int. Obs. exc. dial. [app. altered f. WELLAWAY by substitution of ANEAR.] Alas! alack-a-day!
1600. Look About You, ii. B 1 b. Now well a neere that ere I liu’d to see, Such patience and so much impiety.
1608. Shaks., Per., III. Prol. 51. The Lady shreekes, and wel-a-neare, Do’s fall in trauayle with her feare.
1640. J. D., Knave in Grain, III. i. G 2. Wherefore was it? well a neare.
1677. W. Nicolson, in Trans. R. Soc. Lit. (1870), Ser. II. IX. 322. Wellaneer, well away, alack-a-day.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Wellaneer. Alas. N.
a. 1836. in ‘S. Gilpin,’ Pop. Poetry Cumb. (1875), 207. Bit, welleneer! when he sud tean his kiss,… Hur elbow rease an’ barr’d him fra his bliss.
So Well-anearing, in same sense.
1683. G. M[eriton], Yorks. Dial., 4. Wellaneerin, wellaneerin, run fast run, Hye thee Hobb, and bid my Mawgh Herry come. Ibid., 7. Ey wallaneerin, wilta gang and see.
1703. Thoresby, Let. to Ray, Wellaneering, alas.
