ouzel, ousel
(ˈuːz(ə)l)
Forms: α. 1 ósle, 4 osul, (hosel), 4–5 osel, (5 owsille, osill, -ulle, -ylle), 6 osell, -yll, osȝil, oozel, owsell, -yl, ousil, -syl, -zell, 6–7 ousell, 6–8 owsel, 7 ou-, owsle, 7–8 ouzle, 6– ousel, 8– ouzel, (9 dial. uzzle, ussel). β. 4 (?) wesel, 6–7 woosell.
[OE. ósle wk. fem.:—*ǫmsla = OHG. amsala (MHG., Ger. amsel); ulterior etymology unknown. The form wesel in Trevisa is prob. an error for wosel.]
1. A name of certain birds of the genus Turdus. a. An old name of the blackbird or merle (T. merula). This is app. the original application of the name (although sense b may have been included); it is now mainly a literary archaism, but appears to be in local use in the qualified form black-ouzel or garden-ouzel. Also attrib. in ouzel-cock.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.) 665 Merula, oslae. a 725 Corpus Gl. ibid. 1306 Osle. c 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 260/26 Merula, osle. c 1325 Gloss W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 164 En braunche seet la merle, an hosel-brit. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 187 Þe wesels [L. merulæ, Caxt. ousels] be blak among vs; þere [Arcadia] þey beeþ white. Ibid. 237 In towne, as it longes, Þe osul twytereþ mery songes. c 1450 Bk. Hawkyng in Rel. Ant. I. 296 Owsilless, and þresches. and other smale briddes. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 20 b, Blacke byrdes or ousyls, amonge wylde fowle hath the chiefe prayse. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 128 The Woosell cocke, so blacke of hew, With Orenge-tawny bill. 1594 R. Barnfield Affect. Sheph. ii. x, Gins and wyles, the Oozels to beguile. 1746 W. Thompson Hymn to May xxvii, The ouzle sweetly shrill. 1842 Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 93 The mellow ouzel fluted in the elm. 1843 James Forest Days x, It is difficult there to know a carrion crow from an ousel. 1875 Lanc. Gloss., Black-ousel, the blackbird. |
b. Applied to the allied species T. torquatus, usually distinguished as ring-ouzel; also known locally as crag-ouzel, moor-ouzel, mountain-ouzel, rock-ouzel, tor-ouzel.
The earlier quots. under sense a may have included this: in the following it is distinguished from the merle or otherwise identified.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 713 The Maviss and the Merle syngis, Osillis and Stirlingis. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The maueis maid myrtht, for to mok the merle..the lyntquhit sang cuntirpoint quhen the osȝil ȝelpit. 1601 Holland Pliny x. xxiv. 284 Ousles, Throstles, Blackbirds, and Stares,..depart aside from us, but goe not farre. a 1705 Ray Synops. Meth. Avium (1713) 65, Merula torquata, The Ring-Ouzel or Amzel. 1768 G. White Selborne xx. 57 The ousel is larger than a blackbird, and feeds on haws. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 8 Ring ouzel..so called from the white gorget on the bird's breast. |
† c. transf. Applied to a person (prob. of dark hair or complexion). Obs.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 9 Shal. And how doth..your fairest Daughter, and mine, my God-Daughter Ellen? Sil. Alas, a blacke Ouzell. 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. i, Rhe... What new ouzle's this? Tham... This stranger, an Athenian, named Parthenophill. |
2. Applied with distinctive adjuncts to other birds, popularly associated with the prec. a. brook ouzel, the Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus).
| 1611 Cotgr., Mere des cailles, a Rayle; or, a brooke-Owsell. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 314 The Water-Rail called by some the Bilcock or Brook-Owzel. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 176. |
b. rose-coloured ouzel, the Rose-coloured Pastor or Starling, Pastor (Turdus Linn.) roseus.
| 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 489 The rose colored ouzel. 1832 Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 1. 4 It was mentioned that a male bird of the rose-coloured ouzel (Pastor roseus) had been shot at West Ord. |
c. water ouzel, the dipper (Cinclus aquaticus); also the American Dipper (C. mexicanus).
| 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. (1748) 366 The water-woosell next all over black as jet. 1793 G. White Selborne ii. vii. (1875) 156 The water-ousel is said to haunt the mouth of the Lewes river. 1849 Kingsley N. Devon Misc. II. 243 The startled water-ousel, with his white breast, flitted a few yards. 1874 Allen in Coues Birds N.W. 12 The American Ouzel (Cinclus mexicanus) is doubtless a frequent inhabitant of nearly all the mountain-streams of Colorado. |