geason

English

Alternative forms

• geazon, gaison, gessen

Etymology

From Middle English geson, gesene (“rare, scarce”), from Old English gǣsne (“deprived of, wanting, destitute, barren, sterile, dead”), from Proto-Germanic *gaisnijaz (“barren, poor”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰē- (“to be gaping, yawn”). Cognate with North Frisian gast (“barren”), Low German güst (“barren”), Old High German geisini, keisini (“lack”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡiːzən/, /ˈɡeɪzən/, /ˈɡɛzən/

Adjective

geason (comparative more geason, superlative most geason)

1. (rare or dialectal) Rare; uncommon; scarce.
   • (Can we date this quote by Edmund Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Such as this age, in which all good is geason, […]

   • (Can we date this quote by Prog. of Eliz. and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     This white falcon rare and gaison,
     This bird shineth so bright.

   • 1825, “The Wounds of Civil War [Act II]”, in John Payne Collier, Robert Dodsley, Isaac Reed, editor, A Select Collection of Old Plays‎^[1], Digitized edition, published 2008, page 32:

     Lectorius, friends are geason now-a-days …

   • 1937, George Puttenham, quotee, edited by George Gregory Smith, Elizabethan Critical Essays‎^[2], Digitized edition, published 2008, page 119:

     […] ye shal finde many other word to rime with him, bycause such terminations are not geazon, […]

2. (UK dialectal) Difficult to procure; scant; sparing.
3. (rare or dialectal) Unusual; wonderful.

Anagrams

• Ganoes, Genaos, agones, genoas