ᵹedrync & pleᵹa. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1135 (Laud MS.) Þa namen his sune & his frend & brohten his lic to Engle lande. c 1205 Lay. 3862 Heo nomen Morganus liche & leide hit on vrþen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2447 Egipte folc..first .ix. niȝt ðe liches beðen. a 1300 Cursor M. 19785 Tilward þat like he turnd his face. ? a 1300 XI Pains Hell 78 in O.E. Misc. 149 A water..þat..stynkeþ so for holde lych. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 302/2 Lyche, dede body. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 332 Quha aw this lik he bad hir nocht deny. 1806 Sir Oluf in Jamieson Ballads I. 222 Three likes were ta'en frae the castle away. 1895 Baring-Gould in Minster Mag. 239 ‘Thomas maketh a beautiful lych, that her do.’ |
2. Comb.:
† lich-bell, ? a hand-bell rung before a corpse;
† lich-fowl = lich-owl;
† lich-holm, a shrub of some kind;
lich-house [
cf. Du. lijkenhuis], a dead-house, a mortuary;
† lich-lay, a rate levied to provide a church-yard (
cf. lay n.7 4);
lich-path = lich-way;
† lich-rest, a place for a corpse to rest, a burial-place;
† lich-song, ? singing at a lyke-wake;
lich-stone, a stone to place the coffin on at the lich-gate;
† lich-wal,
-wale, a plant (see
quots.);
† lich-way, a path along which a corpse has been carried to burial (this in some districts being supposed to establish a right of way);
† lich-wort, a plant (see
quots.). Also
lich-gate,
lich-owl,
lyke-wake.
| 1421 in Warner Hist. Abb. Glaston. (1826) App. 99, j processional, j old gradual, iij new *lychebells. 1449 Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 90 For a lege bell and the mendyng of another ijs. ij{supd}. 1552 in W. Money Ch. Goods Berksh. (1879) 19 Two lytchebelles of bell metalle. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Effraye, a Scricheowle, or *Lychefowle. 1614 Sco. Venus (1876) 30 These goblins, lich-fouls, Owls, and night-crows to At murthers raile. |
| a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 13 Bruscus, frutex est *licheholm. |
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 169 Alswo ofte swo prest singeð þis bede at *lich huse he [etc.]. 1559 Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 324 Ane tenement of land within the yard and lichowss thairof [sc. of the parish church]. 1850 Ecclesiologist X. 339 We..propose..with some degree of confidence,—Lich-House. 1898 Pall Mall Mag. Mar. 430/2 He had it [the corpse] brought up and laid in his lych⁓house. |
| 1753 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 170 To purchase a church yard on a *Lych Ley for St. Thomas's Church. |
| 1862 Church Builder Apr. 48 That path up which you came..used formally to be called the *Lich-path because all the funerals came along that path. |
| c 1000 St. Mildreds in Sax. Leechd. III. 430 Heo ða hyre *licreste ᵹeceas on eliᵹ byriᵹ. c 1205 Lay. 17225 And swa þu hit scalt leden to þere lich-raste. 1558 Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 170 Of Wyllam Worthe for the lyche-reste of Ione his wyf vis. viii{supd}. |
| c 1675 in Rec. Presbyt. Inverness & Dingwall (Sc. Hist. Soc.) 121 note, Discharging..all ..*Lyksongs, fidling and dancing. |
| 1862 Athenæum 30 Aug. 279 [In North Devon] Passing through the lich-gate, the corpse is placed upon the *lich-stone. |
| c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 72/2 Granum diureticum, anglice *lichewal. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. clxxx. 487 In English Gromell: of some Pearle plant, and of others Lichwale. 1863 Prior Plant-n., Lichwale,..the gromwell, Lithospermum officinale, L. |
| 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 303/2 Aduertised of..a *leech waie to be made ouer his land, with⁓out his leaue or consent. 1787 in Grose Prov. Gloss., Leech-way, the path in which the dead are carried to be buried. Exm. |
| c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 51/2 Ebulus uel Ebula gall. eble angl. welle-uort uel *licheuart. ? a 1500 MS. Bodl. 536 in Sax. Leechd. III. 336/1 Peritoria .i. peritory or lychewort. 1597 Gerarde Herbal App., Lichwort is Pellitorie of the wall. 1880 Britten & Holland Plant-n., Lichwort, Parietaria officinalis, L. |
Hence
† ˈlichless a. Obs., without a dead body.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3164 Ðo was non biging of al egipte lich-les, so maniȝe dead ðor kipte. |
▪ II. lich obs. form of
like;
litch dial., bundle.