[a. F. convoi (in Froissart, 15th c.), f. convoyer to CONVOY.]
I. Conduct of oneself or of affairs.
† 1. Carriage (of oneself), deportment, demeanor, conduct. Sc. Obs.
1500–20. Dunbar, Dance in Q.’s Chalmer. Quhen I saw hir sa trimlye dance, Hir guid conwoy and countenance.
† 2. Conduct, management; artful management, art, trick. Sc. Obs.
c. 1583. Leg. Bp. St. Androis, in Sempill Ball., 202. Bot how, alace, as ye shall heir Betrayed thame bayth with a tryme convoy.
1599. A. Hume, Hymns (1832), 62. Thinke not that thou by thy industrie, convoy, or diligence, art able to accomplishe onye gude thing.
II. The act of convoying.
3. The act of convoying or escorting; escort for honor, guidance, or protection.
1557. in Lodge, Illustr. Brit. Hist. (1791), I. 283. The French wold not suffer the same to departe without the convoye of some great man.
1634. Milton, Comus, 81. Through this adventurous glade … to give him safe convoy.
1652. Bp. Hall, Invis. World, I. § 8. It is … hard to believe that there have been ocular witnesses of these happy convoys.
1676. Dryden, Aurengz., V. i. Your Convoy makes the dangerous Way secure.
1808. Scott, Marm., V. xviii. They deemed it hopeless to avoid The convoy of their dangerous guide.
1873. Browning, Red. Cott. Nt.-cap, 234. No dream warned, and no need of convoy was.
b. In mod. Sc. The accompanying of a person part of his way homeward, or on a journey.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxx. ‘It’s just a Kelso convoy, a step and a half o’er the door-stane.’
1825–79. Jamieson, s.v., A Scots convoy, accompanying one to the door, or ‘o’er the dorestane.’ In Aberdeen … signifying more than half way home. Ibid., Kelso Convoy.
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl. (1855), 333.
4. spec. The protection of an escorting force; esp. of ships of war.
1690. Child, Disc. Trade (ed. 4), 4. To sail always in fleets, to which in all time of danger they allow Convoy.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3280/2. His Majesty’s Ship the Chester, with several Vessels under her Convoy.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., III. XII. 372. He set sail … under convoy of a large fleet.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, III. 237. The frigate Phœbe, and the two sloops of war Cherub and Racoon, had sailed in convoy of the Isaac Todd from Rio Janeiro.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 435. So difficult was it to obtain the convoy of a man of war, except by giving immense bribes.
† 5. Conveyance, transport (of supplies). rare.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXI. lvii. 426. Whereby all convoy [L. commeatus] of victuals from everie part was stopped, but onely that which came by the Po, in Keeles.
III. An escort.
6. An honorable escort. a. gen.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., vi. (1682), 237. With this shouting Convoy of six thousand Oriental Christians.
1681. Cotton, Wond. Peake, 18. Your Peake-bred Convoy of rude Men and Boys, All the way whooting.
1866. Livingstone, Jrnl. (1873), I. x. 254. A convoy of honour to Mahamad.
b. spec. A funeral train or cortége.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccxliii. 781. Of the buryeng of therle of Flaunders and of the comtesse his wyfe, whose bodyes were brought to an abbey besyde Lysle … ther foloweth such as were ordayned for the conuoy.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1363. Heavie funerals and convoies of the dead.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 17. The conuoy of his fathers obsequies.
1863. Ruskin, Munera P. (1880), 136. The grey convoy of chief-mourner waves.
c. ‘The company at a marriage that goes to meet the bride, North of Scotl.’ (Jam.). [So F. convoi in Cotgr. ‘a following, waiting, or attending on, esp. in mariage and buriall matters.’]
7. An armed force accompanying or escorting any person or persons, goods, provisions, or munitions of war; a protecting escort.
1596. Drayton, Legends, III. 613. A chosen Convoy of His chiefest Friends, To guard me safe to Yorke.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 285. Scanderbeg … sent them with a sufficient convoy of horsmen in safety out of Epirus.
1659. B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, 259. The said Convoy consisted of about fifteen hundred horsemen.
1670. Dryden, Conq. Granada, I. III. i. And with a convoy send him safe away.
1717. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., xxv. I. 80. I desired him to appoint where he would be met by the Turkish convoy.
1800. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. I. 187. This Corps is to move to the redoubt, at which place I shall have occasion for it as a convoy for provisions.
1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., xlv. To Paris, whither she could easily have met with a convoy.
b. esp. A party of ships of war escorting unarmed vessels.
