▪ I. diet, n.1
(ˈdaɪət)
Forms: 3–6 diete, (5 diat, dyette, 5–6 dyete, diette), 5–8 dyet, (6 diot, dyot, dyat, dieat, dyeat), 5– diet.
[a. OF. diete (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), = Sp., Pg., and It. dieta, ad. L. diæta (in med.L. diēta), a. Gr. δίαιτα ‘mode of life’. (Supposed to be connected with ζάειν to live: see Meyer Gr. Gram. §261.)]
† 1. Course of life: way of living or thinking.
of the same diet, of a different diet, both of a diet, i.e. sort or kind.
| c 1400 Beryn 1431 Ech day our diete Shall be mery & solase, & this shall be for-ȝete. 1567 Triall Treas. (1850) 31 Behold howe a lie can please some folkes diet! 1612–5 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. x. ii, Either this was the Sonne himselfe, or else one..of the same diet. Ibid. xiv. vi, Worldly mindes think no man can bee of any other then their owne dyet. 1618 ― Serm. v. 104 Francis of Assise and he were both of a diet. a 1656 ― Rem. Wks. (1660) 255 The minds of men may be of a different diet. |
2. esp. Customary course of living as to food: way of feeding.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pard. T. 188 He wolde been the moore mesurable Of his diete sittynge at his table. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 333 Off dyet fayr Wallace tuk neuer kepe; Bot as it come, welcum was meit and sleip. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xiii, He wyll..enquire what skyll he hath in feedyng, called diete, and kepyng of his hauke from all sickenes. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. xv. 259 Scarcity inuites the mountaine dwellers to a more sparing and wholesome diet. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 261 He brought mankind from their foul and savage way of feeding to a more mild and rational diet. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) II. v. 360 He maintained the same abstemious diet amidst all the luxuries of his table. 1866 Livingstone Last Jrnl. 23 Dec. (1873) I. vii. 162 A meat diet is far from satisfying. |
3. Prescribed course of food, restricted in kind or limited in quantity, esp. for medical or penal reasons; regimen. Hence to put to a diet (F. mettre à la diète), to keep diet or take diet (F. observer une diète).
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 18 No deyntee morsel passed thurgh hir throte..Attempree diete was al hir phisik. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 72 Þe firste tretis is of gouernaunce & diete of men þat ben woundid. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xix. 334 (Add. MS.), There was a man-sleer taken, and put into prison, and put to his diete. 1495 Act II Hen. VII, c. 2 §1 He to be sette..in Stokkis by the space of vj daies with like diete as is before reherced. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) M vij b, The ydeotte kepeth diete from bookes and resteth on his meate. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. i. 25 To fast, like one that takes diet. 1603 ― Meas. for M. ii. i. 116 Past cure of the thing you wot of, vnlesse they kept very good diet. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improvem. (1746) 68, I define Diet..to be an orderly and due Course observed in the Use of bodily Nourishments. a 1735 Arbuthnot John Bull Postscr. Swift's Wks. 1751 VI. 166 He..by Diet, Purging, Vomiting, and Bleeding, tried to bring them to equal Bulk. 1741 Johnson L.P., Morin, To preach diet and abstinence to his patients. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 455 They rely most on diet and regimen, and next, on external applications. |
4. Food; the provisions or victuals in daily use, viewed as a collective whole, especially in relation to their quality and effects.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 112 Vnderstondeð, hwuc was his diete þet dei, iðen ilke blodletunge! So baluhful & so bitter! 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lv. (1495) 268 In chyldern the vryne is thycke by cause of gleymy diete. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xv, With alle dayntethis on dese, thi dietis are diȝte. c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 202 Kept in prison with coarse and thin diet. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 129 That the babe be..not fedde with counterfaite dyet. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 17 The Athletick Diet was of Pulse. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol (1887) I. 241 Herbs or roots (without oil) and plain dry bread. That is their lenten diet. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xiv. 144 The dogs were too much distended by their abundant diet to move. 1868 Gladstone Juv. Mundi v. (1870) 128 Nay, even a change of diet confronts us..the ox ceases to be used as food. |
| b. fig. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 41 Yet are they [plays] not fit for euery mans dyet. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Some Sonnets of Sydney, A thin diet of dainty words. |
† 5. a. An allowance or provision of food. Obs.
