herse
English
editPronunciation
editNoun
editherse (plural herses)
- A kind of gate or portcullis, having iron bars, like a harrow, studded with iron spikes, hung above gateways so that it may be quickly lowered to impede the advance of an enemy.
- 1848, Benjamin Webb, Sketches of Continental Ecclesiolgy:
- In the south aisle, on a slab raised on four low shafts and covered by an iron herse, is a fine coloured recumbent effigy of a bishop
- Obsolete form of hearse (a carriage for the dead)
- (obsolete) A funeral ceremony.
- 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:
- Dido, my deare, alas!
Dead, and lyeth wrapt in lead. O heavie herse!
Verb
editherse (third-person singular simple present herses, present participle hersing, simple past and past participle hersed)
- Alternative form of hearse
- 1646, Richard Crashaw, Sospetto d'Herode:
- The house is hers'd about with a black wood, Which nods with many a heavy-headed tree: Each flower's a pregnant poison, try'd and good; Each herb a plague.
- [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC:
- The Grecians spritefully drew from the darts the corse, And hers'd it, bearing it to fleet.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear. O, would she were hers'd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “herse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Anagrams
editFrench
editEtymology
editInherited from Old French herce, from Latin hirpicem. The initial aspiration is said to be onomatopoetic, but may also be due to influence by the unrelated Germanic words at hand in Old Norse herfi, English harrow.
Pronunciation
edit- (aspirated h) IPA(key): /ɛʁs/
Noun
editherse f (plural herses)
- harrow (device for breaking up soil)
- portcullis (gate in the form of a grating)
- spike strip, road spikes, traffic spikes
- grate, grill (especially to block large objects floating down a river)
- candlestick, candelabrum (with a triangular base and spikes to hold large candles)
- stage lighting instrument, luminaire that disperses light over a stage
- (heraldry) portcullis
Verb
editherse
- inflection of herser:
Further reading
edit- “herse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norwegian Nynorsk
editEtymology
editSemi-learned borrowing from Old Norse hersir, from Proto-Germanic *harisjaz (“army’s leader”), from Proto-Germanic *harjaz (“army”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editherse m (definite singular hersen, indefinite plural hersar, definite plural hersane)
Derived terms
edit- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)s
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)s/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English obsolete forms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Germanic languages
- French terms derived from Old Norse
- French terms with aspirated h
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- fr:Heraldic charges
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms borrowed from Old Norse
- Norwegian Nynorsk semi-learned borrowings from Old Norse
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Old Norse
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms with IPA pronunciation
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk masculine nouns