† langue de bœuf Obs.
Forms: 5–6 lang(e)debefe, -beefe, -boef, -beafe, -biefe, 5 landebeffe, long debefe, long debeof, 6 langue-debiefe, -beuf, lang du beaffe, landebeuf, 7 langdebeef, -beuf, landebeef, (8 Langley beef).
[Fr.; lit. ‘ox tongue’.]
1. A name variously applied to certain boragineous and other plants with rough leaves, as Echium vulgare, Helminthia echiodes, Borrago officinalis, etc., for most of which the etymologically synonymous name bugloss has been applied.
| c 1400 Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 84 Of water of lange de boef, a Rote. c 1440 Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 426 Take cole, and borage, and lang de beeff, and parsell. [c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 24 Buglossa..(gall. lange de beof), anglice oxtunge.] 1551 Turner Herbal i. G iv b, Dioscorides..saythe that Cirsion (whyche I take to be oure langdebefe) hath longer leues than buglossum. 1573 Tusser Husb. xxxix. (1878) 93 Seedes and herbes for the Kitchen..Langdebiefe. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cclxx. §2. 654 Lang de Beefe is a kinde heereof, altogither lesser. Ibid. cclxxi. 656 Landebeuf. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 279 The leaves [of Cirsion] in forme resemble an ox tongue or the hearbe Langue-de-bœufe. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. i. (1668) 14 To quicken a mans wits, spirit and memory, let him take Langdebeef, which is gathered in June or July. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 146 Lang de beuf is..of like operation with Borage and Buglosse. 1732 Ellis Pract. Farmer (ed. 2) 47 That called here Langley-Beef. |
2. A kind of spike or halbert, with a head shaped like an ox tongue.
| 1450 Rolls of Parlt. V. 212 Arraied in fourme of werre, with Jakkes Salettez, longe Swerdes, long Debeofs, Bore⁓speres, and all other unmerciable forbodon wepons. 1453 Nottingham Rec. II. 216 Cum uno langdebefe et dagario. 1487 Will of J. Cooke (Somerset Ho.), A jak, a salett & a long debefe. 1488 Will of Shamebourne (ibid.), viij saletty & iiij landebeffe & pollax. 1885 Fairholt Costume II. 271. |