gleeman Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈgliːmən)
Forms: 1 gl{iacu}ᵹ-, glii(ᵹ)-, 1–4 gléo-, 3 gley-, 4–6 gle-, 4, 8– gleeman. β. 2, 5 glew-, 3 gleu-, 5 glu-, glwman.
[f. glee n. + man.]
A professional entertainer at social gatherings; esp. a singer, musician, or minstrel.
| α Beowulf (Z.) 1160 Leoð wæs asungen, Gleomannes gyd. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xliv. 327 Moniᵹe weliᵹe menn..lætað cuelan hungre Cristes ðearfan & fedað yfle gliiᵹmenn mid oferwiste. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 150/18 Mimus, jocista, scurra, gliᵹmon. c 1205 Lay. 18856 Al him scal abuȝe þat wuneð inne Bruttene; of him scullen gleomen godliche singen. c 1300 Havelok 2329 Ther mouthe men here the gestes singe, The gleymen on the tabour dinge. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 110 Thenne was I..Gladdore then the gleo-mon is of his grete ȝiftes. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 31 Bledgaret passede alle his predecessoures in musik and in melodie, so þat he was i-cleped god of glee men [L. deus joculatorum]. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 104 Na menstrallis playit to thame but dowt, For gle-men thair wer haldin out. 1794 Percy Reliq., Notes on Ess. Anc. Minstr. 66 note, Gleeman continued to be the name given to a Minstrel both in England and Scotland almost as long as this order of men continued. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxv. 587 We had, beyond all doubt, our own history, alike mythical and real, sung by our own gleemen in our own tongue. |
| β c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 29 Gef þu..best rum-handed to glewmen and to hores þu shalt ben lef and wurð and liken alle men. a 1300 Cursor M. 28382, I..to gleumen cald and to ioglere. a 1400 Isumbras 19 He luffede glewmene wele in haulle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 200/2 Gluman, or mynstral, musicus. |