lawe

See also: lawę, ławe, and ławę

English

Etymology

Perhaps from law because the practice was ordained by law. Few dictionaries comment directly on the etymology of the sense, but several (which also spell the infinitive law) group it with the other verb and noun senses derived from Old English lagu (“law”).

Verb

lawe (third-person singular simple present lawes, present participle lawing, simple past and past participle lawed)

1. (transitive) To cut off the claws and balls of (e.g. a dog's forefeet, to hinder it from hunting).
   • 1808, William Gilpin, Remarks on forest scenery, and other woodland views:

     They were enveloped in forms, and easily evaded ; like a lawed dog, too mutilated to catch their game.

   • 1866, George Richard Jesse, Researches Into the History of the British Dog:

     In the 3 Edw II., at a Court-Leet and Court-Baron held for the manor of Sutton-Cold field, in Warwickshire, when the ancient customs of the Lordship from the time of Athelstan and until the coronation of Henry III. were testified to by the Jury, they certified that they had heard their ancestors say that, when Sutton manor was in the hands of the Kings of England, all the Chase was afforested, and all the dogs within the forest used to be lawed, and the left claw of the foot cut off: and after it came into the hands of the Earl of Warwick they had leave to have and hold dogs of all kind unlawed.

   • 1950, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire:

     The Vicar of Bacford for the same John Miller there for the same Beatrice de Coghull for one dog not lawed.

   • 2011, Edward Rutherfurd, Sarum, →ISBN, page 511:

     Godric rarely entered the forest, and, having already trained Harold to help with driving the sheep, at which the young dog had shown a remarkable talent, he had no wish to have him lawed.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:lawe.

See also

• expediate

Noun

lawe (countable and uncountable, plural lawes)

1. Obsolete spelling of law (“system of regulations etc.”).

Further reading

• “lawe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• alew, e-law, wale, weal

Hawaiian

Noun

lawe

1. bearer

Verb

lawe

1. (transitive) to transport, carry, take, bring

   lawe mai – to bring

   lawe aku – to take away

2. (stative) to become

Middle English

Alternative forms

• laȝe, laȝhe, lagh, laghe, laugh, lage, laue, lau, law, lauwe, laȝwe

Etymology

From Old English lagu, in turn borrowed from Old Norse *lagu, a plural of lag.

Pronunciation

• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɣə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈlau̯(ə)/
• Rhymes: -au̯(ə)

Noun

lawe (plural lawes or (Early ME) lawen)

1. A law, regulation, or a group of them:
   1. Ecclesiastical, canon or church law.
   2. The regulations followed by a job or group of people.
   3. Directives, obligations, or tasks set to someone.
   4. Legality; what is legally (and often seen as morally) right.
2. Morality, natural law (either instinctual or taught):
   1. The Bible or one of the two books which it is composed of.
   2. A religion (especially Christianity).
   3. The Torah or the moral strictures contained within it.
   4. One of the Ten Commandments or their totality.
   5. The regulating and obligating nature of marriage.
   6. (rare) Morality revealed or given from the heavens.
3. A law or the totality of laws active in a community; the law.
   1. The practicing of law; litigation, legal action, or part of it.
   2. The legal profession; law or the legal system as a job or occupation.
   3. A legal ruling or decision; penalisation or compensation.
   4. A legal community; the area under the aegis of a given legal system.
   5. (rare) Getting one's acquaintances to attest one's innocence.
   6. (rare) The law as an individual; those working in law.
4. One's behaviour, acts, practices, or mode of living:
   1. The usual behaviour of a group or class of things.
   2. The usual behaviour of a people, nation, or community.
   3. The method, technique, or way in which something is accomplished.
   4. Caution from violence due to law; the effects of law and order.
   5. (rare) A trapping, ceremony, or ritual that forms part of a religion.
   6. (rare) Customs, behaviours, or actions which are regarded as right; manners.
5. The administrative or governmental system present in a community.
6. A scientific or natural law; a statement of truth.
7. A dispensation (one of the periods of Christian history)
8. Information or wisdom from a trustworthy or reliable source.
9. A snide or pithy axiom or statement of a general truth.
10. (rare) Something which effects or changes; a force.
11. (rare) Might or potency; the ability to effect one's will.
12. (rare) The state or situation one is in.

Related terms

• brother-in-lawe
• Dene lawe
• douȝter in lawe
• fader in lawe
• laufulnes
• lawday
• laweful
• laweles
• laweliche
• lawely
• lawfully
• lawier
• moder in lawe
• sone in lawe
• suster-in-lawe

 

Descendants

• English: law
• Scots: law
• Yola: laas (plural)

References

• “laue, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-19.