licour
Middle English
Alternative forms
- lecour, licor, liquour, lycour, lykour
- licur (Early Middle English or Northern); licowre, lijkour, liquore, lycowr, lycur, lycure (Late Middle English)
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French licour,[1] from Latin liquor (“fluidity; a liquid”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /liˈkuːr/[2], /ˈlikur/
Noun
licour (plural licours)
- liquid (flowing substance)
- juice, blood (or other natural liquid)
- 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “Here Bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunt́burẏ”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 2, recto:
- Whan that Auerill wt his shoures soote / The droghte of march hath ꝑced to the roote / And bathed euery veyne in swich lycour / Of which v̄tu engendred is the flour […]
- When that April, with its sweet showers / Has pierced March's drought to the root / And bathed every vein in fluid such that / with its power, the flower is made […]
- A beverage or drink; a liquid for consumption.
- (cooking) Liquid for boiling in.
- (rare) spices, seasonings
- (rare) fluidity, liquidity
Descendants
References
- ^ “licǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Kökeritz, Helge (1961), A guide to Chaucer's pronunciation[1], Holt, Rinehart and Winston; reprinted at Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 20.
Old French
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin liquor (“fluidity; a liquid”).
Noun
licour oblique singular, f (oblique plural licours, nominative singular licour, nominative plural licours)
Descendants
- French: liqueur
- → English: liqueur
- → Middle English: licour, lecour, licor, liquour, lycour, lykour, licur (Early Middle English or Northern), licowre, lijkour, liquore, lycowr, lycur, lycure (Late Middle English)
References
- liquur on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub