Ware sb.³

Forms: 1 waru, 4–6 war, (4 quare, whare), 5–6 warre, 6 waar; 5–6 Sc. and north. wayr(e, 6 wayere, 6–7 wair(e; 2– ware. [OE. waru fem. = OFris. were, MLG., MDu. ware (Du. waar), ON. vara (Sw. vara, Da. vare). MHG. ware, war, G. ware (earlier waare) are from MLG. or MDu.

  Prob. the same word as WARE sb.² used in the concrete sense ‘object of care.’]

  1.  A collective term for: Articles of merchandize or manufacture; the things that a merchant, tradesman, or pedlar, has to sell; goods, commodities. a. collect. sing.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 246. Hi ða wurpon heora waru oforbord.

a. 1100.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 311/35. Merx, waru.

c. 1205.  Lay., 11356. Chæpmen bunden heore ware.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4180. Wit camels þat gret birþin bar, O spice and of oþer ware.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 522. Greet prees at market maketh deere ware.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Alfonce, i. The merchaunt of Baldak came in to egypte for to chepe & bye somme ware or marchaundyse.

1542–3.  Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 10 § 2. Putting the same naughtie ware to sale secretly.

1614.  Overbury, Wife, etc. (1638), 126. Its now like Ware miss-laid in a Pedlers pack; a ha ’s it but knowes not where it is.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 61. The windowes of painted glasse (no common ware).

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Past., iv. 47. No Keel shall cut the Waves for foreign Ware.

1748.  Smollett, Rod. Rand., viii. He certainly intended to make free with the pedlar’s ware.

c. 1820.  [see PIEMAN].

1822.  Scott, Peveril, xlii. I am always provided with ware which a gentleman may risk his life on.

1844.  Kinglake, Eöthen, xviii. The owners raised various objections to the display of their ware [sc. white slave-girls].

  b.  pl.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 120. Ða ʓelamp hit æt sumum sæle … þæt Englisce cypmenn brohton heora ware to Romanabyriʓ…. Þa ʓeseah he betwux ðam warum cype-cnihtas ʓesette.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1581. There were stallis by þe strete stondyng for peopull, Werkmen into won, and þaire wares shewe.

1487.  Cely Papers (Camden), 165. He avysyth yow to bestowe yowre mony in grosse warys now betymys.

1567.  Harman, Caveat, 62. Consideringe wyth hym selfe that wares woulde bee welcome where money wanted.

1622.  Bacon, Hen. VII., 188. With whom ventured also three small Shippes of London-Merchants, fraught with some grosse and sleight Wares, fit for Commerce with barbarous people.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, V. i. Give ’em as little light As Drapers doe their wares.

1698.  Acts Massachusetts (1724), 117. Leather … wrought into Shoes, Boots, or other Wares.

1776.  Adam Smith, W. N., IV. ii. II. 52. A capricious man of fashion might sometimes prefer foreign wares, merely because they were foreign, to cheaper and better goods of the same kind that were made at home.

1834.  G. P. R. James, J. Marston Hall, I. xii. 159. I perceived … man in the dress of a pedlar, with his box of wares laid down by his side.

1913.  G. Edmundson, Ch. Rome 1st C., v. 123. On July 19, 64 A.D., a fire broke out at the end of the Great Circus adjoining the Palatine and Caelian Hills, amidst shops containing inflammable wares.

  c.  An article of merchandise, a saleable commodity. rare.

1881.  Contemp. Rev., Oct., 600. They treated him [i.e., the labourer] as a ware, buying him in the cheapest market.

1896.  A. H. Housman, Shropshire Lad, iv. Breath’s a ware that will not keep.

  2.  With defining word, as dye-, dyeing-, † fell-, grocery-, † haberdash(er-, mercery-, peltry-ware: see quots. and s.v. the first element. Also HARDWARE, HOLLOW-WARE, IRONWARE, † LENTRINWARE, SMALL-WARE(S, TABLEWARE, and others mentioned in 3.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xlv. (Tollemache MS.). It is þe maner to tempre yren ware [L. ferramenta] with oyle, leste þey be to muche hardened by coldenesse of water.

