▪ I. leash, n.
(liːʃ)
Forms: α. 3, 5 lece, 4 leesse, 4–5 lees, 4–6 les, lese, 5–7 leace, lease, (5 leese, leys, lyes, 6 leasse). β. 4 Sc. leysche, 4–7 lesh, 5 lesshe, leeshe, 5–6 Sc. lische, 6 leysshe, leshe, leas(s)he, Sc. leish, leisch, lesch, (7 leach), 6– leash.
[a. OF. lesse, laisse (mod.F. laisse) ?:—L. laxa fem. of laxus lax a.]
1. The thong or line in which hounds or coursing-dogs are held. Phr. † with the leash, † at a leash, on or in (the or a) leash. Proverbial phr. † as greyhound (let out) of leash.
| α a 1300 St. Gregory 822 in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LVII. 68 Houndes þat were liȝt & lent To leten of lece, to cacche beste. 13.. Coer de L. 1923 As greyhounds stricken out of lesse, Kyng Richard threst among the press. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 9126 (Kölbing) Merlin smot forþ, þai after dasse On aiþer half, so grehounde of lasse. a 1400 Octouian 767 As glad as grehond y-lete of lese Florent was than. c 1440 Partonope 558 Her lees were as softe as sylk. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 16 Every man..had a masty hound at a lyes. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 85 In comes another his houndes at his tayle, With lynes and leases and other like baggage. 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Eng. Dogs 7 Beyng restrained and drawne backe from running at random with the leasse. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 1027 Having in his right hand a Club, and in his left land a Leace, unto the which Thyus was tied. 1640 tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. I. xxviii. 130 Perceiving a Damsell comming in with two Lions in a lease, he went speedily down [etc.]. |
| β 1356–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 558 Pro catenis, chapes, et leshes, et uno Cornu pro venatore,..7s. 11d. 1375 Barbour Bruce vii. 414 His leysche till him drew he, And leit his houndis gang all fre. c 1440 Ipomydon 785 Furthe he went with greyhondis thre, In a lesshe he dyd hem do. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 134 He that will labour a beast to hunt or chase..His lines, colers, and leshes he must dresse. 1513 Douglas æneis v. ix. 104 He that the lische and lyame in schondir draue. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 74/1 The Fewterer..shall receive the Greyhounds matched to run together, into his Leash, as soon as he comes into the Field. 1808 Wordsw. Force of Prayer iii, [He] holds a greyhound in a leash, To let slip upon buck or doe. 1830 Scott Demonol. iv. 131 She led three greyhounds in a leash. 1879 Ouida C. Castlemaine 5 Fretting like staghounds held in leash. 1888 Times 13 Oct. 7/6 The hounds, hunted on the leash. Ibid. 16 Oct. 10/5 The hound worked on leash from the spot where the deer had lodged. |
| transf. 1741 Mem. M. Scriblerus i. i. 10 A Paper kite which had broke its leash by the impetuosity of the wind. |
† b. the leash: (a) the department of the king's household concerned with the keeping of the hounds; (b) the art or practice of coursing.
| 1526 Househ. Ord. (1790) 194 The charge of 68 loves of bread served to the officers of the Lesh for the expences of the Kings Greyhounds. 1552 in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. xxxiii. 540 The office of child of the leashe to Iohn Streete for life, with the wages of 40s. by year. 1611 Markham Country Content. i. vii. (1615) 104 Touching the lawes of the lease or coursing. Ibid. 106 Those which are chosen Iudges of the leashe, shall giue their iudgements before they depart from the field. c 1628 Warrant in Verney Papers (1853) 180 Lord Compton, master of his majestys leash. 1665 Warrant in Sporting Mag. XLII. 10 Like as my perdecessors masters of the Leash. |
2. A set of three; originally in Sporting language, used of hounds, hawks, foxes, hares, deer, etc.; hence gen.
| α c 1320 Sir Tristr. 446 Tristrem hunters seiȝe ride, Les of houndes þai ledde. 1376–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 387 In uno lese et uno pare de turetteis. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 21424 Swyche houndys..God wot, I ha mo than a les. 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vj b, A Lece of thessame haukis, iij. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Faulconrie 166 They cast off a cast or a lease of Sacres, which follow the peregrine falcon. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia vi. 231 As we passed we see a lease of Bucks. 1690 Dryden Amphitryon iv. (1691) 42, I put in for a brace, or a lease. 1723 True Briton No. 15 I. 126 Giving their Suffrages for the Good of their Country..and this too, not by Couples or Leases, but by Scores, almost, at a time. |
| β c 1450 Merlin 181 Gawein..ledde in honde a leeshe of grehoundes, and ledde also two brace folowinge hym. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 592 Here is a leysshe of ratches to renne an hare. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis Ep. Ded. (Arb.) 9 Thee third [posy] (for I wyl present your lordship with a leshe). 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 7 Sirra, I am sworn brother to a leash of Drawers..Tom, Dicke, and Francis. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iii. ii, I..kept my chamber a leash of daies for the anguish of it. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 104 Or Cerberus himself pronounce A Leash of Languages at once. 1705 Double Welcome xvi. 7 A Leash of Armies on thy Plains appear. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 51 ¶8 A leash of hares to be potted by his wife. 1792 Munchhausen's Trav. xxi. 88, I have acquired precisely nine hundred and ninety-nine leash of languages. 1826 Scott Woodst. xxii, A brace of wild-ducks and a leash of teal. 1838 C. J. Apperley Nimrod's North. Tour (1874) 259 We found a leash of foxes, one after another. 1859 Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 50 Then were I wealthier than a leash of Kings. 1882 Gd. Words 604, I contrived to bag a leash of trout. |
