Forms: 1 ʓeoʓuþ, ʓioʓuþ, iuʓuð, -oð, 1–2 ʓeoʓoþ, iuʓeþ, 2–3 ȝeoȝeð, ȝuheð, 3–5 ȝouþ(e, 4–5 ȝowthe, youghthe, yhouth(e, 4–6 youthe, 4–5 (6–7 Sc.) ȝouth, (7 Sc.) yowthe, 5–6 ȝouthe, ȝowth, yought(e, yougth(e, (3 ȝuweð, -wuð, -ȝeð, ȝuoþ, ȝoeþ, ȝieuð, youhþ, ȝuð, 4 ȝoweþ, ȝougheþ, ȝuth, 5 ȝowith, yowith, yowuthe, ȝougeþe, ȝougthe, youþe, yuþe, ȝouhetȝ, Sc. ȝowutht, 5–6 vthe, 6 yowght, Sc. ȝowt, 7 yewth), 5– youth. [OE. ʓeoʓuþ = OS. juguð (MLG., MDu. jôghet, Du. jeugd), OHG. jugund (MHG. jugent, G. jugend) :— Com. W. Ger. *jugunþi-, app. an alteration on the analogy of *dugunþ- DOUTH of *juwunþi- :— pre-Teut. *juwənti- (cf. the parallel formation in L. juventa, Goth. junda). See YOUNG and -TH1.]
1. The fact or state of being young; youngness. (Often blending with sense 2.)
a. 1100. Aldhelm Gloss., I. 2843 (Napier 77/1). Teneritudine, iungan iuʓeþe.
c. 1100. O. E. Chron. (MS. D), an. 975. On his daʓum for his iuʓoðe, Godes wiþærsacan Godes laʓe bræcon.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1462. Nim ȝeme of þi ȝuheðe.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 84. Seynge þe ȝouþe of þe childe.
c. 1425. Engl. Conq. Irel. (1896), 68. Other tweyn of hys bretheren, (that throgh yought & foolrede hym folwed).
a. 1500. Cov. Corpus Chr. Pl., ii. 751. Thogh thatt my vthe frome me be worne.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xxii. 65. They knewe well by the reason of his yought hunger opressyd hym more then it dyde to them of gretter age.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 195. By your authoritie, the people may be moved the rather to beleve the trewth, whareof many dowbtes be reassone of our yowght.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 148. Our youths, and wildenesse, shall no whit appeare, But all be buried in his Grauity.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 664. A Snake … renew’d in all the speckl’d Pride or pompous Youth.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem., 122. Their free-behaviour are generally attributed to Youth and Gaiety.
1796. Burke, Lett. to Hussey, Dec., Corr. 1844, IV. 401. If I had youth and strength, I would go myself over to Ireland to work on that plan.
1803. Beddoes, in Med. Jrnl., X. 572. He has youth on his side, and it is odds but he gets over it [sc. a disease].
b. fig. Newness, novelty, recentness.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. ii. 224. If that the youth of my new interest here Have power to bid you welcome.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VI. iv. § 13. These opinions have youth in their countenance.
2. The time when one is young; the early part or period of life; more specifically, the period from puberty till the attainment of full growth, between childhood and adult age.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxi. 206. Ðære scame & ðære scande þe ðu on iuʓuðe worhtes ic ʓedo ðæt ðu forʓitst.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xviii. 21. Eall þis ic heold of minre ʓeoʓuþe.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 127. On his ȝuweðe he fleh fro folke to weste.
a. 1250. Prov. Ælfred, 100, in O. E. Misc. (1872), 108. Þe mon þe on his youhþe yeorne leorneþ wit and wisdom.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 10436. Alle þe ȝongest bachelers Þat … were of ȝouþe.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (verse), 14. Women … Þat leris no latyn in þar ȝouth.
1508. Dunbar, Poems, vii. 63. Most fortunable chiftane, both in yhouth and eild.
1535. Coverdale, Gen. viii. 21. The ymaginacion of mans hert is euell, euen from the very youth of him [1611 from his youth].
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas, IV. vii. (1816), 126/2. One of those old boys who had been great rakes in their youth.
1839. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. Georgia (1863), 11. As soon as they begin to grow up and pass from infancy to youth.
1879. Harlan, Eyesight, vii. 103. In the case of any kind of optical defect, it is a great advantage to begin the use of glasses in youth.
b. transf. and fig. Early stage or period of existence.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. iii. 7. A Violet in the youth of Primy Nature.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., vi. 108. As the Bough grow in the youth of the Tree.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 14. One very bad [quality] … that often ruins part of its Crop, while in their youth.
