▪ I. mazer, n. Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈmeɪzə(r))
Forms: 3– mazer, 4–9 maser. Also 2–3 mazere, 4 mazre, 4–5 maseer(e, 5 mausure, masour, masowyr, 5–6 masar, masere, 6 meyser, mas(s)or, masser, masure, mazur, mazare, 6–7 mazor, mazar.
[a. OF. masere, masre (masdre, madre, whence F. madré veined, variegated) used in senses 1 and 2; of Teut. origin: cf. OHG. masar excrescence on a tree (glossing L. tuber, nodus), MHG. maser excrescence on a tree, maple, drinking cup, mod.G. maser markings in wood; MDu. maeser maple; ON. mǫsur-r maple (:—*masur-oz).
The Teut. root *mas-, *mæ̂s-, expressing the notion of ‘spot’ or ‘excrescence’, is found also in OHG. mâsa (MHG. mâse) cicatrix, spot on the body, early mod.Du. mase, maese spot, mesh (Du. maas mesh, maashout maplewood); Norw. dial. masa to grain, paint in imitation of the grain of wood; and the words cited s.v. measle.
The Welsh masarn maple, sycamore, is certainly from English, though the evidence of the use of mazer in this sense in Eng. is somewhat scanty.]
1. A hard wood (? properly maple; but cf. quot. c 1500 in b) used as a material for drinking cups.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Ðe caliz [is] of tin; and hire [the priest's concubine's] nap of mazere. 1419 Will of Mounford (Somerset Ho.), Ciphum de mazer legatum cum argento. 1593–1656 Rites & Mon. Ch. Durh. (Surtees 1903) 80 The goodly Cup called S{supt} Beedes Bowl, the outside whereof was of black Mazer. |
† b. The tree yielding this wood.
Obs. rare.
| 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 629 [In list of trees] Iuniparus, labruscaque, mirra, jenupyrtre wyld vyne masere. 1483 Cath. Angl. 229/2 A Maser, cantarus, murra; murreus; murpis (A. murrus) Arbor est. c 1500 in Turner Dom. Archit. I. 144 note, Take many rype walenottes and water hem a while, and put hem in a moiste pytt, and hile hem, and ther shalbe grawe therof a grett stoke that we calle masere. 1547 Salesbury Welsh Dict., Masarn, Masar. |
2. A bowl, drinking-cup, or goblet without a foot, originally made of ‘mazer’ wood, often richly carved or ornamented and mounted with silver and gold or other metal. Often applied to bowls entirely of metal or other material.
| 1311 in Archæol. (1887) L. i. 176, j mazer cum pede argenteo. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11418 He gaf..Somme masers of riche pris. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 46 Also .i. bord mausure with a bond of seluer. 1424 Ibid. 56, I wull he haue my maser of a vine rote. 1530 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1871) II. 39 A masser of siluer ourgilt. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. ix. 193 Of the Skulles of the heades thus slaine, thei [Scithians] make masures to drincke in. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 26 A mazer ywrought of the Maple warre. 1645 Evelyn Diary 25 Jan., They shew'd us..mazers of beaten and solid gold set with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. 1697 Dryden Virgil (1721) I. Ded. 13 One of his Shepherds describes a Bowl, or Mazer, curiously carved. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xxxiv, ‘Bring here’, he said, ‘the mazers four’. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iv. ix. 488 The royal Mazer, or convivial bowl. |
| fig. 1629 Z. Boyd Last Battell 1123 Take now the Cuppe of Saluation, the great Mazer of his mercie. |
† 3. The head;
= mazard n.1 2.
Obs.| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 77 b, Being imagined in your own braynsicke mazer. a 1652 Brome Love-sick Court iv. iii, So wilt thou whilst thou canst lift thy bottle To that old Mazer. |
b. transf. A helmet.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 614 Hardy Lælius..All in gilt armour, on his glistring Mazor A stately plume, of Orange mixt with Azur. |
4. attrib. and
Comb.:
† mazer-band, the silver binding of a mazer;
mazer bowl,
cup,
-dish = 2;
† mazer tree = 1 b;
mazer wood,
= sense 1.
| 1441 in Archæol. (1887) L. i. 187 Unum *maserband. |
| 1562–3 Ibid. 193 A *masar bole w{supt}{suph} a border of sylver and gilt abowt ytt. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 49. 1686–7 Aubrey Rem. Gentilism & Judaism (1881) 35 A Mazar-bowle of maple (Gossips bowle) full of beer. |
| 1434 E.E. Wills (1882) 101 A litil *maser coppe. |
| 1656 Tradescant Mus. Tradesc. 52 *Mazer dishes. |
| ? c 1475 Sqr. Lowe Degre 689 She..closed hym in a *maser-tre. 1595 Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.) 66 Acer, the maser tree. |
| 1656 Tradescant Mus. Tradesc. 44 The plyable *Mazer wood, being warmed in water will work to any form. |
Hence
† mazer v. trans.,
= mazard v.
| 1596 Nashe Saffron-Walden V 4 He terrefies mee with insulting ‘hee was Tom Burwels the Fencers Scholler, and that he will squeaze and mazer me whensoeuer he met me’. |
▪ II. mazer, mazerd obs. ff.
mazard n.2 and n.1