Obs. Forms: 4–6 wary-, wari-, ware-, (4 warei-, vari-, 5 wery-, warry-); -soun(e, -son(e, 4 -sun, 5 -sowne, -sonne, summe; 9 warrison. [a. OF. warison, northeastern form of g(u)arison: see GARRISON sb.]
1. Wealth, possessions. To bring (a person) in or to (his) warison: to enrich.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2463. Hengist þat hor maister was he [Vortigern] ȝef him lindeseye Londes vaire & Rentes & tounes grete & heye Ware þoru him & is men in vair warison he broȝte. Ibid., 8878. Mabile is doȝter was eir of al is londe Þe king vor ire eritage him gan vnderstonde To bringe roberd is sone abast in is warison þere Þoru spousinge of þis mayde.
13[?]. Sir Beues (MS. A.), 2142. Wide whar ichaue iwent And me warisoun ispent.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 64. Bot yet his herte … Among his bedes most devoute Goth in the worldes cause aboute, How that he myhte his warisoun Encresce. Ibid., I. 155. Mi fader hier hath bot a lite Of warison.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 918. Bot i sal help the fra presowne, And bring the to thi warisowne.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 919. For thy my warysoun is full gude at hame quhair I dwel.
b. (To give, have) to warison: in full possession. Also, To give (a woman) in warison: to give in marriage; similarly to have, in warison, wed to warison.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1284. My moste fo & my feloun Schal haue my doughter to warisoun. Ibid. (1338), Chron. (1725), 21. Elfride þorgh heritage toke him þe coroune, & gaf Alfride his broþer Surray to warisoune. Ibid., 69. Þe duke wrote to þe kyng … Bisout him … þat he wild hold his oth, & ȝeld him þe coroun of Inglond … Or Marie to warisoun wed hir, & joy it wele.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 2399. I sal hir gif to warisowne Ane of the foulest quisteroun That ever yit ete any brede.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 10046. The lordeship of a grete tovn Ho yafe him to his warison.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 111. And for this quyte-clayme the forsaid Symond yaf to her ij. shillings of siluer into warison.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 164. And for this ȝevyng and of this present charter confermyng and warantiȝyng aquite & defendyng, þe foresaide Nycoll ȝafe to me Cl li. of goode & lawfull moneye by-fore handes in weryson.
c. fig. Applied to an immaterial ‘treasure’; esp. a maiden’s honor.
a. 1300. Prov. Hendyng, 21. Wyt & wysdom is god warysoun.
a. 1300. Marina, 109, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 172. Þou ne dudest nout ase hende To bynymen þat may hire wareison.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 2190. Ȝyf þou rauysshe a mayden powre,… Þou hast stole here warysun.
2. A gift bestowed by a superior; a reward.
13[?]. K. Alis., 2507 (Laud Ms.). Þer nas knaue ne quystroun Þat ne had his warisoun.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 325. Þre hundreth marke he hette vnto his warisoun, Þat with him so mette, or bring his hede to toun.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xx. (Blasius), 270. His wark sal haf warysone & of his master benysone.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 516/2. Warysone, donativum, possessio.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 254. We arn alle felawys in goddys host, þat yche day fyȝten as his knyȝtes, and alle we abyde on warysoun.
c. 1460. Battle of Otterbourne, xliii. in Child, Ballads, III. 297/2. Mynstrells, playe vp for your waryson And well quyt it schall bee.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IX. xxii. 372. And now haue I my waryson.
a. 1510. Douglas, King Hart, II. 35. My warisoun,… Lord, pay to me, and gif me leif to ryde.
1572. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxi. 66. My ladds of Leith, be wice—Ȝe ken ȝour warisoun.
b. In bad sense: ‘Reward,’ due punishment.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1537. He [sc. Narcissus] lost his witte … And diede withynne a lytel space, And thus his warisoun [F. guerredon] he took For the lady that he forsook.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxvi. 89. For thy presumpcyoune Þou haste thy warisoune.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 562. Robert the Grahame,… for his waresoun, Vpoun ane flaik wes traillit throw the toun.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 8. This cochreine with his companie Within schort tyme gat thair warison, on lather brig wer hanged schamefullie.
[1881. J. Sargisson, Joe Scoap, 31 (E.D.D.). Thoo’s gittn thy warrison, me lad; lig thee theer till sec-like times as ah send for theh.]
¶ 3. trans. med.L. gersuma, ad. ME. GERSUM.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 156. And for this yifte … the forsaid mynchons of Godestowe yaf to hym ix. marke of siluer into waryson. Ibid., 222. And for thys graunt … the foreseyd mynchons yaf to hym xj. marke, ij. shillings, viij. d, in warysumme.
4. ? Preservation, defence.
c. 1450. Burgh, Secrees, 2337. With greet rewardys doo them avance … Which aldayes besy and waking be In thy nedys; for in them stant the warysoun Of thy worshepe, thy lyf or thy destruccion.
¶ 5. Misused by Scott for: A note of assault.
The source of the mistake is prob. the line ‘Mynstrells, playe vp for your waryson,’ in The Battle of Otterbourne, which Scott had doubtless read in Percy’s Reliques.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xxiv. Either receive within thy towers Two hundred of my master’s powers, Or straight they sound their warison, And storm and spoil thy garrison.
1824. Byron, Juan, XV. lix. As my friend Scott says, ‘I sound my warison.’
1867. Contemp. Rev., VI. 342. He thinks of sounding his warrison against what he strikingly calls the army of the Philistines.
