Glossary of Biblical English of the Authorised Version of the HOLY BIBLE
The Way, the Life, & the Truth...
A Glossary of XVIIth Century Biblical English Words & Expressions
A --
ABHORRING: An object of disgust. [Isaiah 66.24].
ABROAD: Out of one's house, away from home; 'from abroad', from a distance. [Judges 12.9; I Samuel 9.26].
ACCEPTATION: Kind reception, a receiving with favour or approbation. [I Timothy 1.14; 4.9].
ADMIRATION: Wonder, atonishment [Revelation 17.6].
ADVENTURE: To venture or go [Deuteronomy 28.56; Judges 9.17; Acts 19.31].
ADO: Fuss, bustle, trouble, tumult [Mark 5.39].
ADVENTURE: To hazard, risk, chance. [Judges 9.17].
ADVISE: To deliberate, weigh well, consider. [II Samuel 24.13].
AFFECT: To desire earnestly, seek after. [Galations 4.17].
AFFECTIONED: Disposed [Romans 12.10].
AGONE: Ago. [I Samuel 30.13].
AGUE: Fever [Leviticus 26.16].
ALLELUIAH, Gk 'Praise The LORD!'; see JEHOVAH [Revelation 19.1].
ALMUG: A tree of wood, possibly sandalwood [I Kings 10.11-12].
AMERCE: To fine or inflict penalty on. [Deuteronomy 22.19].
AMIABLE: Lovely [Psalm 84.1].
ANGLE: Fishhook [Isaiah 19.8; Habbakuk 1.15].
ANON: Immediately, at once. [Matthew 13.20; Mark 1.30].
APOTHECARY: One whose craft, science, & art prepared medicinals, perfumery, exotic ointments, embalmary, and incenses [Ecclesiastes 10.1].
APPARENTLY: Manfestly, openly. [Numbers 12.8].
APPROVE: To prove, demonstrate [Acts 2.22; 2 Corinthians 6.4; 7.11]; To test, put to the proof [Romans 2.18; Philippians 1:10].
ARTIFICER: Skilled craftsman [Genesis
4.22].
AVOID: To depart, withdraw, escape. [I Samuel 18.11].
AXLETREE: Bar, used as a primitive wheel axel for animal-drawn vehicle [I Kings 7.32].
B --
BADGER [Skins]: Tanned skins used to cover the holy things of the Sanctuary; not of the omnivorous [unclean] 'badger' per se, but possibly of a ruminant, streaked species of antelope making fine pelts [Numbers 14].
BAKEMEAT(S): Pastery, esp. meat pies [Genesis 40.17].
BATH: Hebrew liquid measure approximating
23 litres or 5.8 gallons [Ezekiel 47.11].
BEHALF: Account, as in 'On this behalf' [I Peter 4.16].
BESET: To surround, enclose; to harass, obstruct, embarass [Judges 19.22].
BESOM: Broom [only at Isaiah 14.23].
BESTEAD: Situated, circumstanced, beset; imperiled or oppressed [only at Isaiah 8.21].
BESTIR: To put into brisk or vigourous action [only at II Samuel 5.24].
BESTOW: To give, impart, confer (often followed by 'upon') [Exodus 32.29]; to store, lay up, stow away [Luke 12.17].
BETIMES: Eary, seasonably [Job 8.5].
BEWRAY: To betray, reveal, make known -- often of oneself, as by a guilty carriage or demeanour, or by an act of folly [Isaiah 16.3].
BITTERN: Possibly a roosting heron, wild fowl, hawk, or wilderness bird; dubiously a hedgehog -- Hebrew, 'kip-pode' [Isaiah 14.23].
BLAIN(S): Inflammatory swelling, sore, or boil [only in the plural, at Exodus 9.9 & 9.10].
BLAZE: Circulate information far and wide [only at Mark 1.45].
BOLSTER: Long, narrow cusion or pillow [several occurences only at I Samuel, e.g., 19.13; 26.11].
BOLLED: In seed [only at Exodus 9.31].
BOSS(ES): Knob or protuberance of any kind [only in plural, at Job 15.26].
BOTCH: Diseased swelling of the skin; boil, pustule [only at Deuteronomy 28.27 & .35].
BOTTLE(S): A container for stored liquids, usually a wineskin [Mark 2.22].
BOWELS: Compassionate feelings, as in 'bowels of mercies' [Philippians 1.8; see I John 3].
BRAY: To pound or grind into powder [Proverbs 27.22]; to make noise as of an ass or donkey [Job 6.5].
BRIGANDINE: Coat of mail, armour [Jeremiah 51.3 & 46.4].
BRIMSTONE: The element Sulfur, especially in molten, fuming state as by volcanic action [Genesis 19.24; Luke 17.29].