| 1533 Ord. Hen. VIII in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 30 We..commaunde you to alloue dailly from hensforth unto..the Lady Lucye..the dyat and fare herafter ensuyng. 1611 Bible Jer. lii. 34 And for his diet, there was a continuall diet [Coverd. lyuynge] giuen him..euery day a portion [Cov. a certayne thinge alowed him]. 1663 Evelyn Diary 20 Aug., It was said it should be the last of the public diets or tables at Court. 1671 F. Phillips Reg. Necess. 370 The young Lords or Nobility had a constant Table or dyet in the Court. |
† b. Board. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1455 Rolls of Parlt. 293 The said Prince shall sojorne and be at diettez with the Kyng. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 84 You owe Money here besides, Sir John, for your Dyet. 1602 ― Ham. i. i. 99 Young Fortinbras..Hath..Shark'd vp a List of Lawlesse Resolutes, For Foode, and Diet. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv, He shall have..ten pound per annum, and his diet. 1645 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 204 Here many of the merchants..have their lodging and diet as in a College. 1792 N. Chipman Amer. Law Rep. (1871) 27 The bond was taken for the prisoner's..diet and to secure the gaoler's fees. 1878 Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 74 The king..gave him 3,000 ducats more, besides the daily expenses of his lodging and diet. |
† 6. Allowance for the expenses of living. Obs.
| a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. 24 This must cause her comyn diette to be the more for the high estate of her proper person. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 27 Suche like diettes, rewardes, profites and commodities..for their attendance vpon the saide Chauncellour. c 1540 Bp. Bonner in Wyatt's Poems Pref. (1854) 41 If he were a good husband, the diets of iiij marks would find his house..after a far other sort than it is kept. 1551 Sir R. Moryson Lett. to Cecil Jan. 20 (Recd. Off.) Is my land so increast sins my cummyng out..that men do thynke I may serue the Kyng without my dyettes? 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxiv. 236 Common⁓wealths can endure no diet; seeing their expense is not limited by their own appetite, but by external accidents. [1885 R. W. Dixon Hist. Ch. Eng. (1893) III. xix. 338 The allowances of the ambassador, or, as they were called, his diets, were ever unpaid.] |
7. a. Comb., as diet-bag, diet-list, diet-money; also diet-bread, special bread prepared for invalids or persons under dietetic regimen; diet-kitchen (see quot.); † diet-pot, a pot by which to measure diet-drink; diet-sheet, a paper showing a daily diet, esp. for the inmates of an institution; † diet-wood (see quot.). Also diet-book, -drink.
| 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 162 Heaps of plants by some physicians are ordered to stuff *diet-bags withal. |
| 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. ix. 357 To feede them with such dirt for *diet-bread. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 223 Drinking her green tea, eating her diet-bread, begging her gowns. |
| 1880 Webster Suppl., *Diet-kitchen, a charitable establishment which provides proper food for the helpless poor. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. i. 19 A very moderate supply of liquors..made up the *diet-list. |
| 1519 Sir T. Boleyn in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 161 Send me such *dyett-money as shall best please your Grace. 1551 Sir R. Moryson Lett. to Cecil Jan. 7, I mervayl my dieat mony cummith not. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. vii. 74 Allow them as much Diet money as their own Soldiers receive. |
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 23 The *Dyet Pot is not alone to be used in cases of dyet drink. |
| c 1863 F. Nightingale in C. Woodham-Smith F. Nightingale (1950) xvii. 397 Revised *diet sheets for Troop-Ships. 1902 J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 182 We all lay in, or upon, our beds with our board-mounted diet-sheets in our hands. 1918 W. Owen Let. 22 July (1967) 566, I see an old Diet Sheet on the table. 1967 Vogue Jan. 51/1 This is the Diet sheet. Vary meat, eggs, chicken and fish..to avoid boredom. |
| 1568 Turner Herbal iii. 34 Guiacum..Some call it the *Diet woode because they that kepe a diet for the French poxe..most commonly drinke the broth of this woode. |
b. Used attrib. of (esp. carbonated soft) drinks with reduced sugar content sold commercially, as diet cola, diet Pepsi, etc. orig. U.S.
