You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel.

Shakespeare, Mid. N.'s Dr. II. 2.

If you will have a young man to put his travail into a little roome...... .when he stayeth in one city or towne, let him change his lodging, from one end and part of the towne, to another; which is a great adamant of acquaintance. Bacon, Ess. XVIII. P. 73.

That diamond and adamant were the same is clear from a passage in Ben Jonson's Alchemist, IV. I.

Mam. Does not this diamant better on my finger
Than i' the quarry?

Dol. Yes. Mam. Why you are like it,

You were created lady for the light!

Here you shall swear it; take it, the first pledge
Of what I speak, to bind you to believe me.

Dol. In chains of Adamant.

Adjure, v.t. (Josh. vi. 26; Matt. xxvi. 63, &c.). To bind by oath, solemnly entreat, conjure; from Lat. adjurare.

Then I adiure you by the faithe that you owe to God, by your honour and by your othe made to Saincte George patron of the noble ordre of the gartier &c. Hall, Rich. III. fol. ix. a.

Admiration, sb. (Rev. xvii. 6). Like the Lat. admiratio, used in the sense of simple wonder, astonishment, whether accompanied by approval or disapproval of the object.

Your behaviour hath struck her into amazement and admiration. Shakespeare, Hamlet, ni. 2.

In the same sense Milton uses admire;

The undaunted fiend what this might be admired;
Admired, not feared. Par. Lost, II. 677, 678.

Ado, sb. (Mark v. 39). This is only once used in Scripture, but can hardly be said to be an uncommon word so long as 'Much Ado about Nothing' remains in the language. Examples are almost needless, as they may be found in great numbers.

All the most adoe was like to be how the pietious creature might come to be in ye sight of Jesus. Udal, Erasm. Luk. v.

A man that is busy, and inquisitive, is commonly envious: for to know much of other mens matters, cannot be, because all that adoe may concerne his own estate: therfore it must needs be, that he taketh a kinde of plaie-pleasure, in looking upon the fortunes of others. Bacon, Ess. IX. p. 30.

It is used by Latimer like the infinitive 'to do,' which has still the same sense in provincial dialects.

I have had ado with many estates, even with the highest of all. Serm. p. 216.

Adventure, v.t. and i. (Deut. xxviii. 56; Judg. ix. 17; Acts xix. 31). From Latin advenire 'to arrive, happen,' is derived Ó. Fr. advenir to happen, and aventure a chance, accident, which passed into Old Eng. in the form aunter (in aunter in case, Gower, Conf. Am. 1.344); thus the 'Aunturs of Arthur' (Camd. Soc.), and is preserved in the compound peradventure, perchance. In the above passages the word 'venture' would now be used, but ‘adventure' was formerly common. Bacon uses 'adventures'

in the sense of ‘fortunes,' ‘casualties.'

It is...a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battaile, and the adventures thereof, below. Ess. I. p. 3.

Jesus......did not auenture himself emong the common sort, lest the peples affeccions should bee so dainly altered, whereby some comocion wer lyke to ryse. Udal, Erasm. Joh. ii.

I will adventure my hedd of it, that her majestie shall haue what peace she will. Leycester Corresp. p. 247.

The onely waye was by adventuryng of soom horssmen to staye the enemies martche. Ld. Grey of Wilton, p. 14.

I am almost afraid to stand alone

Here in the church yard; yet I will adventure.

Shakespeare, Rom. and Jul. v. 3.

Adventures, at all (Lev. xxvi. 21, m.). At random, haphazard, by chance. In Wisd. ii. 2 'at all adventure' is the translation of the Greek αὐτοσχεδίως.

To buy at all aduentures or to buy a pigge in the poke. Emere aleam. Baret, Alvearie, s. v. Poke.

I'll say as they say, and persever so,
And in this mist at all adventures go.

Shakespeare, Com. of Err. II. 2.

Adversary, adj. Adverse, opposing; from Lat. adversarius. The phrase 'armed against all adversary powers' occurs in the heading of 2 Cor. x. In Todd's Johnson the following example is quoted :

The Lord vphold for euer and keepe from dilapidation and decay these sides of the house, and make them as an vnuanquishable fort against the impressions and assaults of all aduersary forces. Bishop King's Vitis Palatina, p. 30.