1883. Ch. Times, 9 Nov., 813/2. Lutheranism … covers a smaller area to-day than it did in its early youth.
3. A quality or condition characteristic of the young; e.g., youthful freshness or vigor; youthful wantonness, folly, or rashness; youthful appearance or aspect.
971. Blickl. Hom., 65. Þær is ʓeoʓoþ buton ylde.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 145. Þer scal beon … Ivȝede [v.rr. ȝeoȝeðe, ȝieud] wið-uten elde.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cii[i]. 5. Als erne þi yhouthe be newed sal.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 263. Sche … preide hem alle … To grante Eson his ferste youthe.
1475. Stonor Papers (Camden), I. 158. Tyll.. þat youkke of wedlokke ly in my nekke … youth shall rene in me as hyt has done in you afore tyme.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, ix. 244. Now is loste our beaulte and our yougthe thorughe grete synne.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. cxxv. 140 b/2. Though … that youthe of wytte haue made hym to defye the kynge.
a. 1653. Binning, Serm., John i. 5, Wks. (1725), 410/2. [The sun] puts a Youth upon the World.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem., 16. The Enervating of their Youth and Vigour.
1817. Maria Edgeworth, Ormond, i. After she had purchased all of youth which age can purchase for money.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Rhaps. Life’s Progr., viii. Oh, the soul keeps its youth! But the body faints sore.
4. Personified, or vaguely denoting any young person or persons (without article).
Here perhaps belongs yougthes folke (Spenser, Sheph. Cal., May, 9), which was imitated by Davison (see YOUNGTH 1, quot. 1602).
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 358. I sih wher lusty Youthe tho … Stod with his route wel begon.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, Prol. 69. They shall fynde ffele ffawtis ffoure score and odde, That youghthe weneth alwey þat it be witte euere.
c. 1400. Beryn, 1052. Ȝowith is recheles.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 93. Ful of corage is ȝouȝeþe in herte.
1513. More, Rich. III., Wks. 39/1. Slipper youth [must be] vnderpropped with elder counsayle.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 124. We haue an olde prouerbe youth wil haue his course.
1675. T. Brooks, Gold. Key, 27. Youth enclines to Wantonness and Prodigality.
1757. Gray, Bard, 74. Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, III. i. Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.
5. Young people (or creatures) collectively; the young. (With or without the; now always construed as plural.)
Beowulf, 66. Oð þæt seo ʓeoʓoð ʓeweox.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., Pref. 7. Eall sio ʓioʓuð ðe nu is on Angelcynne friora monna.
c. 1205. Lay., 15372. & inne Æstsaxe heore aðeleste ȝuȝeðe. Ibid., 19837. Bezst alre ȝeoȝeðe þa … a þan dæȝen weore Ærður ihaten.
1538. Starkey, England (1878), 152. The yl and idul bryngyng vp of youth here in our cuntrey. Ibid., 156. To ouerse the educatyon of vthe.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxiii. (1888), 119. Youth from seuen till one and twenty, will abyde much exercising.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. Chorus, 1. Now all the Youth of England are on fire.
1656. Harrington, Oceana (1658), 204. The Elders could remember that they had been Youth.
1742. Gray, Spring, 25. The insect youth are on the wing.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. cxxv. The unexpected death of some old lady Or gentleman … Who’ve made ‘us youth’ wait too—too long already For an estate.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. ii. 25. When there was peace at home, the youth sought opportunities of distinguishing … themselves in distant warfare.
1883. J. H. Morse, in Century Mag., XXVI. 292/1. There was a native innocence in the New York youth of both sexes that was pleasing to our pride.
6. A young person; esp. a young man between boyhood and mature age; sometimes, esp. in earlier use, more widely (see quots.).
Formerly sometimes (and still in dialect or vulgar speech) pleonastically qualified by young.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2665. Bi ðat time ðat he was ȝuð, Wið faiȝered and strengthe kuð.
a. 1400. Pistill of Susan, 230. He lift vp þe lach and leop ouer þe lake, Þat ȝouthe.
1580[?]. W. Hergest (title), The Right Rule of Christian Chastitie; profitable to bee read of all godly and vertuous Youthes of both sexe.
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., I. 32 b. Accompanied with a multitude of women, young youthes and children.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 40. He that hath a beard, is more then a youth: and he that hath no beard, is lesse then a man.
1605. Treswell, Journ. Earl Nott., 32. A youth of ten yeares of age.
1611. Bible, Susanna, 45. The Lord raised vp the holy spirit of a young youth, whose name was Daniel.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 95. The jocond rebecks sound To many a youth, and many a maid.
