▪ I. targe, n.1 Now arch. and poet.
(tɑːdʒ)
Forms: 3– targe; also 4 tarche, 5 taarge, 6 terge, Sc. 6– tairge.
[In late OE. targe fem., targa masc., ME. targe, = OF. targe (11th c. in Roland) = It. targa, Pr. targua, ad. ON. targa fem. (c 950 in Vigf.), shield, cogn. with OHG. zarga fem., ‘edging, border’. OE. targe fem., targa masc. were prob. from ON.; ME. targe from OF.; the Pr. and Sp. tarja, MHG. tartsche, early mod.Du. tartsche, targie, also from French. (The OCat. darga, Sp. and Pg. adarga, appear to be from Arab. al-darqah the shield of leather and wood.)]
1. A shield; spec. a light shield or buckler, borne instead of the heavy shield, esp. by footmen and archers.
| [c 997 Charter of æ-deric in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 304 Twa targan and tweᵹen francan. c 1015 Charter of æðelstan æðeling ibid. 363 Ic ᵹeann ælmere minen discðene..mines taregan.] 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7462 Wiþ stronge targes hom biuore þat archers ne dude hom noȝt. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 4214 Þo Beues seȝ is strokes large, He kepte his strokes wiþ is targe. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 471 On hir heed an hat As brood as is a bokeler or a targe [rime large]. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 799 Feill Inglismen..With schot was slayn, for all thar targis strang. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 42 Tua handit sourdis and tairgis. 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. i. xiii. 22 His footemen which carried the terges and scaling ladders. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1111 Those Leaves They [Adam & Eve] gatherd, broad as Amazonian Targe,..To gird thir waste. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xiii. 513 The spacious targe (a blazing round, Thick with bull-hides and brazen orbits bound). 1810 Scott Lady of L. v. xv, Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw. 1894 Gladstone Odes Horace ii. vii, Philippi's headlong rout we shared, I parted from my targe, not well. |
b. fig.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9972 (Cott.) Maria maiden, mild o mode..standes vs for sceild and targe [Laud tarche]. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 181 Knawing weill that devine helpe is the only targe and sicker munition of kingis and realmes. a 1578 Lindesay Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 127 Ane faithfull subiect and sicker tairge to the commone weill. 1599 Jas. I βασιλ. Δωρον (1682) To Rdr., To which hydra of diverslie enclined spectators, I have no targe to oppone. |
† 2. A name applied in the reigns of the first three Edwards to the King's private or privy seal (perh. bearing a shield as its device). Obs.
| [1309 Rolls of Parlt. I. 444/2 Quant as Brefs de la targe, le Roy voet, qe l'Ordenance soit gardee, qe en fust fait en temps le Roy son pere, laquele est en Chancellerie. a 1315 Lib. de Antiq. Leg. (Camden) App. 252 Ces lettres desuz son prive seal de la targe. 1315 Rolls of Parlt. I. 339/1 Par Bref de la targe. 1347 Ibid. II. 193/1 Briefs soutz le grant Seal, & Letres soutz la targe.] c 1492 Gest Robyn Hode ccclxxxv. in Child Ballads III. 75/1 He toke out the brode targe [v.r. seale], And sone he lete hym se. |
† b. (See quot.) Obs. rare.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 487/1 Targe, or chartyr, carta. |
3. attrib. and Comb.: targeman, a man armed with a targe.
| ? 17.. Battle of Sheriff-Muir (Cent. Dict.), He stoutly encounter'd the targemen. 1895 Daily News 29 Oct. 6/5 The twin targe brooch that clasps her robe. |
▪ II. † targe, n.2 Obs.
[f. targe v.1]
Tarrying, delay.
| 13.. Coer de L. 2790 Whenne that ilke man hadde hys charge, Home they wolden, withouten targe. |
▪ III. targe, n.3 Sc.
[f. targe v.3]
= targer.
| 1887 Service Dr. Duguid ix. 67 Bessie Graham was a terr'ble tairge, and had a tinkler tongue in the heid of her. 1896 J. Horne Canny Countryside iv. 40 Fat wud ye do wi' a targe lek her? |
▪ IV. † targe, v.1 Obs.
[a. OF. targier, targer (11th c. in Godef.) to tarry:—pop.L. type *tardicāre, deriv. of L. tardāre to be late, to tarry, f. tardus slow. (For Fr. form cf. juger:—L. jūdicāre.) See also tarry v.]
intr. To delay; = tarry v. Hence † targing vbl. n.
| c 1250 O. Kentish Serm. in O.E. Misc. 36 Ne solde no man targi for to wende to godalmichti ne him to serui. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 350/177 Þo he [Askebert] targede a luyte þis luþere dede to done. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2363 War-to [= why] targe [MSS. 1400– tarie, tarye] we so long to quelle him atten ende? a 1330 Otuel 833 Þo wenten þei forþ wiþouten targing. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 7588 So weri thei ben and ouer-charged, Here socour foule fro hem targed. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1075 Fructifying wodes..Wherof sum fruit wol targe & sum wol hie. |
▪ V. † targe, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. targe n.1, or a. OF. targier, targer (13th c. in Godef.) to protect, defend (cf. mod.F. targuer, a. It. targar(si)), f. targe: see targe n.1]
trans. To protect or defend as with a targe or shield; to shield.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. cxxviii. (1869) 68 This targe targede him as longe as he bar it with him. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. i. 2 Couenable to couure & targe the body of man agaynst the strokes of dartes. |
▪ VI. targe, v.3 Sc.
Also tairge, terge.
[Origin and, hence also, the sense development uncertain. Jamieson and E.D.D. start with the sense ‘to beat, strike, thrash’, but quote no instances before 1833. (L. tergere to rub, wipe, cleanse, correct, has been suggested.) The ‘soft’ g (dʒ) suggests Romanic origin.]
1. trans. To question closely, cross-examine.
| 1786 Burns Inventory 41, I on the questions tairge them tightly. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 213 Tairge them about it now..O' sic ane styk untill this day We never heard a cheep! 1869 Trollope Phineas Finn (ed. Tauchn.) II. iii, He..had on this occasion targed two or three commissariat officers very tightly with questions respecting cabbages and potatoes. |
2. To keep in strict order, look after strictly.
| 1814 Scott Wav. xlii, Callum Beg..discharging the obligation, by mounting guard over the hereditary tailor of Sliochd nan Ivor; and, as he expressed himself, ‘targed him tightly’ till the finishing of the job. 1868 Trollope Linda Tressel i. 13 Linda..was..targed more strictly in the reading of godly books. |
3. To reprimand, scold loudly; to beat, thrash.
| 1825 Jamieson, To Targe, Tairge, to beat, to strike, Perths. 1833 J. S. Sands Poems Ser. i. 105 (E.D.D.) Targed him tightly till he fell. 1861 R. Quin Heather Lintie (1866) 165 Targe him tichtly wha debases Frail human nature. |