The late Mr Herbert Coleridge gives it in a MS. list of Wiclif words, but without reference.

It is so used

Adversary, sb. (Job xxxi. 35; Matt. v. 25; Luke xii. 58; xviii. 3). An opponent in a lawsuit. by Shakespeare, Taming of Shrew, I. 2;

And do as adversaries do in law,

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

In this passage however the term refers rather to the plaintiff's and defendant's counsel.

I am sorry for thee; art thou come to answer
A stony adversary. Mer. of Ven. IV. 1.

Advertise, v.t. (Num. xxiv. 14; Ruth iv. 4). To inform, to give notice generally without reference to time: like Fr. advertir, which is explained by Cotgrave (Fr. Dict. s. v.) "to informe, certifie, aduertise." This sense is common in Shakespeare, who lays the accent on the middle syllable. Thus, "As I by friends am well advertised," Rich. III. IV. 4. "To one that can my part in him adrértise," Meas. for Meas. I. I. So also Ben Jonson, I therefore

Advertise to the state how fit it were, &c.

Volp. IV. I.

May it please the whole generation of my auditours to be

aduertised. Nashe's Lenten Stuffe, p. 7.

Advise, v. refl. (1 Chr. xxi. 12). To advise oneself is to consider, reflect. From Lat. videri, visum, comes It. viso, O. Fr. vis, and thence again Fr. avis, and O. E. avise.

For whan that I advise me wele

And bethinke me every dele.

Alas than am I overcome.

Chaucer, Book of the Duchess, 697.

Advise you what you say: the minister is here.

Shakespeare, Tw. Night. IV. 2.

There's for thy labour, Montjoy,
Go, bid thy master well advise himself.

Id. Hen. V. ш. 6.

Advisement, sb. (Chron. xxi. 19; Prov. i. 4, m.). One of the words which occur only once in the Bible; and retained by our translators from the Geneva version. It is now seldom or never used, though it might well take its place with 'consideration,' 'deliberation,' &c. to which it comes close in meaning. Sanderson uses 'advisedness' in the same sense.

Nowe, when as no sufficient occasion was geuen to the Pharisees eyther to rebuke Jesus or to bee cruell agaynste the manne, whyche had spoken warely and with good aduisemente, they were turned backe agayne to their former interrogatories. Udal, Erasm. John, f. 69.

And ryght before take good advysement
Of all the matter that ye wyl her shewe.

Hawes, Past. of Pleas. cap. 16.
None love they but of some hastie violence,
Without advisement, without discretion.

Lucifera

Barclay, Eclog. p. lviij.

Ne ruld her realme with lawes but policie
And strong advizement of six wizards old,
That with their counsels bad her kingdome did uphold.
Spenser, F. Q. I. 4, § 12.

'Avisement' is an older form of the word.

And he without avisement

Ayein Juno gaf jugement.

Gower, Conf. Am. 1. p. 304.

Sodeyn ire or hastif ire without avysement and consenting of resoun. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.

Afar off, adv. (Ps. cxxxviii. 6; Jer. xxxi. 10). Far off, at a distance. Afar is probably from afaren the pp. of A. S. afaran, to depart.

For which cause he moued Catesby to proue wyth some words cast out a farre of. Sir T. More, Workes, fo. 53 e.

I should first tell thee how the prince, Claudio and my master, planted and placed and possessed by my master Don John, saw afar off in the orchard this amiable encounter. Shakespeare, Much Ado, III. 3.

The conditions of weapons, and their improvement are; first, the fetching a farre off: for that outruns the danger. Bacon, Ess. LVII. p. 237.

Affect, v.t. (Gal. iv. 17; Ecclus. xiii. 11). From Lat. affectare, to aim at, strive after, earnestly desire. The usage was formerly very common.

The nobles......do not so greatlie affecte citties, as the commodious nearenes of dales and brookes. Pol. Vergil, I. 4.

No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en;
In brief, Sir, study what you most affect.

Shakespeare, Tam. of Shrew, I. I.

And the one of them said, that to be a secretary, in the declination of a monarchy, was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it. Bacon, Ess. XXII. p. 94.

Use also, such persons, as affect the businesse, wherin they are employed; for that quickneth much. Id. Ess. XLVII. p. 196.