▪ I. groundsel, n.1
(ˈgraʊndsəl)
Forms: α. 1 gundæsuelᵹ(i)æ, gundesuilᵹe, grundeswel(i)ᵹe, -swyliᵹe, 2 -swulie, 3 -swilie, -swylie, 4 grounswili, 5 groundeswele, -sueli, grondeswyle, groundis walle, 6 grundeswell, groundswel(l, 6–7 grownswell, grunswel(l, (9 dial. groundie-, grundy-swallow, swally, grinning-swallow, etc.). β. 6 grounsel, 6–8 groundsell, 6– groundsel. γ. 6–7 grunsell, 7 (9 dial.) grunsel, (9 dial. grinsel).
[OE. gundæswelᵹ(i)æ (7th c.), grundeswyliᵹe (10th c.); of difficult etymology.
Unless the word be corruptly adopted from some foreign language, the second element must be connected with swelᵹan to swallow, absorb. The earliest recorded form gundæswelᵹiæ has the appearance of being f. gund pus (see gound); the resulting sense ‘pus-absorber’ is plausible, as the chopped leaves of the plant are still (in country places) used in poultices for reducing abscesses. If this be the true etymology, the form grundeswyliᵹe, whence the mod. word is descended, must be due to popular etymology, the word being associated with grund ground n., as if meaning ‘ground-swallower’, with reference to the rapid spread of the weed. There is, however, an unexplained difficulty in the form of the first element (gundæ- instead of the normal gund-); and it cannot be positively affirmed that the form without the r is not a mistake, as the three glossaries in which it occurs are too closely related to be considered independent witnesses.]
1. Any plant belonging to the genus Senecio (N.O. Compositæ), esp. S. vulgaris (‘common groundsel’), a common European weed, which is given as food to cage-birds and was formerly largely used for medical purposes.
| α a 700 Epinal Gloss. 976 Senecen, gundaesuelᵹiae [Erfurt Gloss. gundaeswelᵹe]. c 725 Corpus Gloss. 1850 Senecen, gundesuilᵹe. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 180 Ðeos wyrt ðe man senecio, & oðrum naman grundeswyliᵹe nemneð. Ibid. II. 124 Genim grunde swelᵹean þe on eorþan weaxeþ. c 1250 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 558/12 Iregerontis..grundeswilie. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 39 Senecio..grounswili. c 1400 in Henslow Med. Wks. 14th C. (1899) 9 Nyme horshouue, groundesueli, ysope [etc.]. c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 135 Take grounde swele & daysyes..þe two deel of groundeswele, þe þridde part of daysyes. c 1460 Receipts in Rel. Ant. I. 324 Take groundis walle that ys senchion. 1538 Turner Libellus, Grundeswell, Grunswell, Senecio. 1578 Lyte Dodoens v. xvii. 570 The great Groundswel hath rough whitish leaves. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme ii. xlii. 276 Groundswell groweth in euery ground, and without any great care. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 815 Marcellus..addeth further grounswell, and the tender tops of the box⁓tree. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 60/1 Grunswel, or Groundsel. 1808–25 Jamieson, Groundie-swallow, groundsel. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Grundy-swallow. |
| β 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 132 Senecio is named..in English groundsel. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xxv. §1. 216 The stalke of Groundsell is round. 1676 T. Glover in Phil. Trans. XI. 629 There grow wild in the Woods, Plantane of all sorts, Groundsel [etc.]. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 29 Take a Handful of Groundsell. 1830 Macgillivray Withering's Brit. Plants (1837) 319 S[enecio] viscosus. Stinking Groundsel... S. lividus. Green-scaled Groundsel... S. Sylvaticus. Mountain Groundsel. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxxii, Fresh groundsel, too, for Miss Maylie's birds. 1871 H. Macmillan True Vine vii. (1872) 286 In the garden, the chickweed and the groundsel disfigure the beds of lilies and roses. |
| γ 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 27 Some commend a handfull of grunsell sodden in the aforesaide ale. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden cl. 228 The Latines call it Senecio..It is called in English Groundsell or Grunsell. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 89/2 Like Grunsel or a Succory leaf. 1886 Chester Gloss., Grinsel, groundsel. 1887 Suppl. Jamieson, Grunsel, the common pron. of groundsel. |
2. Comb.: groundsel-tree, a North American shrub, Baccharis halimifolia.
| 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 412 You have also the black Hellebore now in Flower, with the Spurge Laurel, Virginian Groundsel Tree. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xix. (1813) 336 Groundsel tree, or ploughman's spikenard, must have a snug situation. |
▪ II. groundsel, n.2, ground-sill
(ˈgraʊndsəl, ˈgraʊndsɪl)
Forms: 5 gronsel, grondsil, grounselle, grownsel, -celle, 5–6 groundsille, 5–7 grownsell, 6 grunsell, grounsyll, 6–7 groundsyll, -cell, grounde sill, 6–8 groundsell, 7 -cel, grunsill (also 9) -sel, 7–8 grundsil(l, groundsil, (9 grounsel), 6– groundsel, -sill.
