▪ I. † circumcise, n. Obs. rare.
[a. OF. circoncis ‘prepuce’ (Godef.), repr. L. circumcīsus or -um.]
Circumcision; foreskin.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2848 Sephora toc ðif ȝunge knaue, And dede circumcise haue. 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 128 Þe flesh of his cyrcumsyce. |
▪ II. circumcise, v.
(ˈsɜːkəmsaɪz)
Also 4 -ces, -sice, -cyse, -zize, 4–5 -sise, -syse, 5 -cyce, 6– -size.
[ad. OF. circonciser, -cisier; or f. F. circoncis-, stem of circoncire (pr. pple. -cisant, pres. subj. -cise, etc.):—L. circumcīdĕre: see prec. and circumcide.]
I. In Scriptural sense.
1. trans. To cut off the foreskin or prepuce of (males); chiefly as a religious rite of Jews and Muslims. Also in Surgery.
(Also to perform an analogous operation on females.)
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1200 Circumcised he was, a-buten schoren..Circumcised on ðe eȝtende day. a 1300 Cursor M. 2668 (Cott.) Do your knauebarns to circumces [v.r. circumcise]. a 1400 Ibid. 11095 (Laud MS.) When they had circumzizid Iohn. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4326 Cercumsiset sothely in sort with the Iewes. 1494 Fabyan vii. 329 The Iewys dwellynge at Norwyche..to answere to a complaynt..y{supt} they shulde stele a chylde, and it circumsysyd of the age of a yere. 1611 Bible Gen. xvii. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskinne. 1616 R. C. Times' Whis. iv. 1557 Some have turnd Turkes for gaine, yet live despisde After they once have been but circumcisde. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 13 The Habassin emperour..is a Jew also from the girdle downward, for he is both circumcised and christened. 1815 Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 265 The Cauzy..ordered the prisoner to be circumcised against his will. 1863 Collingwood tr. Waitz's Introd. Anthrop. I. 106 Bosmann..relates of the women of Wydah, that they can be circumcised like the Hottentot women. 1887 R. Druitt Surgeon's Vade Mecum (ed. 12) 803 To produce a radical cure, the Surgeon must circumcise. |
b. fig. Chiefly as a Hebraism, in reference to the purification typified by the rite; partly, with the notion of castration.
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 13 Than es a man circumsysede gastely. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 53 O Englande, whyle tyme is gyuen thee, circumcise thy harte. 1611 Bible Deut. xxx. 6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. ix. xxviii, With sharpest griefs her heart was circumcis'd. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 85 If you take such an one and circumcise his passions. |
II. From the classical Latin sense.
† 2. To cut round. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Serpents (1608) 636 The flesh round about the wound..to be circumcised and cut with a sharp rasor. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 131 Circumcising them of the bark for about two inches round. |
† 3. fig. To cut short, limit, abridge, circumscribe; to cut off. Obs.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgr. I. iii. xvi. 273 Some circumcise from hence both Phrygia, and Mysia. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. (1688) 308 We must circumcise and pare even this our vow and covenant with God. a 1672 Wren in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 239 The Puritan..was strongly bent to circumcise [the Church] both in authority and revenue. |
Hence ˈcircumcising vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2681 Þe werk of circumcising. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 149 Poysoned wounds..cured by incision and circumcising of the flesh. 1611 Bible Luke ii. 21 When eight dayes were accomplished for the circumcising of the childe. a 1711 Ken Hymns Festiv. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 215 The circumcising steel. |