3. Hawking. The thong or string which is passed through the varvels of the jesses to secure the hawk.
| 1497 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1877) I. 366 Item for chessis and lischis thare vjd. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Faulconrie 147 Tying..a cryance unto your hawkes lease. 1615 Latham Falconry (1633) Gloss., Lease or leash is a small long thong of leather, by which the Faulconer holdeth his Hawke fast, folding it many times about their fingers. 1635 Quarles Embl. v. ix. (1718) 282 But her too faithful leash doth soon retain Her broken flight, attempted oft in vain. 1686 R. Blome Gentl. Recreat. ii. 62 Lease or Leach. 1826 J. S. Sebright Hawking (1828) 11 When he has been furnished with the necessary appendages of hood, bells, jesses, and leash, he is to be tied to the block. 1874 Tennyson Vivien 123 Their talk was all of..terms of art, Diet and seeling, jesses, leash and lure. |
4. fig. (with allusion to senses 1 and 3); esp. in phrases, to hold or have in leash, to have control over, keep in bondage.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. xl. (1869) 195 She is prioresse, whiche leedeth alle þe cloystreres in les, bounden bi hondes and bi feet. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 71 Wrath ledeth shame in a lese. 1560 Becon New Catech. iv. Wks. 1564 I. 422 For God hathe them in lease. Yea..they are his slaues. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 477 What I was, I am: More straining on, for plucking backe; not following My leash vnwillingly. 1648 Boyle Seraph. Love xii. (1700) 62 The ravish'd Soul being shewn such Game as that, would hate so eagerly, that she would break those Leashes that tye her to the Body. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. i. 178 We lead along In leashes..The clouds that are heavy with love's sweet rain. 1842 Tennyson Love & Duty 40 Thy low voice..would..hold passion in a leash. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. ii. iv, His ministers Must lure, not drag in leash. 1856 Miss Mulock J. Halifax xvii. (1859) 181 It was easy to see..that, did he once slip the leash of his passions, it would go hard with Richard Brithwood. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VI. li. 231 The soldiers, long held in the leash..were eager to spring upon the foe. |
† 5. A snare, noose. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 233 With oon worde him list not oonys deyne To brynge ageyne my sorouful hert in pees, For he is kaught vp in a noþer lees. 1814 Cary Dante, Par. xxviii. 12 Looking upon the beauteous eyes, whence love Had made the leash to take me. |
† 6. Sc. = lash n.1 Obs. (Cf. leash v. 2.)
| 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 45 Lat him lay sax leichis on thy lendis. 1508 Dunbar Flyting w. Kennedie 100 Thow art bot Gluncoch with thy giltin hippis, That for thy lounry mony a leish hes fyld. |
7. Weaving. a. One of the cords (having an eye in the middle to receive the warp-thread) which extend between the parallel laths of the heddle of a loom. Also written leish.
| 1731 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 105 Some of these Frames are made like a Loom, with a Warp passed through the Leishes. 1878 Barlow Weaving 77 The headles consist of two laths, between which are stretched the required number of ‘leashes’ usually made of linen thread, and having an eye formed in the middle of them. |
b. = lease n.4 2.
| 1888 J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 463/2 At each end of the warp the threads are, by a mechanical device in the heck, made to intersect alternately, forming leashes, which are, when taken from the reel, separately tied up, and thus aid in maintaining the parallelism of the ends when they are bundled up. |
8. attrib., as leash-hound, leash-man; † leash-law (see quot.).
| 1679 Blount Anc. Tenures 46 Leash-hounds or Park-hounds, such as draw after a hurt Deer in a Leash or Liam. 1721 Bailey, Leash-Laws, are Laws to be observed in Hunting or Coursing. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. II. 91 [He] ordered that the leashmen should exert themselves in recovering their scattered hounds. |
▪ II. leash, v.
(liːʃ)
Also 7 lease.
[f. leash n.]
1. trans. To attach or connect by a leash.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, Prol. 7 And, at his heeles, (Leasht in, like Hounds), should Famine, Sword, and Fire, Crouch for employment. a 1658 Lovelace Lucasta Posth. (1659) 33 Cerberus, from below Must leash'd t'himself with him a hunting go. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches xvii. 374 We were then two snarling hounds leashed together. |
b. fig. To link together, esp. in threes.
| 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 18, I prefer leashing together these points of the discussion. 1887 Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. x. (1890) 366 He [Crashaw] was a much younger man than either of the poets with whom we have leashed him. 1898 Reade in New Century Rev. IV. 501 Yet were these rivals leashed by sacred ties. |
2. † To beat or lash with a leash (obs.); to whip (dial.).
| 1503 Sc. Acts Jas. IV, c. 103 (ed. 1566) Gif ony childer..commit ony of thir thingis..their fathers..sall..deliuer the said childe to the juge, to be leichit, scurgeit and dung. 1583 Balfour Practicks (1754) 27 Ordanis the Dean of Gilde..to gar leisch barnis that perturbis the kirk. 1592 Lyly Midas iv. iii. E 4, If I catch thee in the forest, thou shalt be leasht... A boy leasht on the single. 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (ed. 2) 81 In many cases heretofore Leasing was observed; that is, one must be held, either cross a Saddle, or on a mans Back, and with a pair of Dog-couples receive ten pound and a Purse; that is, ten stripes.. and an eleventh, that used to be as bad as the other ten, called a Purse. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Leash, leesh, to whip. ‘Leesh yor horse up, man’. |