| 1963 Newsweek 8 July 76/3 Pepsi introduced its Patio Diet Cola..and Coke its Tab..only days apart this year. 1964 Business Week 27 June 90/3 Patio Diet Cola was not the success Pepsi had hoped, so it has rushed to market a new drink, Diet Pepsi. 1966 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 29 Nov. tm237 PepsiCo, Inc., New York... Diet Pepsi. 1969 New Yorker 25 Oct. 58/2 She loves diet cola spiked with a spoonful of chocolate syrup. 1970 Ibid. 24 Oct. 58 (caption) They open flip-top can..Diet Pepsi. 1985 Washington Post 18 Sept. e21/6 The third- and fourth-fastest-growing items were breakfast sandwiches and diet colas. |
▪ II. diet, n.2
(ˈdaɪət)
[ad. med.L. diēta in same senses, or a. F. diète in sense 5 (Cotgr. 1611): cf. also It. dieta ‘a parliament or generall assembly of estates’ (Florio, 1598), Sp. dieta the (Germanic) diet.
Med.L. diēta had the various senses ‘day's journey’, ‘day's work’, ‘day's wage’, ‘space of a day’, as well as that of ‘assembly, meeting of councillors, diet of the empire’. The same senses, more or less, are (or have been) expressed by Ger. tag, and F. journée day. Diēta has therefore been viewed as a simple derivative of L. dies day, distinct from diæta, Gr. δίαιτα, diet n.1 But it seems more likely that one or other of the senses developed from diæta was associated with dies, and led to the application of the word to other uses arising directly from dies. One of the senses given by Du Cange is ‘the ordinary course of the church’: this seems naturally transferred from δίαιτα, diæta, in the sense ‘ordinary or prescribed course of life’, which might be understood to mean ‘daily office’, and so lead to the use of diēta for other daily courses, duties, or occasions.]
† 1. A day's journey; ‘an excursion, a journey’ (Jamieson). Obs. chiefly Sc. (So F. journée.)
| [c 1290 Fleta iv. xxviii. §13 (Du Cange) Omnis rationabilis dieta constat ex 20 miliaribus.] c 1440 Gesta Rom. xix. 67 (Harl. MS.) Also how many daies iourneys... This terme or this dyet, is not ellis but the terme of thi lyfe. c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1814) 212 (Jam.) Sum of the conspiratouris, who hard tell of the kingis dyett, followed fast to Leith eftir him. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 143 Twa or thrie gude men of the Gilde sall travell with him for twa dyets. a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1678) 248 (Jam.) The king..prayeth him to waken up all men to attend his coming..for his diet would be sooner perhaps than was looked for. |
† 2. A day's work. Sc. Obs. (So F. journée.)
| 1494 Ld. Treas. Accts. Scot. I. 246 Item, to Thome Red and Jhone of Schipe, for vj diet at the wod, vj s. |
3. Sc. A day fixed for a particular meeting or assembly; an appointed date or time. b. spec. The day on which a party in a civil or criminal process is cited to appear in court. More fully diet of appearance, compearance. (So OF. journée.)
| 1568 Satir. Poems Reform. xlvii. 80 Gif he cumis nocht thair, I wald we tuke, To keip oure dyet, Maister Dauid Makgill. 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 93 To compeir befoire the said Committie of Estaites..and that to anie day or diet the said Commissares or Collectores shall pleis to charge thame to. 1692 Will. III. Instr. to Sir T. Livingston 16 Jan. (Highland Pa., Maitl. Cl. 1845) Those who have not taken the benefit of our indemnity within the diet prefixt by our proclamation. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. ii. vi. (1743) 391 Having obtained a Dyet, i.e. a set day for his publick trial. 1752 J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 9 All the Diets of Court are peremptory. 1810 Act 50 Geo. III, c. 112 §27 In actions at present requiring two diets of appearance against persons within Scotland, there shall be only one diet of twenty-seven days. 1823 Symson Descr. Galloway 26 (Jam.) A market for good fat kine [is] kept on the Friday..this market being ruled by the dyets of the nolt-market of Wigton. |
† c. Date, day of date. Obs.