[First in ME.; app. f. ground n. + sill, but the earliest examples already show the second element reduced in form to a mere termination.]
1. A timber serving as a foundation to carry a superstructure, esp. a wooden building; the lowest member of a wooden framework; a ground-plate; hence, the foundation or lowest part of any structure. Now rare exc. in technical use.
| [1406–7 Winchester College Acc. Roll, In stipendiis ij positorum ponencium lez gronsell domus stauri.] 1433 Lydg. St. Edmund iii. 1205 Oon at the grownsel [v.r. growncelle] lowe gan to myne. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 15 No stoon to be steryd of my graue, but a pet to be maad vnder the ground sille ther my lady Schardelowe was wont to sitte. 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 253 For a grondsill of tymber. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 473/2 He sheweth himself as wise, as one that lest hys rotten house should fall, wold..pull vp y⊇ groundsel to vndershore the sides with the same. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. iii. 16 No parte hath rest From roofe to groundsill. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 230 They first vndermined the groundsills, they beate downe the walles. 1611 R. Fenton Usury ii. vii. 64 If they find the foundation or groundcels vnsound, they haue great reason to suspect the building. 1658 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. ii. 37 The House must needs be in danger, when the groundsels are loosened. 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 17 The Ground-cills, or Bottom-pieces of these Frames. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. Contents 13 The Groundsel of the Lantern applied and fitted to the Stone work. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. vi, Patriotism rushes in..from grunsel up to ridge-tile, through all rooms and passages. 1851 Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict. s.v. Ground-plate, After the fire of London it became usual to set the posts that carry the bressumer of a shop front on a ground sill. 1869 R. B. Smyth Gold-f. Victoria 612 Groundsill is that part of a drive-set of timber which is laid on the floor of a drive. |
| transf. 1837 Medwin in Fraser's Mag. XVI. 232 Tear the firm-set groundsel of the world Up from its roots. |
b. fig. The foundation on which something (immaterial) is built up; an underlying principle.
| 1604 Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 2 The basis and groundsill of all militarie architecture. 1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answ. Nameless Cath. 322 An Heresie subuerting the maine ground-cel of our Religion. 1627 Hakewill Apol. iii. iv. §1 The barley-corne the grownsell as it were and simplest principle of measures. 1705 Hickeringill Priestcr. ii. iii. 39 The two main Groundsels of Priest-Craft's Antichristian Throne, is Avarice and Ambition. |
2. The lower framing-timber of a door; a door-sill, threshold. † Also, a window-sill.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lv. 77 They made them to fall downe on the grounsyll of the gate. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 319 My threshold is even worn away, with the feete of right worshipful..men, that..thinke not scorne to step over and treade upon my groundcell. a 1632 G. Herbert Jacula Prud. 295 The groundsell speakes not save what it heard at the hinges. 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. I. 148 If the Window-Frame stands on a Timber-house, the Head and Groundsell are sometimes Tennanted into the Posts of the Carcass. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 33. 3/2 Here prostrating low as the Groundsil. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 16/2 Doors..shou'd be of the heighth of the Diagonal of a Square whereof the Groundsell is one of the Sides. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 288 The groundsel, side-posts, and lintel of a barn-door. |
3. attrib., as groundsel-bar, groundsel-edge, groundsel-plot.
| 1625 Lisle Du Bartas, Noe 96 Of the meanest townes to lay the grundsill plot. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 457 Head and hands lopt off In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge, Where he fell flat. [1700 Addison 3rd æneid 77 He dash't and broke 'em on the grundsil edge.] 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. 196 The Ground-sil bars of wrought iron. |
▪ III. † ˈgroundsel, ˈgroundsill, v.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To lay the foundation or threshold of.
| 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 255 For stonne and for ground⁓sillyng..of þe same bothes. c 1535 in Yorksh. Archæol. Jrnl. (1886) IX. 322 A howse..growncellyd w{supt} stone. 1635 Quarles Embl. v. xiv. 298 The milder glaunces sparkled on the Ground, And grunsild ev'ry doore with Diamond. 1651 Rec. Dedham, Mass. (1892) III. 188 Ye Carpenters account that did groundcell the Meetinghouse. |
| fig. 1657 Reeve God's Plea 99 They..groundsell their estates with damages, roof them with detriments. |
Hence ˈgroundselling vbl. n.
| 1579 Nottingham Rec. IV. 182 For makyng of the chymney at the Fre Scole, and grounselyng of alle the house. 1589–1617 Rider Dict., Substructio, ..an vnderpinning, or groundsilling of an house, or making of a foundation vnder. 1623–4 Nottingham Rec. IV. 388 Workmanshippe for planckinge, grondsellinge [etc.]. |