Also 5 veert, 5–7 verte. [a. AF. and OF. vert (so mod.F.; formerly also verd VERD sb.), = Prov. vert, Cat. verd, Sp., Pg. and It. verde:—L. virid-em, viridis green, VIRID a.]
1. Green vegetation growing in a wood or forest and capable of serving as cover for deer.
14[?]. Forest Laws (MS. Douce 335), fol. 73. As touching the kinges veert, that is to say, the kinges wodes; if ther be ony mann, that hath felled ony gret okes [etc.].
1577. Harrison, England, II. xv., in Holinshed, I. 89 b/1. The better preseruation of such venery and vert of all sortes as were nourished in the same.
1598. Manwood, Lawes Forest, vi. § 1. 33 b. [Hence in later Dicts., etc.]
1702. Phil. Trans., XXIII. 1073. While this Country was a Chace, and while the Vert was preserv’d.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 71. The punishment of all injuries done to the king’s deer or venison, to the vert or greenswerd.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 143. Destruction of vert is destruction of venison.
1839. Stonehouse, Axholme, 62. A royal demesne … covered with vert, and well stocked with deer.
1871. Daily News, 18 Sept. The Lord of the Manor … had … enclosed four hundred acres of waste land, and had destroyed the vert on parts thereof.
transf. 1635. A. Stafford, Fem. Glory, c vij b. The fourth is humble Ivy, intersert, But lowlie laid,… Preserved, in her antique bed of Vert, No faith’s more firme,… then where’t doth creep..
b. Coupled with venison. (The common use.) Freq. without article.
1455. Rolls of Parlt., V. 319/2. The oversight of verte and venyson, in all the Parkes.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 459/2. The k[ing] … appointed foure iustices … to be as surueyers aboue all other Foresters of vert & venison.
1598. Manwood, Lawes Forest, xvii. 102 b. That which tendeth to the hurt and annoyance of the Vert and the Venison.
1612. Sir J. Davies, Why Ireland, etc. (1747), 164. The great plenty both of Vert and Venison within this land.
1700. Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 820. Every Forester in Fee shall … Attach Pleas of the Forest, as well concerning Vert as Venison.
1772. Junius Lett., lxviii. (1788), 347. If a man was taken with vert, or venison, it was declared to be equivalent to indictment.
1826. Scott, Woodst., I. ii. 51. Sir Henry Lee is keeper of Woodstock Park, with right of waif and stray, vert and venison, as complete as any of them have to their estate.
1835. J. P. Kennedy, Horse Shoe R., II. xii. 96. He, therefore, gave much of his time to the concerns of vert and venison.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVI. 175/1. The master-keepers’ and groom-keepers’ duty is to preserve the vert and venison in their respective bailiwicks and walks.
† c. Nether, over, special vert: (see quots.). Obs.
1598. Manwood, Lawes Forest, vi. § 2. 34. There are two sorts of Vert in euery Forrest, that is to say, Ouer vert, and, Neather vert: Ouer vert is that, which the Lawiers do cali Hault Boys, and Neather vert is that, which the Lawiers do call South Boys, and in the Forrest lawes, Ouer vert is all manner of Hault Boys, or great wood, aswel such as beareth fruit, as such as beareth none. Ibid., 35. Speciall vert, which is euery tree and bush within the Forrest, that doth beare fruite to feed the Deere withall, as Peare trees, Crabtrees, Hawthornes,… and such like. [Hence in later Law Dicts., etc.]
1727. Nelson, Laws conc. Game, 231. Special-vert, which may be either over or nether-vert, or both if it bears fruit, for nothing is accounted special-vert but such which beareth fruit to feed the deer.
2. ellipt. The right to cut green trees or shrubs in a forest. Now arch.
1639. in Maitland, Hist. Edinburgh (1753), II. 151/1. All their antient Rights,… with Pit and Gallows, Sack and Soke, Thole, Theam, Vert, Wrack, Waifs [etc.].
1707. in State, Fraser of Fraserfield, 310 (Jam.). Cum furca, fossa,… vert, veth, venison,… pit et gallows.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xl. The Holy Clerk shall have a grant of vert and venison in my woods of Warncliffe.
1843. G. P. R. James, Forest Days, vii. His rights of vert and venison, extended over a wide distance around.
1864. Kingsley, Rom. & Teut., 257. The nobles about gave up to him their rights of venison, and vert, and pasture, and pannage of swine.
† 3. A green plant or shrub. Obs.–1
1648. J. Raymond, Il Merc. Ital., 129. Bayes, Locusts, Pomegrannets, and such like Verts, that grow wild in the Hedges.
† 4. A green color or pigment. Obs.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 339. Item,… for iiij. dos. of golde paper, and silver rowche clere and verte, viij. s.
1572. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 178. Vert,… Sapp,… Crymsen,… White,… Broune. Ibid. (1582), 359. Paste bord, paper, and paste, white, sise, verte, Syneper.
5. spec. in Her. The tincture green. Also as adj.
c. 1507. Justes Moneths May & June, 28, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 114. For a cognysaunce Of Mayes month they bare a souenaunce, Of a verte cocle was the resemblaunce, Tatched ryght fast.
1562. Leigh, Armorie, 15 b. That is greene, & blased Vert. Ibid. And nowe we to the fourth colour, Vert.
a. 1586. Sidney, Astr. & Stella, xiii. In vert field Mars bare a golden speare.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., xv. (1906), 194. A plaine crosse Vert, by the name of Hussey.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. (Grosart), I. 44. [To] tell you how they beare Gules, or, vert, azure,—heathen words for Red, Yellow, green, blue.
1655. Fuller, Antheologia (1867), 278. The whole field was vert or green.
1656. Blount, Glossogr. [Hence in Phillips, etc.]
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Vert (in Heraldry) signifies Green, and in Graving, is expressed by Diagonal Lines, drawn from the Dexter Chief Corner, to the Sinister Base.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., i. (1816), I. 10. Some [insects] she [sc. Nature] blazons with heraldic insignia, giving them to bear in fields … vert—gules—argent and or, fesses—bars … and even animals.
c. 1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Gloss., Vert, the common French term for green, and the proper heraldic term for that colour.
