▪ I. mascle, n.1
(ˈmɑːsk(ə)l, -æ-)
Also 4 maskle, 5 maskill, mascule, 7 mascal.
[Of somewhat obscure etymology.
Senses 1 and 2 coincide with senses of L. macula; senses 2 and 3 with senses of F. macle, first quoted from 1584, and regarded by French lexicographers as ad. L. macula; OF. mascle (= sense 3 below) occurs in the Roll of Caerlaverock c 1300, and with date 1397 in Nicholls Roy. Wills (1780) 155; cf. further med.L. mascula mesh (early 15th c. in Diefenbach, perh. an alteration of L. macula after OHG. masca mesh), and OE. mæscre, glossing L. macula, whether in the sense of mesh or in that of spot is doubtful. With sense 1 cf. the 16th c. Du. maschel spot, stain (Kilian).]
† 1. A spot, speck. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 725 With-outen mote oþer mascle of sulpande synne. Ibid. B. 556 With-outen maskle oþer mote. a 1400–50 Alexander 4989 All þe body..Was finely florischt..Of gold graynes & of goules full of gray mascles. |
† 2. = mesh of a net. Obs.
| 1329 in Riley Mem. Lond. (1868) 172 [The meshes of which nets which are called] mascles [ought to be 1½ inch in size.] c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby) fol. 21 Men taketh hem [sc. foxes]..with heyes, and with pursnettes. But he kutteth with his teth þe mascles. 1688 R. Holme Armoury i. 108/2 Mascle, a Mash of a Net. 1696 Phillips, Mascle,..the mash or hole of a net. |
† b. attrib. in mascle lace. Obs.
| a 1500 MS. Harl. 2320 f. 62 in Catalogue, [Kinds of lace in fashion under Hen. VI. and Edw. IV.] Lace Maskel. |
3. Her. A charge in the form of a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped opening through which the ‘field’ appears. (Cf. mesh.) Also attrib.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. F iij b, Here ye shall knaw the differans be twix fusillis, masculys and losyngys. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 126 Whensoeuer ye shall see eyther Losenge, Mascle, or other thynge voyded of the fielde, Fesse, bende &c. whereon theye stande, it is sufficient to saye, voyded, onelye. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iv. xix. (1632) 359 A Mascle differeth from both the Fusill and Lozenge; first, because [etc.]. 1680 Lond. Gaz. No. 1503/4 Several pieces of Plate engraven with a Leopards head..and five Mascals. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 322/2 A Mascle Buckle Bottony..is generally termed by the name of a Losenge or Mascle Shooe Buckle. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 455/1 Opinions have varied very much about the original of the mascles or mashes. 1893 Cussans Her. (ed. 4) 71 The Mascle is a Lozenge voided. |
| transf. 1863 Kinglake Crimea II. 204 The outline of the ground covered by their troops took the shape of a lozenge. Within the mascle or hollow lozenge thus formed, there marched the Turkish battalions. |
4. Antiq. One of the perforated lozenge-shaped plates of metal fastened to the outer surface of the military tunic of the 13th century. (Cf. macle 4.)
| 1822 Gentl. Mag. XCII. i. 308 But two different kinds of mail, the mascled and flat ringed, are all that can be found in them, the mascles being sometimes lozenge-shaped and sometimes square. 1824 Meyrick Anc. Armour I. Introd. 69 A tunic,..coated with perforated lozenges of steel, called..macles, or mascles. 1846 Fairholt Costume in Eng. 88 These mascles were lozenge-shaped plates of metal. |
▪ II. † mascle, a. and n.2 Obs.
Also 5 mascul.
[a. early OF. mascle: see male a.]
= male a. and n. mascul thure: ‘male incense’ (see male a. 6).
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) i, An hare shall dure well iiii. myle or more or lasse, and she be an olde hare mascle. Ibid. iv, For alle þe sesoun a mascle and a femell abydith togyders. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 412 A vnce of mascul thure Wel smellynge, and an vnce of pipur dure. 1455 Rolls of Parlt. V. 329/2 Thaim and thaire heires mascles. 1587 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. ii. 19 in Holinshed, Without the coupling of mascle or female. |