[f. prec.]
† 1. a. intr. To utter the vowels in singing. b. trans. To sing with vowel-articulation. Obs. (Cf. VOWELLING vbl. sb. 1 a.)
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 179. They ought to studie howe to vowell and sing cleane.
1646. Mayne, Serm. Unity (1647), 32. As if they [i.e., the Psalms] … had been tuned through his own loud Cymball, or had more softly been sung and vowell’d to his Harpe.
2. trans. To convert into a vowel; to vocalize.
1611. Cotgr., Vocalizé, vowelled, made a vowell.
3. To supply with vowels or vowel-points.
1681. H. More, Exp. Dan., Pref. 7. They did not know how to point them or vowel them.
1880. Encycl. Brit., XI. 797/1. Sonne syllabics never take a vowel except for an unusual form,—the root and the ordinary derivatives never being vowelled.
† 4. slang. To pay (a creditor) with an I O U.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 12, ¶ 3. Do not talk to me, I am Voweled by the Count, and cursedly out of humour.
1760. Foote, Minor, I. i. They will vowel you, from Father to Son to the twentieth generation.
1796. Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), s.v., A gamester who does not immediately pay his losings, is said to vowel the winner, by repeating the vowels I.O.U. or perhaps from giving his note for the money according to the Irish form.
