▪ I. † byss, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 3–6 bise, 4 bies, biis, bijs, biys, bijce, 4–6 bis, bys, 4–7 byse, bisse, 5–7 bysse, 6 biss, 7 byss.
[a. OF. bysse, ad. L. byssus: see byssus.]
= byssus 1; Fine linen. The word was to English writers often a mere name to which they attached no certain meaning, except that of fineness and value; in the versions of the Bible it is variously rendered; the version of 1611 has ‘fine linen’.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 2835 Gode clothes of..purper and biis. 1382 Wyclif Luke xvi. 19 Clothid in purpur, and biys, ether whit silk [Tindale fyne bysse; Cranmer fyne whyte; Genev. fyne lynnen; Rhem. silke; 1611 fine linnen]. ― Rev. xix. 8 With whijte bijce shijnynge [1388 white bissyn schynynge; Tindale, Cranmer pure and goodly raynes; Genev. pure fyne lynen cloth and shining; Rhem. silke glittering and vvhite; 1611 fine linnen, cleane and white]. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 2071 A robe of purpure bys. 1593 Peele Ord. of Garter Wks. II. 228 A canopy of crimson bysse Spangled with gold. 1635 Heywood Hierarch. v. 286 Costly robes of sundry colour'd Bisse. 1648 Bp. Hall Sel. Thoughts §13 The rich glutton..clothed in purple & byss. |
▪ II. † byss, n.2 Obs.
[formed by removing the privative ἀ from abyss, Gr. ἄ-βυσσος; cf. Gr. βυσσός ‘depth of the sea, bottom’.]
In the philosophy of Boehme: The opposite of abyss or void; plenum, substance, ground of attributes.
| 1649 tr. Behmen's Epist. ii. (1886) 8 I saw..the Being of all Beings, the Byss (the ground or original foundation), and Abyss. 1662 Sparrow tr. Behme's Rem. Wks., Apol. Perfection 63 Here is..neither place nor Limit, but the Manifestation of the Abysse in a Bysse or Ground. 1691 E. Taylor Behmen's Theos. Philos. 42 A Byss or Ground, whence come Forms or Properties. Ibid. 346 It..is the greatest substance in the Deity; drawing Abyss into Byss. |
▪ III. † byss, v. Obs.
Also 5 byszyn, bissyn, 6 bis.
[onomatopœic.]
1. trans. To sing or hum (children) to sleep. Hence ˈbyssing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1440 Promp. Parv. 37/1 Byszyn chyldur, sopio, nenior. Byssynge of chyldyrne, sopicio. Byssynge songys, fascinnina. |
2. intr. To hiss, fizz (as in the fire).
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. vii. 119 The irne lumpis..Can byss and quhisyll. c 1550 Fyre of Purgat. iii. in Gude & Godlie Ball. 163 Thay..lat the saulis burn and bis Of all thair Foundatouris. |