BRUIT: Clamour; rumour [Jeremiah 10.22; Nahum 3.19].
BUCKLER(S): Small, round shield worn mainly by archers [II Samuel 22.31; Psalm 91.4; Job 15.26].
BUNCH: Hump, bump, swelling, as hump on a camel [Isaiah 30.5]; group of things tied together, bundle, or pressed cake [1 Chronicles 12.40].
BY AND BY: At once, immediately; "before you know it" [m. 20th c. Americanism].
C --
CAB: Hebrew dry measurement approximating 1.3 quarts or 1.2 litres [only at II Kings 6.25].
CABIN(S): Dungeon wall or cell, as in a prison [only in the plural, at Jeremiah 37.16].
CANKERED: Eaten away with rust [James 5.3].
CAREFULNESS: [Sometimes] over-care, anxiety [Ezekial 12.18; Corinthians 7.32; II Corinthians 7:11].
CARELESS: [Sometimes] free from care, secure [Judges 18.7; Ezekial 30.9].
CAST: (Sometimes) to consider; to cast about, turn back.
CAUL(S): Lady's hair fixture or netting lace [Isaiah 3.18]; membrane of animal organ, e.g., the liver [Exodus 29.13].
CHALLENGE: To claim [Exodus 22.9].
CHAMBERING: Lasciviousness, wontoness, lewdness; an euphamism from the sense of 'visiting chambers of ladies' [only at Roman 13.13].
CHAMOIS: Small goat-like antelope [only at Deuteronomy 14.5].
CHAMPAIGN: Flat level open country [only at Deuteronomy 11.30].
CHAPITER: Capital or top of a column.
CHAPMAN: Tradesman or peddler.
CHAPT: To be cracked (said of the ground).
CHARGE: Burden
CHARGEABLE: Burdensome.
CHARGER: Large flat dish or platter.
CHARITY: Love.
CHECK: Rebuke, reprimand or reproof.
CHIDE: To rebuke sharply; to wrangle, contend noisily.
CHOLER: Bitterness, anger.
CIEL: To overlay, cover, panel, line a room on the inside.
CIELING: Lower interior wall paneling or wainscotting; superiour quality oak or esp. hard & fine wood.
CLAW: Cloven hoof of an ox, sheep, or goat.
CLOUT: To patch, mend, bandage.
COAST: Border or frontier of a country; border of a body of water, shore; region or area.
COCKATRICE: Adder, small but sharply venomous snake of dark or diamond back colouration, frequenting rock craigs, often biting when disturbed by the unwary; and so like a fabulous animal, a cock with a serpant's tail.
COCKLE: Noxious weed.
COLLOPS: Lumps of meat or fat; folds of body fat [only at Job 15.27].
COLOUR: Also, pretext [Acts 27.30].
COMELY: Becoming, graceful, fitting, suitable, decent.
CONCUPISCENCE: Coveting, abnoral desire, improper or sinful lust.
CONEY: Rock badger, hare, or rabbit.
CONFECTION: Compound of drugs or spices [Exodus 30.35].
CONFOUND: To ruin, put down, overthrow.
CONFUSION: Shame, used in the strong sense of destruction; ruin [Isaiah 24.10; Jeremiah 3.25].
CONSULT: [Also] to consider [Luke 14.31].
CONTEMN: To hold in contempt, despise.
CONVENIENT: Fitting, suitable, becoming.
CONVERSANT AMONG/WITH: Dwelling among.
COTE: Shed for livestock.
COULTER: Agricultural tool, prob. a plowshare.
COUNTERVAIL: To equal or match [Esther 7:4].
COVERT: Hiding place, shelter.
CRACKNEL: Small dry cake, bisquit, crisp flatbread [I Kings 14.3].
CRISPING PIN: Ladies' curling iron [?], possibly denoting over-fastidiousness or pride.
CRUSE: Small earthenware vessel for liquids.
CUCKOW: Possibly a sea gull [Leviticus 11.16].
CUNNING: Learned, intelligent, skillful [as of artificers or craftsmen].
CURIOUS: [In benign sense] artfully wrought, richly made, embroidered [Exodus 28.8; 35.32]; [in malignant sense] of deliberately rebelling against God by deliberate seeking disturbance of the natural order through "communing" with evil spirits (likened to adultury), thereby becoming deceived by them [Deuteronomy 7 &c.; Acts 19:19; Acts 8; Galations 5, Revelation].. The pagan practices are linked to demonic possession, disease and derangement of mind.
D --
DAM: The mother of birds or animals [Exodus 22.30].
DAYSMAN: Arbiter, Umpire, Referee [Job 9.33].
DEAL, TENTH: Tithe of 10%.
DEBATE: Strife, contention [Isaiah 58.4; Romans 1:29; II Corinthians 12.20].
