jess
See also: Jess
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English ges, from Middle French gies, from the plural of jet (“throw”), from Vulgar Latin *iectus, jectus < iactus (“a throwing”), or from jeter (“to throw”), itself from Latin iactare.
Noun
jess (plural jesses)
- (falconry) A short strap fastened around the leg of a bird used in falconry, to which a leash may be fastened.
- 1486, Juliana Berners, The booke of hauking, huntyng and fysshyng, London, 1566,[1]
- Haukes haue about theyr legges gesses made of lether moste comonly, some of silke which should no lenger but that the knottes of them should appere in ye myddes of the left hande betwene the longe fynger and the leche fynger bicause the lewnes should be fastened to them with a payre of tyrettes, whiche tyrettes should rest vpon the lewnes and not vpon gesses, for hangyng and fastyng vpon trees when she fleyth […]
- 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II,[2]
- I am that cedar; shake me not too much;
- And you the eagles; soar ye ne’er so high,
- I have the jesses that will pull you down;
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act III, Scene 3,[3]
- […] If I do prove her haggard,
- Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,
- I’ld whistle her off and let her down the wind,
- To pray at fortune.
- 1686, Richard Blome, The Gentlemans Recreation, Part 2, Chapter 24 “Certain Terms of Art used in Falconry, with an Explanation thereof, Alphabetically set down,” p. 62,[4]
- Jesses are the short straps of Leather that are fastned to her Legs, and so to the Lease by the Varvils.
- 1486, Juliana Berners, The booke of hauking, huntyng and fysshyng, London, 1566,[1]
Verb
jess (third-person singular simple present jesses, present participle jessing, simple past and past participle jessed)
Etymology 2
See jet (etymology 2).
Noun
jess (plural jesses)
Etymology 3
See just.
Adverb
jess (not comparable)
- Eye dialect spelling of just.
References
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
Anagrams
Finnish
Interjection
jess!
- Alternative form of jes
Icelandic
Etymology
Pronunciation
Interjection
jess
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛs
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Falconry
- English verbs
- English adverbs
- English uncomparable adverbs
- English eye dialect
- Finnish lemmas
- Finnish interjections
- Icelandic terms derived from English
- Icelandic 1-syllable words
- Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Icelandic/ɛsː
- Icelandic lemmas
- Icelandic interjections
- Icelandic informal terms