▪ I. fescue, n.
(ˈfɛskjuː)
Forms: 4–6 festu(e, (6 -ew, -ure, -we, 7 -er), 6 fe(e)skew, 7 fes(t)kue, 8 fescu, 8–9 fesque, 9 dial. vester, 6– fescue.
[a. OF. festu (Fr. fétu) a straw:—popular L. *festūcum = class. L. festūca. Cf. Pr. festuc masc., festuca, festuga fem., It. festuco masc., festuca fem.]
† 1. A straw, rush, twig; a small piece of straw, a mote in the eye (with ref. to Matt. vii. 3). Hence, a thing of little importance. Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 278 Þe beem lithe in ȝowre eyghen, And þe festu is fallen for ȝoure defaute, In alle manere men. 1382 Wyclif Matt. vii. 3 What seest thou a festu, or a litil mote, in the eiȝe of thi brother. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 163/1 Fyschelle of fyschew, or festu, festuca. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 400 b/1 He demaunded hym of the festue and of the beme. 1592 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 54 A pretty feate for amber, to iuggle chaffe, festues or the like weighty burdens. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 720 Thin strawes and fescues small. |
2. A small stick, pin, etc. used for pointing out the letters to children learning to read; a pointer.
| 1513 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd for iiij festewys iijd. 1533 More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1102/1, I shall..lay it afore him agayn, and sette him to it with a festue, that he shall not say but he saw it. 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde 7 Though their fescue euen then pointed at Capitall letters. 1612 Two Noble K. ii. ii, Ay, do but put A feskve in her fist. 1714 Gay What d'ye call it i. i. 8, I..Taught him his Catechism, the Fescue held. 1762 Foote Orator i. Wks. 1799 I. 197 The fescues and fasces, which have been..consigned to one, or more matron in every village. 1825 J. Jennings Dial. W. Eng. Gloss. 81 Vester..a fescue. 1876 Browning Pacchiarotto 19 Play schoolmaster, point as with fescue. |
| fig. 1644 [see ferular]. 1648 Earl Westmrld. Otia Sacra (1879) 53 As Appetite, Not Reasons Fescue shall direct. |
† 3. transf. (nonce-uses.) a. The shadow on a sundial. b. A plectrum for use with the harp or lyre.
| 1607 W[entworth] S[mith] Puritaine iv. 47 The feskewe of the Diall is vpon the Chrisse-crosse of Noone. 1616 Chapman Homer's Hymn to Apollo 288 And with thy golden fescue play'dst upon Thy hollow harp. |
4. More fully fescue-grass: A genus (Festuca) of grasses. hard fescue, sheep's fescue, meadow fescue: translations of the botanical names of species, F. duriuscula, F. ovina, F. pratensis. Also Chewings fescue [f. the name of Charles Chewings (1859–1937)], a New Zealand pasture and lawn grass, Festuca rubra subsp. commutata.
| 1762 W. Hudson Flor. Angl. Index, Fescue-grass, hard, meadow, sheep's, tall. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xiii. 138 Sheeps fescue is a well known grass, always to be found in sheep commons. Ibid. 139 Meadow Fescue, one of the best grasses for cultivation, has a culm for two feet high. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 187 Fesque grass (Festuco) many species. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. viii. (1814) 362 Tall fescue grass stands highest. 1854 Hooker Himal. Jrnls. II. xxiv. 176 Short sedges and fescue-grass. 1855 Morton Cycl. Agric. 863/2 s.v. Festuca, The hard fescue. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 530 Sweeping the frothfly from the fescue. 1917 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses viii. 152 Seeds of Chewing's Fescue should have a purity of 90 to 95 per cent. 1925 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. XXXI. 357 Mr. Chewings harvested the fescue-field and marketed the seed, presumably as ‘Chewings's fescue’. This would be about the year 1885. 1954 C. E. Hubbard Grasses 115 The name ‘Chewings Fescue’ is from a Mr. Chewings who first sold its seed in New Zealand. |
▪ II. † fescue, v. Obs.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To direct or assist in reading with a fescue.
| 1641 Milton Animadv. (1851) 201 Fescu'd to a formal injunction of his rote-lesson. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees ii. (1733) 9 They..want more Fescuing and a broader Explanation. a 1749 Philips Odes (1807) 83 Fescu'd now perhaps in spelling. |