| 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 9 To raise [= erase] the diett off an instrumente. |
4. Sc. A session or sitting of a court or other body on an appointed day; a single session of any assembly occupying a day or part of one.
| 1587 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1599) §82 Called..before the justice or his deputes at iustice aires, or particular diettes. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iii. i. 13 At the diets of weekly and ordinary preaching. 1643 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) p. xxi, I attendit many dayes and dyetts, and in end..a decreit was gifine thereupon. 1854 Phemie Millar II. 21 He's put on his Sabbath day claes..and sat out the haill diet. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. iii. (1857) 48, I began to dole out to them by the hour and the diet, long extempore biographies. 1876 Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. ii. iv. 147 In the week preceding, the classes shall be tried at two different diets by examiners appointed by the town Council. 1894 Crockett Raiders 25 Who met statedly for their diets of worship at Springholm. |
b. to call the diet: to call the parties to an action in court on the appointed day. to desert the diet: see desert v. 4.
| 1753 Scots Mag. Sept. 469/1 The diet was deserted as to Cameron. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. 217 Herald, proclaim the diet, and command The people to attention. 1893 Daily News 28 Dec. 5/4 Outlawry is a sentence pronounced in the Supreme Criminal Court of Scotland in the absence of the accused at the calling of the diet, that is, the day on which he is summoned to appear and stand his trial. |
5. A meeting by formal appointment for conference or transaction of national or international business; a conference, congress, convention. (In later use generally influenced by b.) (So OF. journée.)
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 280 Thai counsall the Pape to writ in this wyss To the Athile Empriour..To adress to that dyet, to deme his awyss. 1471 in Rymer State Papers 717 It is Appointed..that the Twenty fourth Day of September next comeyng, at the Towne of Alnewyke, shall be kept a Dyet, by the grete Commissioners of both Landes, for Reforming of the said Wrongs and Injuries. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 453 A daye of dyet was atwene the two kynges [of England and France] appoyntyd. Ibid. 611 After Easter was a daye of diot holden bytwene Grauenynge and Calays, for the matyers touchynge the kynge and the duke of Burgoyne. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 156 There was demaunded in the first dyet or conuention holden at Dordract, a recompense at the handes of the sayd English ambassadors. 1600 Holland Livy xxxv. xxv. 902 The Achæans..published a Diet and generall Counsell at Sicyone. 1879 Froude Cæsar xiv. 209 A diet of chiefs was held under Cæsar's presidency. |
b. spec. Applied to the regular meeting of the estates of a realm or confederation; hence also collectively to the estates or representatives so meeting (cf. congress). The English name (from end of the 16th c.) of the former Reichstag of the (German) Roman Empire, and of the federal or national assemblies of Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, etc.; later of the Bundestag of the Germanic Confederation (1815–66); applied also to the Reichstag or Imperial Parliament of the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires, and the Landtag or local parliament of their constituent states, and sometimes to the parliamentary assemblies of other states of Eastern Europe, of Japan, etc.