1636. Blunt, Voy. Levant (1637), 27. Rhodian Galleys … to be our Convoy against Pyracy.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 4, ¶ 7. A Dutch Man of War of Forty Guns, which was Convoy to the said Fleet.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 1. Cloudesley Shovel and George Rooke, commanded the men of war which formed the convoy.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 232. A convoy now accompanied the herring fleet for its protection.
† 8. One who (or that which) guides; a guide, conductor. Obs.
1628. Beaum. & Fl., Custom of Country, III. v. Sir, if an angel were to be my convoy. He should not be more welcome.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler, 39. If God hide his path, Satan is at hand to turne Convoy.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 470. Charity is not only our Convoy to Heaven, but engaged to stay with us there for ever.
1725–6. Pope, Odyss., XVII. 289. Oh be some god his convoy to our shore!
† 9. A thing that conducts, a conducting medium, channel, way, or path. Obs.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. iv. 203. Cords made like a tackled staire, Which to the high top gallant of my ioy, Must be my conuoy.
1604. Jas. I., Counterbl. (Arb.), 103. The Nose being the proper Organ and conuoy of the sense of smelling to the braines.
1627. trans. Bacon’s Life & Death (1651), 41. The Drink, which is the Convoy of the Meat.
1651–3. Jer. Taylor, Serm. for Year (1678), 93. The Religion of a Christian is immortal, and certain … and therefore needs not be received by humane and weak Convoys.
10. An appliance for conducting or guiding a vehicle; a clog or brake used to check the speed of a coal-wagon descending an incline on rails.
1764. Lond. Mag., 144. F is a convoy … it is by this that the waggon is guided when it comes down what the waggon-men call runs.
1825. Tredgold, Railroads, 106. The waggons are regulated by friction on the surfaces of the wheels, which is produced by the attendant pressing on the end of a bent wooden lever called a convoy, which has its centre of motion fixed to the side of the waggon.
1862. Smiles, Engineers, III. 11. The waggoner standing behind to check the speed by means of a convoy or wooden brake bearing upon the rims of the wheels.
IV. A company or individual convoyed.
11. A company under escort.
a. A train of carriages or beasts carrying provisions or ammunition to a town or army, under the protection of an escort; a supply of ammunition or provisions under escort.
1577. Holinshed, Scot. Chron., 479/1. The same army vnder the conduct of the sayde Erle passing forth with a conuoy of vittles unto Hadington.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1482/3. A great Convoy is lately arrived at Audenard, with vast quantities of all sorts of Military Provision, and a Train of Artillery.
1691. Hartcliffe, Virtues, 7. To cut off all unnecessary Convoys of Meats and Drinks, and the Seige cannot last long.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4714/1. A great Convoy of Bread … came yesterday to the Camp.
1827. O. W. Roberts, Adv. Cent. Amer., 289. They often met convoys of mules laden with merchandise.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, II. 341. The cavalry … surprised a convoy of provisions with 500 beasts of burden.
1859. Smiles, Self-Help, xiii. (1860), 351. Never ceasing his charge … until he had seen the precious convoy safe on the road to Allahabad.
b. A fleet or number of merchant ships under the protection of ships of war, or powerful enough to defend themselves.
1605. Camden, Rem., Epitaphes, 38. The sinking of the great galiasse, the taking of their Conuoie, which in the East partes is called a Caruana.
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 2. Join’d Company with us his Majesty’s Ships … with a large convoy of Merchant-Ships.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Convoy, a fleet of merchant-ships bound on a voyage to some particular part.
1793. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (ed. 2), I. 314. A Convoy was expected from Tunis of twenty-five Sail, with two Sail of the Line, three Frigates and two Corvettes.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 111. I once fell in with a convoy of merchant ships, bound for the West Indies.
† c. A company marching together for companionship and mutual protection, a caravan. Obs.
1625–6. Purchas, Pilgrims, II. 1369. Through these … Countries there is no passage, but with the Caravans or Convoyes.
d. A consignment of stores under escort; a conducted party.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, I. 31. To this rendezvous the company sends annually a convoy of supplies from its establishment on the Atlantic frontier. Ibid., II. 27. A party of trappers … on a journey with a convoy of goods or peltries.
1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 152. M. had brought back his convoy without even seeing a moose.
V. attrib. and Comb., as convoy-bond, -duty, -ship; † convoy-carriage, a tender.
1695. Dryden, Poetry & Paint., Wks. 1808, XVII. 296. As convoy-ships … accompany their merchants.
1803. Pitt, in G. Rose’s Diaries (1860), II. 8. The repeal of the Convoy Duty.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 892. The convoy bond mentioning the port of destination.
1825. Wood, Rail-roads, 150. The water and coals required for the regular wants of the engine are carried in the convoy carriage X, attached to the engine.