DEClINE: To turn aside.
DENOUNCE: To make known, announce, proclaim, declare [Deuteronomy 30.18].
DESCRY: To observe, spy out, reconnoiter [Judges 1.23].
DESIRE: To regret [II Chronicles 21.20].
DIAL: Sundial, instrument that tells the time of day.
DIVIDING: Dissecting [in order discrimiatingly to discern in context with the entire Scripture, only here at II Timothy 2.15].
DISSOLVE: To solve [Daniel 5.16].
DO TO WIT: To make known [II Corinthians 8.1].
DOTE: To conduct oneself foolishly.
DOVE'S DUNG: Some sort of lentil or vegetable, perh. after the little flat shapes [II Kings 6.25].
DRAM: Persian gold coin, c. 128 grains [~8.32 grams or a quarter-ounce+].
DRAUGHT: Outhouse, privy, gutter, sewer [perh. openly running along the course of a street or road -- Rome had underground sewers] [Matthew 15.17].
DULCIMER: Musical instrument, prob. of the bagpipe order [Daniel 3.5, 10, 15].
DUKE: From French 'duc': leader, hence chief [Genesis 36.15].
E --
EARING: Act of plowing.
EFFECT: Meaning [Ezekiel 12.23].
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?: Jesus Aramaic plea to the Father: 'My GOD, my GOD, why hast thou forsaken me?' [Matthew 27.46; Mark 15.34].
EMERODS: Hemorrhoids, bowel disorder of piles.
ENSAMPLE: Example.
ENSUE: To follow and overtake.
EPHA: Hebrew dry measure of about 23 litres or 6 gals, equiv. to the liquid 'bath'].
ERRAND: Oral message.
ESCHEW: To shun, avoid, reject, despise as evil.
EXERCISED: Made familiar [II Peter 2.14].
EXPECT: To wait [Hebrews 10.13].
F --
FAIN: To be willing, glad, favourably disposed [Job 27.22; Luke 15.16].
FAINT: To be weak through hunger, exhaustion, persecution, lack of morale or leadership, trials, &c. [Matthew 15.32, Mark 8.3; see Luke 18.1].
FALLOW: Pale, pale-yellowish, yellowish red or brown.
FARTHING: (Previous British monetary unit) a quarter Penney, 1/972nd of a Lb. Sterling; about the price of a small bread loaf or flatbread [Matthew 10.29].
FAT: Large vessel; tub or vat.
FEIGN: To devise in one's own mind, imagine [Nehemiah 6.8]; to pretend, disguise; deceitful, false, isincere.
FELLOES: Outer rings of a wheel to which spokes are fixed, wheel rim or part of it (metalwrought) [I Kings 7.33].
FEN: Marsh or swamp.
FILLET: Thread or cord used to tie or fasten [Exods 27.10; Jeremiah 52.21].
FINER: Refiner [Proverbs 25.4].
FIRKEN: Trad. English measure of 8 gallons+ or 30 litres, perh. equivalent to the Hebrew 'bath' of 6 gals or 23 litres.
FITCH: Any of ancient varieties of grain, perh. lesser quality wheat or some aromatic corn of a more primative type.
FLAG: Prob. any sort of marshy reed or watery weed [Ezekial 2.3, 5; Isaiah 19.6]; papyrus [Exodus 2.3]; kind or iris [Job 8.11; Isaiah 19.6].
FLOWERS: Menstrual discharge, from Latin 'flow'; [Leviticus 15.33].
FLUX: Dysentary; microbial disease tending to dehydrate and malnouresh, even fatally for weakened constitutions, esp. during war or famine.
FOOTMAN: Foot soldier.
FORSWEAR: To swear falsely [Matthew 5.33].
FRAME: To contrive [Judges 12.6].
FRAY: To frighten [Deuteronomy 28.26; Jeremiah 7.33; Zechariah 1.21].
FRET: To eat, gnaw away, corrode; eat in [as an ulcer does]; festering, leprosy [Leviticus 13.51, 55; 14.44].
FROWARD: Unreasonable, cross, perverse, disobedient [Deuteronomy 32.20; Proverbs 16.28].
FULLER: Primative launderer, dresser or thickener of cloth -- by wet-beating and perh. with diatomaceous earth.
FURNITURE: [Of a more general nature than modern usage] equipment, implements, or accoutrements [Genesis 31.34; Exodus 31.7].
G --
GADDEST: From: to wander, go about restlessly, roam idlely [Jeremiah 2.36].
GAINSAY: To contradict, oppose in speech.
GALL: Literally & figuratively (after the better secretions of the gall bladder): [lit. or fig.]anything bitter [Job 20.14]; venom or poison [Deuteronomy 29.18].
GARNER: Grainery or storehouse.