| 1565 T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 140 a, They haue had diets and assembles in Germany by the force and procurement of the Catholike Emperours. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 632 In Switzerland..if any greate matter fall out, that is common to all the leagues, they hold their generall councell, called a Journey, or a Diet. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. vii. §48 At an assembly or dyet, where the greatest Princes and States of the Empire were in person. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Diet (diæta) in Germany it is the same thing as a Parliament in England, a great Assembly or Council of the States and Princes of the Empire. 1687 Dryden Hind & Panther ii. 407 Thus would your Polish Diet disagree, And end, as it began, in anarchy. 1698 Lond. Gaz. No. 3377/2 Several Deputies from the Palatinates in Lithuania..seem very desirous of a Dyet on Horseback. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 21 ¶19 To assist at the Diet of the States of Hungary. 1756–7 Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 422 Possibly a few of the most powerful princes might find their account in the dissolution of the diet. 1814 tr. Klaproth's Trav. 66 The Poles assembled at the diet held in 1573 for the election of a new sovereign. 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 192/2 The three colleges formed the diet of the empire, whose ordinary meetings were formerly summoned by the emperors twice a year. Ibid. 191/1 The central point and organ of the present Germanic Confederation is the Federative Diet, which sits at Frankfort on the Main. 1838 Murray's Handbk. N. Germ. 446 The Diet meets to deliberate..in the building, formerly the palace of the Prince of Thurn and Taxis. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 261 The meeting at Oxford resembled rather that of a Polish diet than that of an English parliament. 1871 Outl. Mod. Geog. 68 Frankfürt-on-the-Main, formerly a free city and seat of the Germanic Diet. 1895 Times (Weekly Ed.) 29 Mar. 1/4 The Japanese Diet was closed on Wednesday. Ibid. 2/4 The Lower House of the Prussian Diet..authorized its President to convey its congratulations to Prince Bismarck. Ibid., There is..no intention of dissolving the Imperial Diet. |
6. The metal scraped or cut from gold and silver plate assayed day by day at the Mint, and retained for the purpose of trial.
| 1700–1 Act 12–13 Will. III, c. 4 §4 It shall..be lawfull to detain Eight Grains only from every Pound Troy of Silver he shall assay, Four Grains whereof shall be put into the Box of Dyett. Ibid. §5 That the Box or Boxes wherein the Diet of all such Plate as shall be tryed by the Assayers aforesaid shall be locked up with Three different Locks..And the said Diet therein contained shall be tryed as the Pix of the Coin of this Kingdom is tryed. 1772–3 Act 13 Geo. III, c. 52 §6. 1883 Roberts & Hill in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) XVI. 491/2 Another operation..performed in the mint is the assay of the ‘diet’ or metal scraped from the gold and silver plate manufactured at Sheffield and Birmingham. 1889 19th Rep. Deputy-Master of Mint 53 These diets, consisting of scrapings from gold and silver wares which have been hall-marked at the Assay offices. |
b. attrib. as diet-box.
| 1835 P. Kelly Univ. Cambist i. (ed. 2) 219 The cuttings and scrapings of the articles assayed..are kept in what is called the Diet-box, in order to be melted into a mass and proved like the Pix, before the proper officers. |
▪ III. ˈdiet, v.
Forms: 4 diȝete, 5 diete, dyatt, 5–7 dyet, 6 diate, 7 dyat, diett, diot, 5– diet.
[a. OF. diete-r to feed, order the diet of (Godef.), f. diete diet n.1: cf. med.L. diætāre to live according to a certain plan (a 1087 in Du Cange), f. diæta.]
I. trans.
1. To feed, esp. in a particular way, or with specified kinds of food; to put (a person) to a specified diet.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 255 And ȝif þou diȝete þe þus I dar legge boþe myn Eres, Þat Fisyk schal his Forred hod, for his foode sulle. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 98 Voide him a litil and diete him with colde metis and stiptik. 1483 Cath. Angl. 99 To Diet, dietare. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xxxvii. 34 He that dyeteth him self temperatly prolongeth his life. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 91 My self I dieted with sloas. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 69 He that taught Abel how to diet Sheep. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 803 Dieted by thee I grow mature In knowledge as the Gods who all things know. 1742 Fielding J. Andrews ii. xvii, He diets them with all the dainty food of holiness. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Consid. Wks. (Bohn) II. 425 It makes no difference, in looking back five years, how you have been dieted and dressed. |
† b. (predicated of the food). Obs.
