See Also:

course(1) (iou) and aby (iou)


course(1) (iou)



course noun1 & adverb. As adverb also 'course. ME.
[Old & mod. French cours from Latin cursus, from curs- pa. ppl stem of currere run; reinforced by Old & mod. French course from Proto-Romance use as noun of fem. pa. pple.]
A. noun.
I. Action, direction, or place of running.
A run; a gallop. ME-L17.
Onward movement in a particular path, as of a celestial object, a ship, etc. ME.
S. Johnson They slackened their course.
Impetus; force. ME-E16.
The charge of combatants in a battle or tournament; a bout, an encounter. obsolete exc. Hist. ME.
a. Running (of liquids); flow, flux. ME-M17.
b. The faculty or opportunity of moving, flowing, etc. LME.
Bible (AV): 2 Thessalonians Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course.
c. Circulation (of money etc.); currency. LME-E16.
The ground on which a race is run; the route to be taken, with any obstacles to be negotiated, in a race (passing into sense 26). ME.
racecourse, racing-course, etc.
A. E. T. Watson A familiar phrase on the turf is 'horses for courses'...The Brighton Course is very like Epsom, and horses that win at one meeting often win at the Other.
b. More fully Golf course. An area of land on which Golf is played. L19.
The path taken by a moving body, a stream, etc., esp. the intended route of a ship or aircraft; the line of a mountain chain etc. ME.
F. L. Wright The course of the sun as it goes from east to west.
b. A channel in which water flows; a watercourse. LME.
c. The direction in which a ship or aircraft is travelling. M16.
L. MacNeice In sight of Stornoway harbour the captain altered his course.
d. In pl. The points of the compass. E17.
A race. arch. LME.
The pursuit of game (esp. hares) with greyhounds by sight rather than scent. LME.
A fashionable riding or driving place. M17-M18.
II. fig. Of time, events, or action.
The continuous process (of time), succession (of events); progress through successive stages. ME.
L. Strachey In the ordinary course, the Queen never saw a Tory. R. P. Warren At some time or Other during the course of almost every meeting of the board. A. C. Boult Richter's influence on the whole course of British Music was immense.
b. Length (in time), duration. M17-E18.
Habitual or regular manner of procedure; custom, practice. ME.
Life viewed as a race that is run; a person's career. LME.
M. Hanmer Where he made an end of his course.
The purport or General drift of a narrative. M16-E18.
Appointed order of succession. M16-E17.
A line of conduct, a person's method of proceeding. L16.
Disraeli Our wisest course will be to join the cry. E. Peacock He had made up his mind to a certain course of action.
III. (Each member of) a consecutive series.
Each of the successive divisions of a meal, as soup, meat, pudding, etc. ME.
a. A row, a layer. obsolete exc. in Building. LME.
b. A single horizontal row of bricks etc. in a wall. LME.
c. Music. A group of strings tuned to the same note and placed side by side so that they can be plucked together. L19.
d. A row of knitted stitches. M20.
Any of several successive attacks, as of a disease or of the dogs in bear-baiting. LME-E19.
a. The time for anything which comes to each person in turn; (a person's) turn. LME-M17.
G. Havers Trouble and peace..comfort and discontent, come all of them by courses.
b. Each of two or more groups of people who take turns. L15-M17.
In pl. A woman's periods. M16.
A set of things, esp. (Hist.) candles, made or used at the same time. M16.
A planned or prescribed series of actions, esp. lessons etc. or therapeutic measures; the content of or a text for such a series of lessons. M16.
correspondence course, crash course, orientation course, refresher course, sandwich course, etc.
Gibbon A regular course of study and Exercise was judiciously instituted. P. H. Newby They gave him a course of drugs. fig.: T. Duncan It's a wonderful short course in human Nature, being a doctor's son in a town of eight hundred.
b. Ecclesiastical. The prescribed series of prayers for the seven canonical hours. L16.
Campanology. The successive shifting of the order in which a particular bell is struck; a series of changes which brings the bells back to their original order. L17.
A particular mode of rotating crops; a cycle of crop rotation. M18.
A series of fences, obstacles, etc., to be negotiated in a race, competition, or Exercise; these and the ground on which they are situated (passing into sense 6). L19.
assault course, obstacle course, etc.
M. C. Self The course is set up with a variety of jumps placed around the hall or ring.
IV.
A sail bent to the lowest yard on the mast of a square-rigged ship, esp. on the foremast, mainmast, or mizzen-mast. LME.
Phrases: a matter of course the natural or expected thing. by course (a) in due course; duly; (b) by turns, alternately. clerk of the course: see CLERK noun. course of Nature the ordinary recurring processes of Nature. damp course, damp-proof course: see DAMP noun. horses for courses: see HORSE noun. in course (a) (now Ecclesiastical) in order, in turn; (b) = in due course below; (c) (now non-standard) naturally, of course. in course of in the process of (construction, being constructed, etc.). in due course in the usual or natural order; at about the expected time. in the course of while doing; during the progress or length of (in the course of things, in the ordinary sequence of events). main course: see MAIN adjective. middle course: see MIDDLE adjective. of course (a) (now rare exc. in a matter of course above) customary, natural, to be expected; (b) in the ordinary course of things, as a natural result; (c) naturally, obviously; admittedly. off course not on course. on course (a) in the ordinary course of things; (b) following the right path or direction or (fig.) the course that will have the desired or specified result. par for the course: see PAR noun1 4. reciprocal course: see RECIPROCAL adjective. run its course complete its natural development. shape one's course: see SHAPE verb. stay the course: see STAY verb1. take its course = run its course above. warn off the course: see WARN verb1 7c.
Comb.: course-book: for use on a course of study; course unit: see UNIT noun1 2d; courseware material for a Training course, esp. in computing.
b. adverb. = of course (c) above. colloq. L19.

aby (iou)



aby verb. . (Other forms long obsolete.)

verb trans. Buy, pay for. OE-E16.
verb trans. Pay the penalty for, atone for. OE.
E. R. Eddison You shall bitterly aby it.
b. verb intrans. Pay the penalty, atone. ME-L16.
verb trans. Pay as a penalty; suffer. LME.
W. Morris Thou wouldst abye A heavy fate.
= ABIDE (with which aby became formally confused):
a. verb intrans. Endure, remain. LME-L16.
Spenser Nought that wanteth rest can long aby.
b. verb trans. Endure, experience; tolerate. obsolete exc. Scot. L16.
R. L. Stevenson I never could abye the reek of them.