GAZINGSTOCK: That at which is stared with amazement, wonder, or contempt.
GENDER: To engender, breed, beget, or produce.
GERAH: Heb. monetary weight or coin = one twentieth of a shekel = [perh.] 18 mg or half an ounce of silver; some several hours of wages.
GHOST: Oxford gives this Gmnc E word: 'The soul or spirit as the source of life' [Genesis 25.8]; hence, 'Holy Ghost' f. Ger. GEIST [Acts 19.6].
GIER EAGLE: Perh. the Egyptian vulture; a ritually "unclean" bird in Mosaic Law, forbidden to be used as food ('gier' = vulture, in Old English).
GIN: Snare or trap.
GITTITH: In Psalms, [perh.] a march music poss. similar to the Gittite guard [II Samuel 15.18].
GLEDE: A ritually "unclean" bird in Mosaic Law.
GLISTERING: Glittering, shining, glistening [Luke 9.29].
GOB: Pit or ditch.
GOODMAN: Master of the house, head of the home.
GOPHER WOOD: The wood of which God instructed Noah to build the ark; [perh.] ceder, fir, or cyprus.
GRAFF: To graft.
GREAVES: Armour of the shins.
GOURD: Plant similar to modern usage; perh. also the castor oil plant (the colocynth) or similar fast-growing vine-leafed plant [Jonah 4:6-10]; some gourds are poisonous, as are parts of the castor oil plant [II Kings4.38-40].
GREEKS: Hellenic Jewish Proselites, non-Jewish pagan or Christian ethnic Greeks, or Jews from the Greek colonies [esp. from Alexandria, in Egypt].
H --
HABERGEON: Coat of mail (armour made of plates, rings, or scales; smaller sort of hauberk) covering the head, shoulders, and breast.
HAFT: Hilt of a dagger.
HALE: To draw, drag or pull with force.
HALLELUJAH: Hebrew, 'Praise ye the LORD!' = NT Gk 'Alleluia'; JAH = respectful familiar for JaHVeH. (JEHOVAH).
HANAMEEL: Hebrew, 'God is Gracious!; a tower in Jerusalem's walls.
HALT: Lame, crippled; person so; to limp ( fig. to vacillate); to stop.
HAP: Happenstance [Ruth 2.3]; chance happening.
HARD: Near, close.
HARNESS: Defensive armour; to fit horses.
HARP: Hebrew smaller harp-like favourite musical hand instrument.
HART: A fallow-deer or roebuck (fit for food).
HAUNT: To go or resort habitually; place therefore.
HEALTH: [Also] healing power, deliverance, salvation.
HELL: Hebrew: 'sheol' -- abode of the dead awaiting resurrection to heaven or to damnation; place (lit. & fig.) of damned humans, devils, and demons.
HELVE: Ax handle [only at Deuteronomy 19.5].
HEMLOCK: Bitter, poisonous herb growing in field furrows or wild & marshy places [Amos 6.12].
HIGGAION: Musical notation from the root 'haagaah', suggesting solemnly marked meditation, not neccesarily without joy [only at Psalm 9.16, preceeding the emphatic 'Selah'].
HILL-COUNTRY: The ridge of hills rangig from Jezreel to Beersheba, peaking at about 3,000 feet or 1,000 metres near Hebron, herbage & shrubbery covered, lower slopes of which are beautifully fitted for grape vine cultivation, and the valleys thereof very fertile.
HIN: Hebrew liquid measure between 3.75 - 4.00 litres, nearly a gallon.
HIP AND THIGH: Without stint, overwhelmingly.
HOISE: To lift, raise, hoist by tackle.
HORSELEACH: [Blood feeding] leach, sometimes attaching to mouth or snout of horse while drinking.
HOUR: Hourly time periods or watches, the first hour corresponding to modern 6:00 a.m. [cf. Mark 6.48, where the 'watch' is of the Roman division of hours instead]. [sic?]
HOSANNA: Hebrew -- '[LORD] save now, we pray!'
HOSEN: Sort of trousers-like garment.
HOUGH: Large beast's tendon; to cripple by tying the legs together.
HUSBANDMAN: Agriculturist, nurturer of the soil yielding God's natural bounty by man's labour, farmer.
HYSSOP: Wild marjoram bush, used for ritual purifier instrument to sprinkle; used for utility instruments similarly; pungent medicinal herb.
I --
IMAGERY: Idolatry, worship of images [Ezekiel 8.12].
IMPLEAD: Accuse, sue in court [Acts 19.38].
INGATHERING: Harvest (a time in Israel for great rejoicing by thanksgiving to God).
IRON: The metal [Fe]; a pointed weapon (perh. metal-tipped spear) [Job 41.7].