| 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 17 Dead Whales, Seales, Pengwins, grease or raw Puddings diet them. |
c. fig.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 375 Only his golden thoughts would not be worser Dioted than with a Diademe. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 183 Thou art all the comfort The Gods will diet me with. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 6 You diet him with nothing but with rules and exceptions. 1816 Coleridge Lay Serm. 327 That vast company..whose heads and hearts are dieted at the two public ordinaries of literature, the circulating libraries, and the periodical press. |
2. To fix, prescribe, or regulate the food of (a person, etc.) in nature or quantity, for a purpose. spec. a. as a regimen of health.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 213, I dietide him as a man þat hadde a fever agu. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. (1822) 400 Eftir that the sick man has sufferit himself to be diet fra metis and drinkis. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 99, I will attend my husband, be his nurse, Diet his sicknesse. 1641 Milton Animadv. (1851) 188 You are not dieted, nor your loynes girt for spirituall valour. 1768 Foote Devil on 2 Sticks iii. Wks. 1799 II. 275 Full power..to pill..diet..and poultice all persons. 1849 R. A. Vaughan in Brit. Q. Rev. May 312 Goethe..having dieted himself for hard work, was busy at Weimar with his ‘Faust’. |
| fig. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxxi. (1739) 188 These must be purged by dieting the State. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. iv. 44 The Archbishopric of York and..the Bishopric of Ely (being both of them thought needlessly gross)..were dieted, some say, pinch'd and impaired too much. |
b. as a punishment, etc.
| 1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 348 After they had dieted and tormented him. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 440 ¶6 The President immediately ordered him to be..dieted with Water-gruel, till such time as he should be sufficiently weakened for Conversation. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 12 The simple privilege of locking him up, dieting him [etc.]. |
† 3. fig. To order, regulate. Obs. rare.
| 1576 J. Woolton Chr. Manual (Parker Soc.) 125 In dieting all our words and works to his honour and glory. |
4. To provide with daily meals; to board.
| 1635 J. Sadler in Verney Papers (1853) 160 His men maye..be taken of his hande and dyated for theyre worke for the first yeare. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 362 Tower prisoners were not dieted on their own, but on the king's charges. a 1713 T. Ellwood Autobiog. (1714) 235, I..was dieted in the House of a Friendly Man. 1732 Acc. Workhouses 111 We have 20 men and women..lodg'd and dieted here. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2.) s.v. Thingdon, A charity-school for 20 girls, who are cloathed, lodged, and dieted. |
II. intr.
5. To take one's ordinary food, or meals; to feed (on).
| 1566 Drant Horace Sat. iii. D iv, Haste thou a frende that dyets harde? 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 23 Where the Canons live togither, they go each man to diet at his owne house. 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 118 At what ordinary, or rather extraordinary do they diet? a 1734 North Lives I. 192 He kept no house in town, but ordinarily dieted in the Temple. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxiv. 522 Neither worm, which diets on the brave In battle fall'n, hath eaten him, or taint Invaded. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. xv. (1845) 150 Those four-and-twenty young bloods dieted all that day with the Lord Abbot. |
b. To board (with a person, at, in a house, etc.).
| 1581 L. Aldersey in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 181 There we lay and dieted of free cost. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. iii. i. 205 They were to diet at the Carriers charge. 1656 J. Hammond Leah & R. (1844) 15 To dyet and quarter in another mans house. 1703 Thoresby Diary I. 411 We lodged and dieted with him at Mr. Lamplugh's. 1802 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 370/2 A young man..who dieted and lodged in the house, has been apprehended on suspicion. |
6. To regulate oneself as to diet; to eat according to prescribed rules, i.e. as to the kind of food, the quantity and time of eating, and the like.
| 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. ix. (1701) 348/2 He first taught Wrestlers..to diet with flesh. 1749 Wesley Acct. School 5 They diet thus: Breakfast, Milk-porridge and Water-gruel, by Turns. 1893 Strand Mag. VI. 215/1 She dieted as carefully as if she had been a dyspeptic in ruins. |
Hence ˈdieted ppl. a., subjected to a regimen of diet.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. ii. §3 There will bee seldome vse of..Phisicke in a sound or well dieted bodie. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 75 Idle Heads have made these addle Proverbs; 1. Dieted Bodies are but Bridges to Physicians Minds. |