On Apr 16, 2006, at 19:40, bevw wrote:
Hi everyone
...while googling...I found this entry in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
(pub. 1755)
I thought it would be interesting to know how lace as we know it, was
defined at the timing (see #4 and possibly #5 - the latter could be
round braid)
4. Ornaments of fine thread curiously woven.
"Our English dames are much given to the wearing of costly laces;
and, if they be brought from Italy, they are in great esteem."
(Bacon's Advice to Villiers)
5. Textures of thread, with gold or silver.
"He wears a stuff, whose thread is coarse and round, But trimm'd with
curious lace." (Herbert)
6. Sugar. A cant word.
"If haply he the sect pursues, That read and comment upon news; He
takes up their mysterious face, He drinks his coffee without lace."
I find #6 even more interesting; nothing to do with lace as we know it
(I agree, #4 is most likely "it", and #5 a possible), but a beautiful
example of the "migration of the meaning" of words... Today, a "laced"
coffe (or tea) is not likely to be spiked with anything as innocuous as
sugar <g>
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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