ISRAEL: Should be rendered 'Isra'EL': this term for God's Nation (Church) uses 'EL' [GOD] for YHVH; variously rendered, but generally signifying rulership of YHVH and of Christ the King, integrally with His Church (probationarily and eternally -- for the overcomers who persevere and counter temptation with repentance).
J --
JACINTH: Hyacinth, reddish-orange variety of Zircon used as a gem.
JAH: The respectful-familiar form of the personal proper noun for God, LORD or JHVH, as JEHOVAH, (Pronounced with the Latin = long 'Y', "YaH") [as HALLELUJAH].
JEHOVAH: Hebrew formal personal proper NAME of LORD, denoting His Diety in the absolute sense; 'I AM THAT I AM' or 'The Eternal I AM' [as the primative Hebraic verb root 'to be']: YHVH [Compound of Hebrew letters, technically ineffable, may be pronounced "YaHVeH"; but other pronunciations may be credible], 'Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh' [Latin pronunciation of 'J' = 'Y'] ; in AV combined with the Masoritic Jewish Hebrew scholars] vowels of 'Adonai' [= Lord] to form the compound JEHOVAH [Exodus 6.3, Psalm 83.18, and Isaiah 12.2 & 26.4; combined with words denoting specific Divine character in Genesis 22.14, Exodus 17.15, and Judges 6.24; and elswhere translated LORD]. The exact pronunciation is speculative, because Hebrew contained no vowels originally, and because the Yod letter was apparently sometimes pronounced hard, sometimes soft.
JES(H)URUN: God's affectionate name for Israel, sometimes to remind them of the responsibilities incurring from the honour thereof, meaning 'The Upright' [Deuteronomy 32:15; 33:5, 26; Isaiah 44.2].
JESUS: Our Lord, GK 'Iesous' = 'Jehoshua' or, better, 'Yehowshuah' [yeh-ho-shoo-ah], from the Aramaic Hebrew der. from 'YA' & 'yasha' [yaw-shah: free, save, succour]; referring to Jesus literally as 'GOD IS SAVIOUR', an attestation of His Divinity and Messiahship; of other men, it was the N.T. equivalent of the English rendering of the O.T. 'Joshuah', indicating the same loving Character of GOD.
JEWRY: The inhabitants of Judaea, whether Judahites or other [purported] Isra'ELites, including Kennites (mixed [hybrid] 'descendents' of Cain, figurative or literally; cf. Romans 2.28) or pseudo-jews of Revelation 2.9 & 3.9: 'which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan' [cf., St Matthew 3.7, 13.38-39, 15.1; St John 9.44] as represented by the officials and their partisans [Luke 23.5; John 7.1].
K --
KERCHIEF: Covering for the head, veil.
KINE: Cows.
KITE: Falcon.
KNOP: Bud, esp. a rosebud; hence spherical ornament on the stem of the golden lampstand, and under the brim of the molten sea in the Temple [Ezekiel 25.31; I kings 7.24].
L --
LACE: Band, cord, thread, wire used as a fastener [Exodus 28.28].
LADE: To load.
LAMA: Hebrew or Aramaic meaning 'why' [See Jesus' plea in Matthew 27.46; Mark 15.34].
LANCET: Small spear or dart [I Kings 18.28].
LAVAR: Vessel contaiing water for [esp, ritual] washing or cleansing, for the priests to wash their hands & feet before offering Sacrifice [Exodus 30.18]; in the Tabernacle it stood between the alter and the door [Exodus 30.17-21]; 'In Solomons Temple, besides the molten sea, there were ten lavers on wheels, with bases [I Kings 7.27-39] used for washing the animals which were to be sacrificed [II Chronicles 4.6]. (Source 1)
LEASING: Lie, deceit [Psalms 4.2; 5.6].
LEDGE: Prb. cleats for joining boards, etc. [I Kings 7.28]; shelf [I Kings 7.35].
LEES: Sediment or dregs [Isaiah 25.6].
LET: To hinder; also conversely, to allow (understand contextually).
LEVIATHAN: Large aquatic or semi-aquatic animal, e.g, the whale [which God enjoys: [Psalm 104.26], large Nile crocodile [Job 41.1-34] or monsterous animal which can be symbolic of Satan, the devil [Isaiah 27.1]; poss. also from prehistoric beasts which may have existed in remnant or lore until a late period.
LEVY: Israelite men conscripted as work batallon [I Kings 5.13]; Canaanites conscripted to do hard labour [I Kings 9.15-23]; To give tribute from spoils of war such as slaves or livestock [Numbers 31.28].
LEWD: Bad, wicked, evil, culpably ignorant or unlearned [Acts 17.5]; Lascivious [Ezekel 16.27].
LIBERTINE: In benign sense of the former slave who had been set free (emancipated for his loyal service, good character, or own purchase) [Acts 6.9].
