letuary

Middle English

Alternative forms

• letuarie

Noun

letuary

1. electuary
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, General Prologue, The Canterbury Tales, line 425-428:

     Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries,
     To sende him drogges and his letuaries,
     For ech of hem made other for to winne;
     Hir frendschipe nas nat newe to biginne.

     He had his apothecaries all ready
     To send him drugs and his electuaries,
     For each of them made the other to profit;
     Their friendship was not recently begun.

   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Merchant's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1809-1812:

     And many a letuarie hadde he ful fyn,
     Swiche as the cursed monk dan Constantyn
     Hath writen in his book de Coitu;
     To eten hem alle, he nas no-thing eschu.

     And many a very fine aphrodisiac had he,
     Such as the cursed monk, Dan Constantine,
     Has written in his book Concerning Intercourse;
     To eat them all he was not at all averse.

References

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