1408.  Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900), 105. La dusseyn de souliers appelez Courseware … vij d.

1515–8.  Early Chanc. Proc., 379/29 (List p. 5). Pannys named haberdasher ware.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 490/2. An habbardasher, or seller of smal wares.

1612.  Sc. Bk. Rates, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 309. Glasses called looking glasses, halfpenny wair the groce,… xls., penny wair the groce, iiii li.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., III. 80. Nurnberg wares (so they call small wares).

1683.  Brit. Spec., 46. In exchange for Tynne and Lead … they received Earthen Vessels, Salt and Brazen Ware of the Phænicians.

1838.  Murray’s Handbk. N. Germ., 167. Spa is famous for a peculiar manufactory of wooden toys, somewhat like the Tunbridge ware.

1888.  Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 607/1. Tunbridge ware … includes work tables, boxes, toys, &c., made of hard woods … and inlaid with mosaic.

  3.  In spec. uses. a. Vessels, etc., made of baked clay. Chiefly with defining word, as brown, china- (CHINA¹ 3 a), Delft-, glass-, Japan, porcelain, pottery, Queen’s, Staffordshire, Wedgewood ware: see these words, and EARTHENWARE, STONEWARE.

1761.  Brit. Mag., II. 101. Constant at ev’ry sale, the curious fair, Who longs for Dresden, and old China ware.

1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., v. (1842), 149. If [the pestle is] in two pieces,… the handle being of wood and the bottom only of ware, the cement by which they are fastened occasionally falls out.

1882.  ‘Ouida,’ In Maremma, I. 127. Vases and jars in black ware.

1911.  G. Macdonald, Roman Wall Scot., xi. 370. Both classes of vessel are of the same coarse ware, and both vary in colour.

  † b.  Textile fabrics. Hence CODWARE², a pillow-case, for which also ware simply is found.

1442.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 60/2. Persones that maken untrewe ware of all maner Worstedes.

1551–2.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., X. 49. Item, for tway coddis … Item, four elnis bartane claith to be waris to the samyn.

1557.  North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr., Prol. (1568), *ij. For euen as by the yard the marchante measureth al his ware: so by the life of the Prince is measured the whole common weale.

1661.  Sc. Acts Chas. II. (1814), VII. 61/1. Item, eightein cods with their wairs worth three merk the peice.

1713.  Addison, Ct. Tariff, ¶ 2. Euerything he wore was substantial honest, home-spun ware.

1748.  Millinery ware [see MILLINERY 3].

  c.  Field-produce, crops, vegetables. Obs. exc. dial. (= large potatoes intended for sale).

1398, 1669.  [see CODWARE¹ 1].

1562, 1750.  field ware [see FIELD sb. 21].

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Gen. (1662), 57. Intimating that she had mingled Ware, Corn, and Tares in those who were descended from her. Ibid., Somerset, 17. No Shire can show finer ware,… being generally fruitful.

1693.  Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. 32. Their Ware is much finer than that of others who water less.

1707.  Garden-ware [see GARDEN sb. 6].

1894.  Blackmore, Perlycross, viii. 57. He had two large butts to receive the filled sacks—assorted into ware and chats.

1920.  G. C. Gough, in Discovery, Nov., 348/2 [Potatoes]. In the North and in Scotland another riddle is used between the ware and the chats, and by this means ‘seed’ is obtained.

  † d.  Live-stock (cattle, sheep, poultry). Obs.

1422.  Coventry Leet Bk., 43. Þer schall noo beestys be pynnyd at the comen pynfold by the comien seriante, but chapmannys warre.

1465.  Plough-ware [see PLOUGH sb.¹ 8].

1531–2.  Poultry-ware [see POULTRY 4].

1523–34.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 118. If a horse wante wartes behynde, benethe the spauen-place,… then he is noo chapmannes ware, if he be wylde.

1535.  in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 133. The bochers which have sklaucters howses now in the lane shall voyd and kyll noe moe ware in the sayd howses by the fest of Ester next commyng.