LIEN: To have layed or reclined; Euphamistic for the sexual sense [Genesis 26.10]; To lie or recline [Psalms 68.13].
LIGN ALOES, LIGNALOES: Agalloch trees, pleasant to contemplate, whose soft resinous wood was burned as a perfume [Numbers 24.6]; gum is sometimes extracted from such trees to compound incense, perfumes, ointments.
LIGURE: A gemstone, perh. the modern jacinth,i.e, a reddish-orange variety of zircon used as a gem.
LIKING: Appearance, health, condition [Job 39.4].
LIVELY: Living [Acts 7:38; I Peter 1:3].
LORD'S DAY: (Source 1) The 'name occures only in Rev. 1.10; the first day of the week is meant, being the day of our Lord's resurrection, and also the day on which the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles.
LOWERING: Dark, gloomy, threatening [Matthew 16.3].
LUCIFER: "Shining or bright one", "light bringer" = the Angel who rebelled against God in his high beauty, power, and intelligence to become the fallen Satan -- 'that old serpant, which is the devil' [Isaiah 14.12; see Revelation 20:2].
LUCRE: Gain, 'filthy lucre' meaning that sought by corruption and shameful practices in perversion of labour as God intended [I Timothy 3.3,8; Titus 1.7, 11; I Peter 5.2].
LUST: To desire legitimately or sinfully, depending on context.
LUSTY: Large, fat, stout [Judges 3.29].
M --
MAGNIFICAL: Illustrious, magnficent.
MALEFACTOR: Evildoer, criminal.
MALIGNITY: Malicious disposition [Romans 1.29].
MAMMON: Aramaic word transliterated through the GK: Wealth, riches, opulance regarded as a god or as an evil influence [Personified in Matthew 6.24; Luke 16.9, 11, 13].
MANDRAKE: 'The fruit of an herb formerly eaten by oriental women as an aid in conception'; poss. Mandragora officinarum, a poisonous or medicinal plant with white or purple flowers and large orange fruit.
MANEH, MINA: Hebrew unit of weight and measure of money, usu. in silver or gold, subdivided into 50 shekels, approx. 571 grams or 20.2 oz.
MANNA: Hebrew fr the food which GOD provided the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt, during some forty years, until they reached their inheritance in the land of Canaan; described as the food of angels (AV) or of the mighty (RV), manna was waferlike, sweet as mild honey, and prepared in various ways as a whole food in itself. 'Man did eat angels' food' [Psalm 78.25]; thereby connecting man & angels, in similitude, as sons of God. Lit., 'whatness', the Divine origin of the omni-nutritive stuff is oft forgotten by man.
MANSION: On the regenerated Earth, a stately dwelling; Permanent, all-sufficient, delightful, gracious, and magnficent abode of rest, of the resurrected state of being with our Lord in Heaven, (where Earth is 'located') as stated by Jesus in His wonderful words of St John 14.2, and applied in the plural.
MARISH: Marsh, wetland, fen [Ezekiel 47.11].
MATRIX: The womb [from L 'mother'; Ezekiel 13.12].
MAUL: Heavy club [Proverbs 25.18].
MAW: Prob. the stomach and liver of a beast considered as fit for food; sweetmeats [Deuteronomy 18.3].
MEAT: Any sustaining food, including bread or any other prepared grain or seed, fruit, flesh, etc. [Genesis 1.29; Isaiah 62.8].
MEET: Qualified [Deuteronomy 3.18]; Fitting, becoming, proper [Matthew 3.8].
'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN': Aramaic for the grave warning from the Hand of GOD of Judgement in Deuternomy 5.26-28: 'He has counted, counted, weighed, and then divided.'
MERCURIUS: The Roman fabled idol considered the "god" of communication and commerce, a swift footed youth holding the torch -- after pagan times considered nonreligiously as artistic figure, along with the other Grek & Roman counterparts; but in pagan times implements of the devil to harm man and blaspheme GOD; the LORD "winked" at the practices of befudled pagans whose conscionces knew no better, and judged them by the "Law" written in their hearts [Acts 14.12; See Acts 17.30 & Romans 2.14-6].
MESS: A dish of food.
MESSIAH: Hebrew-Aramaic: 'Meshiach' -- the Christ, the Annointed One of GOD [Daniel 9.25; throughout the New Testament in the Greek form, 'Christos'].
METE: To measure [as, to measure out].
METEYARD: A measuring stick.
MILCH: Milk producing [as, cows].
MILLET: A small-grained cerial grass and the seeds thereof [Ezekiel 4.9].
MINISH: To diminish.
MINISTER: TO SUPPY [II CORINTHIANS 9.10].
MITE: N.T. copper coin of minute value, the Lepton, valued at 2/3 of an English historical farthing [1/4 d] or about 50 P or $0.85 of AD 2000 money, about the amount of a large roll or flattish loaf of bread (pita) [Mark 12.42].
