twelvemonth
(ˈtwɛlvmʌnθ)
Forms: see twelve and month; also 4 tuelfmoth; β. 4 tuelmoneth, -monþ, -moth, twelmoneþ, 4–6 twelmunth, 5 -monyth, twolmonthe, 5–6 twelmoneth(e, -month(e, -mond(e, (6 -motte); γ. 5 towlmonyth, 6 tolmonth, -mont, Sc. -mount, -mond, -mowth, towmound, 8 Sc. towmond, -month, 8–9 Sc. towmont.
[f. OE. twelf twelve + mónað pl., month. The γ-forms, however, are app. ad. ON. tólfmánuðr, of similar formation.]
1. A period of twelve months; a year.
| [1038 Charter of Harold Harefoot in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 56 Wel neh twelf monað. a 1131 O.E. Chron. an. 1128 Wær it tweolf monð oððe mare. a 1225 Ancr. R. 218 Iðe uormeste tweolf moneð þet heo bigon ancre lif.] c 1275 Passion our Lord 86 in O.E. Misc. 39 Heore muchele feste Of alle þe twelfmoneþ þat wes þe alre meste. a 1300 Cursor M. 1917 A tuelfmoth [v.rr. twelf-monþe, tuelmoneth, tweluemoneþ] was gan. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 337 A feure, Þat taketh me al a twelf-moneth. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xix. 242 A twelue moneth will soone be done. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 837 A tweluemonth and a day. 1640 Brome Antipodes i. vii, He has not drunke so deepe a draught this twelvmonth. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. ix. 141 A lease for ‘twelve months’ is only for forty eight weeks; but if it be for ‘a twelvemonth’ in the singular number, it is good for the whole year. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. xv. 420 Not a twelve-month passed away without a massacre of the pioneers. |
| β [c 1305 11000 Virgins in E.E.P. (1862) 68 Tuelmonþ & elleue wyke.] 13.. Cursor M. 1919 (Gött.) A tuelmoneth was gan. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13230 A twelmond & two wekes. [c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3148 Þe whyche was twol⁓monthe seke in þe palsy.] 1421 Coventry Leet Bk. 24 At the fourthe trespas to forswer the fredom of this Cite a twelmonyth & a day. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 12 The putting on of mi hat at problem, which I did not twelmunth nethir. |
| γ 1477 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. III. 215 He was not gladder of no thyng that he harde thys towlmonyth. 1535 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 287 He would not haue come in this tolmont, at the least. 1596 in Spalding Club Misc. I. 85, I sall giwe breid to my bairnis this towmound. 1726 Ramsay Verses on Last Leaf ii, Thrice fifty and sax tow⁓monds neat. a 1774 Fergusson Election Poems (1845) 42 For towmonths twa their saul is lent. 1785 Burns Cottar's Sat. Night xi, 'Twas a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxix. [xl], There will be less scathe amang us; mine owsen hae been reckan this towmont. |
b. Following and qualifying a date, in such phrases as
that day († a) twelvemonth,
Michaelmas was a twelvemonth,
Easter come twelvemonth:
= a year before or after{ddd}(see
be v. 20,
come v. 36 b).
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 178/15 In þat dai a twelf monþe ore louerd..turnde water to win. c 1400 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. 521 (MS. β) This day a twelve monthe the same houre whanne y schal dye, he schal dye. 1430–1 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 368 To been arezed and paied be the Fest of Ester come tuelfemonethe next. 1473–4 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 63 For schone..fra Michelmes wes a tuelfmoneth to the xxiiij day of Nouember last bipast. 1545 in Leadam Court Requests (Seldon Soc.) 187 Abowte our Ladys day in Lent was a Twelmonethe. 1586 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 464 The pest wer in the town as it wes this tyme tolmowth. 1667 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 260 [They will pay no rent] till Christmas come twelvemonth. 1674 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 182 Discharging y⊇ Twelvemonths Arrear..y⊇ paym{supt} of w{supc}{suph} ought to have begun at Christmass last was twelve⁓month. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 435 ¶3 When I was at my Friend Sir Roger de Coverley's about this time Twelve⁓month. 1715 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. ii. iii, Till this time towmond. 1802 A. Seward Lett. (1811) VI. 22 The added weakness entailed upon me by the yet unrecovered accident of spring-twelvemonth. |
2. twelvemonth('s mind: a commemoration of a deceased person by celebration of masses, etc. a year after (or annually on the anniversary of) the day of his death or funeral.
Cf. month's mind.
Obs. exc. Hist.| 1428 E.E. Wills (1882) 82 Y wolle þat myne executours, vij yere after my decesse, holdyn twelf monthes mynde. 1538 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For wast of tapers att ye twelmonths mynde iiij d. 1572 R. H. tr. Lauaterus' Ghostes (1596) 211 Rites instituted by the Commandement of wandring soules, as Masses for the dead, vigils, prayers, and twelvemonths minds. 1829 Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 232 A solemn obiit anniversary, or twelve months mind. |
3. attrib. (In
quot. 1536 referring to the ‘twelvemonth's mind’: see 2.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7339 (Cott.) Þai wit-in a tuel-moth stage, War put vte o þair heritage. 13.. Ibid. 21038 (Gött.) Þar he was in a tuelfmoth quile. 1536 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 53 At the daye of my berelay, at my vij daye, and at my twelve moneth daye. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 649 Engaging for twelve-month terms of work. |
Hence
† ˈtwelvemonthing,
a. (of a beast) twelve months old;
n. a beast, as a calf or colt, twelve months old;
= yearling;
ˈtwelvemonthly adv., every twelve months, yearly, annually.
| 1551 in Longm. Mag. Apr. (1905) 531, viii twelmonthyng bullocks..a twelmonting maire colt. 1600 in W. F. Shaw Mem. Eastry (1870) 226 Item vij kine iij towyering beasts and fower twelve monthings. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 261 A Cow-calf..had another..3 weeks and some odd days, before she was a Twelve-monthing. 1847–8 H. Miller First Impr. x. (1857) 167 Six thousand loads of the young pole⁓wood..being used twelvemonthly. |