volow

English

Etymology

From Middle English volewen, from Latin volō (“I will”), the answer in the baptismal service.

Verb

volow (third-person singular simple present volows, present participle volowing, simple past and past participle volowed)

1. (obsolete, derogatory, transitive) To baptize.
   • 1528 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), William Tyndale, “Anoylynge”, in The Obediẽce of a Christen Man […], [Antwerp]: [Johannes Hoochstraten], →OCLC, folio cvij, verso:

     The child was well volowed (ſaye they) yee and oure vicare is as fayre a volower as ever a pꝛeſt within this twenty myles.

Usage notes

• Used in contempt by the Reformers.

References

• “volow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.