1538.  Bale, God’s Promises, iv. (facs.), C ij b. By a Soden plage, all their firstgotten ware, Thu slewest in one nyght.

c. 1550.  Cheke, Matt. xxii. 4. Mi beves and mi fed waar be killed.

1561.  Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 264 b. And first an allusion is made of such as sley wares and prepare a feast.

1609.  Bible (Douay), Ezek. xxxix. 18. Of buck-goates, and bulles, and of red wares [Vulg. altilium].

1655.  Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 143. The like may be also in all gelded Ware, (and consequently in Muttons).

a. 1732.  Gay, Fables (1738), II. 6.

  e.  The spat of oysters in its third year.

1877.  Q. Rev., CXLIV. 487. A bushel-measure of brood or ware, that is, oysters of the size of a threepenny-piece.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 154/1. Spat in the second year is denominated ‘brood.’… In the following year ‘brood’ becomes ‘ware.’

  4.  transf. and fig.

  Formerly often in distinction from money, like ‘goods.’ Sometimes with depreciatory implication, like ‘stuff.’

c. 1200.  Moral Ode, 68, in Trin. Coll. Hom., 222. Þis is þet wunderlukeste ware þat ani man funde.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 16476. Here i yeld yow yur mone, ges me a-gain mi war.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst., Christ Disputing (Shaks. Soc.), 197. Wete ȝe not wele that I muste bene Amonge hem that is my faderes ware, His gostly catel for to ovyrsen?

1549.  Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Jas., i. 22–7. Ceremonies … are pernicious ware, yf a man thinke that he is made religious by meane of them.

1600.  1st Pt. Sir J. Oldcastle, III. iv. 53. If you haue no mony, you shal haue ware: as many sound drie blows as your skin can carrie.

1642.  D. Rogers, Naaman, 547. The obedience of hypocrites is dead ware.

1647.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., III. § 222. They resolved to shew all their ware and to produce the whole evidence.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Westmerld. (1662), 135. This County … is fruitful by some few exceptions, having some pleasant vales, though such ware be too fine, to have much measure thereof.

1793.  Mrs. Piozzi, 7 Feb., in Intim. Lett. (1913), 80. A mythological play of the dark days, Theseus and Ariadne, and that old ware.

1865.  J. G. Holland, Plain Talk, ix. 314. There is nothing immodest or otherwise improper in the advertisment of a man’s literary wares.

1918.  Oxford Mag., 21 June, 343/1. None of them [sc. the essayists] cries his own wares to the exclusion of those of others.

  b.  Applied jocularly to women. (Cf. ‘piece of goods.’)

  Sometimes with explicit ref. to sense 3 a; cf. also 3 d.

1558.  W. Forrest, Grysilde Seconde (Roxb.), 55. Hee had in hym a lyttle sensuall luste Whiche withe younge ware hee neadys accomplische muste.

1624.  Davenport, City Nightcap, IV. (1661), 37. I keep no common company [of women] I warrant ye; we vent no breath’d ware here.

1687.  J. Phillips, Quix., I. I. i. 5. A young fresh-colour’d smerking Country Wench that went for a Maid, but in truth, was a crackt piece of Ware.

1826.  Scott, Woodstock, x. I may get a peep of fair Rosamond, and see whether she was that choice and incomparable piece of ware which the world has been told of.

  † c.  The privy parts of either sex. Also lady ware. Obs.

1561.  B. Googe, trans. Palingenius’ Zodiac, V. M j b. So hurtes the Bees their honye sweete, so makes the Beuer yell His hoysting ware.

1579.  G. Gilpin, trans. Marnix van Sant Aldegonde’s Beehive Rom. Ch. (1580), 299. For the auoiding of such a chaunce, the holy Romishe Churche did ordaine twoo chaires too bee heawen of Porphyr stone, where they vsed to feele from vnder, whether the newe chosen Pope was furnished of all his ware.

