Now dial. and U.S. Also 4 wyþe, 5 weþe, 8 wythe, 9 with. [f. prec.]
1. trans. To twist like a withe. Also fig.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxliv. (MS. Add. 27944). Þey breketh nouȝt but þey beeþ ymade strengere with wyþynge [Bodl. MS. weþing] and wyndynge as þreede is with twynynge.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 15. The horses … must haue … holmes withed about theyr neckes.
1809. J. Barlow, Columb., IX. 621. Bacon … Withes Proteus Matter in his arms of might.
2. To bind with a withe or withes; U.S. to take (deer) with a noose made of withes.
c. 1630. Bp. Hall, Def. Cruelty, Wks. 1634, II. 424. Stay but a while, and yee shall see him with’d, and halter’d, and stak’t, and baited to death.
1732. Ellis, Pract. Farmer, 133. Others … will drive in one Stake, and wythe it about the Tree.
1836. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. I. xvi. If their fences … ain’t [good], they ought to stake ’em up, and with them well.
1839. C. F. Hoffman, Wild Scenes, I. xix. What, Linus, you are not a-going to withe the deer?
1841. J. F. Cooper, Deerslayer, vi. Isn’t it enough that I’m withed like a saw-log, that ye must choke too?
3. technical. (See prec. 4, quot. 1688.)