1687. [? W. Penn], Reason. Toleration, 16. He ended his days a young Youth, in the 24th Year of his Age.
1711. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), III. 263. Wch was in the eleventh Year of his Age, and yt he was then a very hopefull Youth.
1774. trans. Chesterfield’s Lett., Kal. May, 1741. To-morrow … you will attain your ninth year; so that, for the future, I shall treat you as a youth.
1805. Ann. Reg. Chron., 396/2. Two youths, one 14 and the other 8 years of age, sons of a poor man.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxii. The pot-boy, the muffin youth, and the baked-potato man.
1881. Edith Simcox, in 19th Cent., May, 780. Before she [Geo. Eliot] was twenty she wrote verses like other youths.
b. (esp. college youth.) Applied technically to societies of bellringers. Obs. exc. Hist.
1668. [Stedman], Tintinnalogia (1671), Ded., To the Noble Society of Colledge-Youths.
1816. Shipway, Campanalogia, p. xxiii. The Society of College Youths, in the summer of 1657, on a visit to Cambridge, were presented by Mr. Stedman with his peculiar production on five bells, since called Stedman’s Principle.
1855. T. Bailey, Ann. Notts., IV. 29. The bells at St. Peter’s church re-cast this year;… The following are the inscriptions upon them: First, or Treble.—‘I was given by the Society of Northern Youths, in 1672, and recast by the Sherwood Youths, in 1771.’
7. attrib. and Comb., as youth-slip, -state, -tide, -time; youth-bold, -consuming adjs.; † youth-grass, † youthwort, names for sundew; † youth-like a., resembling or having the character of youth, juvenile (cf. YOUTHLY a.); adv., like a youth, or in the manner of youth; hence † youth-likeness; † youth-master, a master who teaches young people; youth-potion, a potion supposed to restore youth.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Sonn. Mirac. Peace, xii. My *youth-bold thoughts.
1610. Fletcher, Faithf. Sheph., I. i. That heavy *youth-consuming Miserie.
1584. Cogan, Haven Health, ccxxiv. 228. In Lankashire … the common people do call it *youth grasse, and they think that it rotteth sheepe.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. 518. When shee saw Priamus *youthlik surcharged in armour.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. iv. (1912), 371. All such, whom either youthfull age, or youth-like mindes did fill with unlimited desires.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, C iij b. Women with their smoth chekes, small voyces, and fine skinnes, doo euer shewe a certayne *youthlikenesse.
1550. Harington, trans. Cicero’s Bk. Friendship (1562), 48 b. For so shall nursses and *youthmaisters chalenge muche frendshyp.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., liii. A sorceress … to mix *youth-potions for others.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. Captains, 1220.
| ’Tis better bear the *Youth-slips of a KING, | |
| I’ th’ Law some fault, i’ th’ State some blemishing, | |
| Then to fill all with Bloud-flouds of Debate; | |
| While, to Reform, you would Deform a STATE. |
1553. Grimalde, Cicero’s Offices, II. xiii. (1556), 81. Publius Rutilius *youth-state [orig. adolescentiam].
1873. Brennan, Witch of Nemi, etc. 291. The seeds that in *youth-tide we sow.
1845. Sarah Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., I. 307. Their works, produced in the *youth-time of the human race.
1895. Educat. Rev., Sept., 190. Miss Cobbe regrets the banished grace of her mother’s youthtime.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. clv. 1366. Called in English Sunne deaw, Ros Solis, *Youth woort.
1598. R. Chester, Poems (1914), 18. Youthwort faire Affections lover.
Hence Youthen v. [-EN5], trans. to make youthful, impart a youthful appearance to; intr. to become youthful, acquire youthful qualities; Youthless a., having no youth, lacking the ordinary characteristics of youth (whence Youthlessness); † Youthness, youth; Youthship, with poss. adj., used as a title (cf. worship); † Youthsome a., youthful in disposition, juvenile.
1882. Even. Star (Philad.), 28 April. No dress *youthens a girl so much as white.
1916. C. H. Sorley, Lett. (1919), 140. You will always be forty to strangers perhaps: and youthen as you get to know them.
1906. Mansfield, Girl & Gods, xiii. A *youthless, over-developed girl of fifteen.
1909. Times Lit. Suppl., 17 June, 225/2. It is his own letters … his cold *youthlessness … that are his enemy.
c. 1475. Partenay, 5221. Þat he had don in his *youthnesse soo.
1906. A. & E. Castle, ‘If Youth but Knew!’ ii. ‘Heaven knows,’ had said the musician, ‘what sweet hostess may not greet your *youthship to-night.’
1661. Pepys, Diary, 31 Oct. I found him drinking and very jolly and *youthsome.