MITRE: A Headdress worn by the High Priest [Exodus 28.4] (ordinary priests wore bonnets -- white raised, full coverings).
MOIST: Fresh & not stale; Undried, as fresh grapes [Numbers 6.3].
MOLLIFY: To alleviate or soothe [Isaiah 1.6].
MUSTARD: A Metaphor for the banana plant, native to Asia, 'Magnoliophyta Liliopsida musaceæ' or 'Musa sapientium', probably introduced via the ancient trade routes from India, in which fruit contains in the core long strips of minute seeds (sterile in modern cultivated varieties of the former, propagation of which is by rhizome), of the colour of the Mustard (another 'Magnoliophyta' of up to ~2 metres [6'+]) herb flower and flour of its crushed & dehusked seed (which is relatively large, like the Cumin [or, Celantro]), and which grows, as a palm tree-like herb with false trunk, to the height of over 5 metres (16'). Usually considered, in practice, the mustard plant; "birds" who swallow whole (as is frequent practice) would break the seed, which contains powerful spice, in their grit-containing gizzards; therefore there is metaphore in multiple rendering. [St Matthew 13.31, St Mark 4.31, St Luke 13.19].
MOTE: Speck or straw [Matthew 7.3].
MUFFLER: Veil or scarf; Wrapper for the lower part of the face or mouth [Isaiah 3.19].
MURRAIN: Pestilence or plague [Exodus 9.3].
N --
NAPKIN: Handkerchief, small utilitarian cloth carried on the person.
NAUGHT: Worthless [II Kings 2.19; Proverbs 20.14].
NAUGHTINESS: Wickedness [I Samuel 17.28; Proverbs 11.6; James 1.21].
NAUGHTY: Bad, worthless: in the serious, strong sense [Proverbs 6.12; Jeremiah 24.2].
NAVES: Wheel hubs [only at II Kings 2.19].
NAY: The declarative 'no', still used today in legislatures, jurisprudence, poetry, oratory, and in the German tongue.
NECROMANCER: One who purports to contact persons of the dead (which is impossible since they rest awaiting resurrection to Heaven or damnation on Christ's coming), forbidden by God as blasphemous human presumption, traffic with demons, and fraud [Deuteronomy 18.11].
NEPHEW: Grandson (Hebrew usage was broader, the vocabulary being limited; and, of a woman, lineage was sometimes reckoned from the brother or, 'legally' by adoption of the husband into the wife's family, (as of Mary, St Luke 3.23 ff., where 'was' replaces 'begat' of Joseph's natural lineage of St Matthew 1.1-17, given from origen) [Judges 12.14; Job 18.19; I Timothy 5.4].
NEESING(S): Sneezing [Job 41.18].
NETHER: Lower, as opposed to upper [Joshua 15.19].
NETHERMOST: Lowest [I Kings 6.6].
NIGH: Near.
NITRE: Alkaline desert salt, natron, Sodum carbonate [NaCO3], used for cleansing clothing or the teeth, and abrasive; [poss.] other alkaline salts concentrated by evaporation: Psalm 25.20.
NOISOME: Noxious, hurtful, evil [Ezekiel 14.15, where poss. allegorical of type of peoples].
NOTHING: Not at all [I Kings 10.21; I Timothy 4.4; James 1.5].
NURTURE: Raising, bringing up, education, disciplne [Ephesians 6.4].
O --
OBLATION: Offering, anything offered in sacrifice [f. L 'to bring before'].
OBEISANCE: Bowing, obedience, doing of homage.
OCCUPIER: One who trades or traffics [Ezekiel 27.27].
OCCUPY: To spend the time profitably in using or employing [See Jesus' Luke 19.13]; To trade with, to trade [Ezekiel 27.9].
OCCURRENT: Chance, occurence [I Kings 5.4].
OFT: Often.
OMEGA: The last letter in the Greek alphabet [cf., 'alpha' the first letter; See Jesus' Revelation 1.8].
OMER: Hebrew dry measure of volume, a tenth of an EPHA, about 22 litres or quarts.
ONYCHA: Precious substance derived from a shellfish used in makng incense [Exodus 30.34].
ONYX: Gemstone, green beryl, a semiprecious agate with different colours in layers [Exodus 35.9].
OSEE: Anglicised GK for Hosea [Romans 9.25].
OSPRAY, OSSIFRAGE: A large bird of prey, e.g., an hawk, buzzard, vulture, or eagle; carrion feeders that the Israelites were forbidden to eat [Leviticus 11.13].
OUCHES: Sockets in which precious stones are set [Exodus 28:.11; 39.6].
OUTGOINGS: Goings forth or out; furthest limits or boundaries.
