1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2. 160. Jul. Hist! Romeo, hist! O! for a falconer's voice, To lure this tassel-gentle back again. Ibid. (1602), Troilus, iii. 2. 56. The falcon as the tercel for all the ducks i' the river.
1820. Scott, Abbot, iv. I marvel what blood thou art—neither Englander nor Scot—fish nor flesh. Marry, out upon thee, foul kite, that would fain be a tercel-gentle!
Termer, subs. (old colloquial).—A
visitor to London at term time;
specifically one whose object was
intrigue, knavery, or sport. [The
law terms marked the fashionable
seasons.] Also term-trotter.
1608. Dekker, Belman of London, H3. Some of these boothalers are called termers, and they ply Westminster hall; Michaelmas term is their harvest, and they sweat in it harder than reapers or hay-*makers doe at their works in the heat of summer.
1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Preface. Single plots, etc.—those are fit for the times and the termers.
1616. Jonson, Epigrams, 3. Nor have my title leaf on posts or walls, Or in cleft sticks advanced to make calls For termers, or some clerk-like serving man.
1628. Earle, Micro-cosmog., 18. A gallant . . . obserues London trulier than the Termers.
1636. Suckling, Goblins, iii. Court ladies, eight; of which two great ones. Country ladies, twelve; termers all.
1639. Bancroft, Epigrams, i. 176. On Old Trudge, the termer. Thy practice hath small reason to expect Good termes, that doth faire honesty neglect.
Terræ filius, subs. phr. (old
colloquial).—1. A person of mean
or obscure birth.
2. (university).—A scholar whose special duty was to make satirical speeches at the Encænia: full advantage being ever taken of his license to satirize, and generally rip up, authority.
1669 Evelyn, Diary, 10 July. The Terræ Filius (the Universitie Buffoone) entertain'd the auditorie with a tedious abusive, sarcastical rhapsodie, most unbecoming the gravity of the universitie.
c. 1709. Ward, Terræ filius [Title].
Terra firma, subs. phr. (B. E.
and Grose).—An estate in land.
Terrible Boy. See Roaring boy, adding quot. infra.
1609. Jonson, Silent Woman, i. 1. The doubtfulness of your phrase would breed you a quarrel once an hour with the terrible boys.
Tertian, subs. (Aberdeen Univ.).—A
student of the third year.
Tester (or Teston), subs. (old).—1.
A silver coin: orig. (a) the
silver currency of Louis XII. of
France (bearing the head of that
prince, and worth (Cotgrave)
18d. sterling); (b) the brass
silvered shilling of Henry VIII.
(worth, temp. Ed. VI., 9d.); and
(c) the Elizabeth sixpence.
Hence (2) a sixpence (Grose):
see Tizzy. As verb = to fee.
1577. Holinshed, England, 218. [Elizabeth] restored sundrie coines of fine silver, as peeces of halfepenie farding, of a penie, of three halfe pence, peeces of two pence, of three pence, of foure pence (called the groat), of sixpence, usuallie named the testone.
1594. Wilson, Cobler's Prophecy. Tales, at some tables, are as good as testerns.
1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, i. 1. 153. You have testerned me; in requital, whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself. Ibid. (1598), 2 Henry IV., iii. 2. Hold, there's a tester for thee.
1599. Hall, Satires, ii. i. Lo, what it is that makes white rags so deare, That men must give a teston for a queare.
1599. Jonson, Ev. Man Out of Humour. 'Characters.' Takes up single testons upon oaths till dooms-day, falls under executions of three shillings, and enters into five-groat bonds.