1592.  Soliman & Pers., IV. ii. 49. The Ladies of Rhodes, hearing that you haue lost a capitoll part of your Lady ware.

1608.  [Tofte], Ariosto’s Sat., IV. (1611), 61. The slie Venetian lockt his Ladies ware, Yet through her wit Acteons badge he bare.

1615–6.  Bk. Depositions 1612–6, Archdeaconry of Colchester (MS.), lf. 72. The said William Land once so druncke at Sturbridge fayer that he did shewe his ware openly in the fayer.

1656.  Mennes & J. Smith, Mus. Delic. (ed. 2), 73. Your Breasts all open bare, So farre, that a man may almost see Unto your Lady-ware.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal, VI. 491. Seen from afar, and famous for his Ware, He struts into the Bath, among the Fair.

1721.  E. Ward, Merry Trav., I. (1729), 29. Here [at the Lock-hospital] all are welcome to repair Their aching Limbs or damag’d Ware.

  † d.  Wormes ware, food for worms. Obs.

c. 1400.  Pety Job, 7, in 26 Pol. Poems, 121. Yet shall my fayrenesse fade and fle, And I shalbe wormes ware.

c. 1450.  Songs & Carols (Warton Club), 20. Ȝyt am I but wermys ware.

  e.  The hale ware (Sc.), also anglicized the whole ware: the whole number, quantity or amount; the sum-total.

1563.  Winȝet, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 73. Nocht that the canoun allane may nocht be sufficient to the hail wair.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 154. Sa the haill wair, being comptit, was threttie thowsand pund sterling.

1591.  R. Bruce, Serm., v. L 6. He saith in the wholware of these things. The life of my soule standeth.

a. 1689.  W. Cleland, Poems (1697), 18 (Jam.). Then this will follow, I suppose, She drags the whole-ware by the nose.

1742.  R. Forbes, Ajax (1755), 11. He … gar’d the hale-ware o’ us trow That he was gane clean wod.

1824.  Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., 307. The haleware o’t seemed to be gran plowable lan.

1894.  Crockett, Raiders, x. The verra last shot that was fired … carried awa’ the halewar (whole) o’ their steerin’ gear.

  † f.  In periphrastic use (cf. e). Obs. rare.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter, xvii. 11. He flegh ouer fetheres of windes ware [Vulg. super pennas ventorum]. Ibid., 16. And schewed welles of watres ware [Vulg. et apparuerunt fontes aquarum]. Ibid., lxxii. 13. And betwix vnderand ware [Vulg. inter innocentes] Mine handes wesche i þare.

  5.  attrib. and Comb., as wair almery (Sc.), ware-barge, chamber, -room, trash; (sense 3 a) ware-basin; (sense 3 b) ware-man; also † ware-cloth [? cf. ON. vǫruklǽði common cloth] (sense uncertain).

1489.  Acta Dom. Conc. (1839), 131/1. A met almery,… a *wayr almery.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 26. These Boats are as large as one of our *Ware-Barges,… and carry a great Burthen with little trouble.

1849.  D. Campbell, Inorg. Chem., 92. In not very nice experiments, instead of a platinum crucible a small *ware basin may be used.

1533.  Linc. Diocese Docum. (1914), 163. I bequeyth to herry my sone all the ware in my *ware chamber.

1499.  Will of John Buysshope, in Somerset Medieval Wills (1901), 379. Item, I bequeith unto John Busshop of Lyme 2 peaces of *ware-clothes.

1659.  W. Sheppard, Corporations, 16. The Wardens … and Fellowship of Drapers, Taylors, Mercers, and *Ware-Men, and Coopers in D.

1817.  Pinkerton, Petral., II. 96. The first quantity that was exposed in Edinburgh, was in the year 1790, in a *ware-room on the south bridge.

1841.  Lytton, Night & Morn., I. viii. Mr. Roger Morton and his family sat in that snug and comfortable retreat which generally backs the ware-rooms of an English tradesman.

1655.  Fuller, Hist. Cambr., v. 71. Provision may be made, that a sufficiency of such *Ware-trash may still be preserved.