OUTLANDISH: Foreign, in sense of heathen [Nehemiah 13.26].
OUTWENT: Outstripped, outdistanced, outrun [Mark 6.33].
OVERCHARGE: Overburden.
OVERLIVE: To outlive [Joshua 24.31].
P --
PALMERWORM: Any destructive caterpiller [Joel 1.4].
PAP(S): The nipple(s).
PAPER REED: The Papyrus reed, which used to cover the Nile marshes and stll plentiful along isolated African rivers, pounded and joined to make paper [Isaiah 19.7].
PASSOVER: Annual Israelite feast commemorating the miracle of the Exodus and a sort of type of Christ [Exodus 12.1-28].
PATE: Crown of the head [Psalm 7.16].
PATRMONY: Inheritance of father's status as head of household having legal rights of household dominion; legal inheritance of paternal property implying respect, piety, and obligation [Deuteronomy 18.8].
PECULIAR: Unique, special, honourably and affectionately particular [Exodus 19.5; Deuteronomy 14.2].
PERADVENTURE: Perhaps, perchance, it may be.
PHYLACTERY: Parchment enclosed in leather and worn on the forehead and wrists or arm, containing the vital Commandments of the LORD, by literal interpretation of Deuteronomy 6.6-8.
PIETY: Filial affection [I Timothy 5:4].
PILL: To peel or strip [Genesis 30.37].
PIT: Frequently symbolic, as when derived from various Hebrew words enumerated by Dr Strong (Source 5), of trap, spiritual anguish, the grave, corruption, destruction, ditch, Sheol ('hell', abode of the dead awaiting resurrection to life or to damnation [Paradise or gehenna]), and found vividly in The Psalms &c.
PITCH: To arrange as troops for battle; a resin from conifer trees; bitumen or tar.
PLAISTER: (To) plaster [Genesis 27.2].
PLAT: Plot, small patch of ground.
POLL: The head [Numbers 3.47]; To shave or shear hair short [II Samuel 14.26; Ezekiel 44.20].
POMMEL: An apple-like globe on top of a structural column [II Chronicles 4.12].
PORT: Gate, portal [Nehemiah 2:13].
POST: A courier or runner, messenger [II Chronicles 30.6; Job 9.25; Jeremiah 51.31]; a supporting pillar or upright wooden piece or stele.
POTSHERD: A pieca of broken earthenware vessel [Job 2.8; Psalm 22.15].
POTTAGE: A thick soup of vegetables [Genesis 25.29; II Kings 4.38]; broth, in which meat is seethed]
POUND: Term of value representing a significant sum to the common man, of an English pound sterling [silver] at the translaters' time [Luke 19.16].
POURTRAY: To Portray or depict [Ezekiel 4.1; 8.10]
PRANSING: Prancing, even vigourous action as of the horse in war [Judges 5.22]
PRESSFAT: Vat for collecting oil or wine from the fruit press [Haggai 2.16]
PRISED: Price, or priced at [See Zechariah 11.13, of our Lord]
PRIVILY: Privately [I Samuel 24.4]
PRIVY: Taking place secretly [Acts 5.2]; Inner chamber, as for royalty with counsellors, or an inmost part, room, or place [Exekiel 21.14]; the male penis [Deuteronomy 23.1]
PROVENDER: Feed sometimes mixed for domestic animals [Genesis 24.25, 32]
PSALTERY: A stringed instrument or harp shaped like a bag or small wineskin with the contents drained out [Daniel 3.5, 7]
PUBLICAN: Tax-farmer, i.e., one, usually a Jew in Palestine, hired out by the Romans to collect taxes, paid by a percentage of the take: commonly perceived as dishonest, and oft despised by the people [Matthew 5.26]
PULSE: Seed food of a legumous plant, as a sort of bean, lental or pea [See Daniel 1.12]
PURCHASE: To acquire by pursuit, to seek and thus obtain [Acts 20.28; I Timothy 3.13]
PURLOINING: With inference of deceitful machinations: stealing, robbing or pilfering [only at Titus 2.10].
PURTENANCE: The entrails, heart, liver, lungs of an animal [Exodus 12.9]
PYGARG: Perhaps the addax, a large light-coloured antelope with curled horns, from the root 'to spring' [Deuteronomy 14.5]
PRANSING(S): Prancing, especially vigourously or at a gallop [Judges 5.22; Nahum 3.2]
PRESENTLY: Instantly, at the present or proper time [II Samuel 2.16; Matthew 26.53]
PRESSFAT: A vat for collecting wine or oil from the press.
PREVENT: To precede, from the L 'pre-venire' for 'to come before', for the Hebrew usual. 'qaudam' frm. the root 'to project oneself'; to anticipate actively; hasten, meet, aid [See Ps