1587. Hakluyt; Voyages, 11. 253. It was told vs we should have ye strappado.
1598. Shakspeare, Hen. IV., ii. 4. An I were at the strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would not tell you on compulsion.
c. 1603. Heywood, Woman Killed, etc. [Pearson, Works (1874), 11. 141]. I would . . . Be rack'd, strappado'd, put to any torment.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, 341. They vse also the strappado, hoising them vp and downe by the armes with a corde.
1622. Markham, Epist. of Warre. Strappado [enumerated with] gallow, gibbets, and scaffolds [which the Provost Marshall was bound to provide on occasion.]
1633. Callot, Misères. [In this work there is a sketch of a culprit suspended from a high beam, the executioner holding with both hands the end of one of four spokes which act like a wheel and lever for hoisting or lowering the culprit, the executioner's right foot pressing against a lower spoke, his left foot on the ground.]
1688. R. Holme, Acad. Armory, 111. vii. 310. [Holme writes as though the strappado were still in use in the army] the jerk not only breaketh his arms to pieces, but also shaketh all his joynts out of joint; which punishment is better to be hanged, than for a man to undergo.
Strapper, subs. (old).—'A swingeing
two-handed woman' (B. E.
and Grose); anything big or
bulky: cf. Whopper. Strapping
= tall, robust, well-made.
1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie [Works (1725), iv. 105]. At last a crew of strapping jades, That were, or should have been her maids.
1681. Radcliffe, Ovid Travestie, 3. Has he not got a Lady that's a strapper? Ibid., 26. A strapping Lass, She must be marry'd, or she'll grow too busy.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iii. 10. Then that other great strapping Lady.
1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, i. 1. There are five-and-thirty strapping officers gone this morning.
1751. Smollett, Pereg. Pickle, lxxxvii. Ah, you strapper, what a jolly bitch you are.
1778. Darblay, Diary (1893), i. 88. 'You who are light and little can soon recover, but I who am a gross man might suffer severely.'. . . Poor Lady Sadd, who is quite a strapper, made no answer.
1847. Bronté, Jane Eyre, xx. 'She's a rare one, is she not, Jane?' 'Yes, sir.' 'A strapper, a real strapper, big, brown and buxom.'
1885. D. Tel., 25 Aug. 'The police, fine strapping fellows, usually Irish, wear white ducks in fine weather.'
Stravag (or Stravaig), verb.
(Scots and Irish).—To tramp;
to loaf; to abscond. Hence
STRAVAIGER = a vagabond.
1887. Henley, Villon's Straight Tip. Your merry goblins soon stravag.
1888. Black, Far Lochaber, vii. Prancing down to the shore and back from the shore—and stravayging about the place.
Straw, subs. (old).—1. Generic
for worthlessness. Thus, not
worth a straw = of no appreciable
value; to care not a
straw = to care not at all; A man
(or face) of straw = a man of no
standing or substance, a sham: in
quot. 1700 = a fumbler; STRAW-BAIL
= professional security;
STRAW-SHOES (MAN or WITNESS)
= a perjured witness; straw-bid
= a fictitious offer; straw-bidder
= a buyer who cannot
fulfil his contract; straw-vote
= a snatch vote; strawyarder
(nautical) = a land-lubber playing
the sailor; spec. a blackleg doing
shipboard duty during a strike.
d. 1400. Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus. And whan that they ben accompliced, yet ben they not worth a stre.
. . . Nugæ Poeticæ, 48. Whatesoevery he be, and yf that he Whante money to plede the lawe, Do whate he cane in ys mater than Shale not prove worthe a strawe.
