Obs. or arch. Also 4–5 effer(e, 6 effeer, -air. [Sc. var. of AFFAIR, q.v.]
1. = AFFAIR 1; a ‘cause.’
1375. Barbour, Bruce, X. 305. He sped him to the were, Till help his Eym and his effere.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., I. lxviii. For greit effeir me thocht na pane to die.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Oppos. Court to Consc., 22. No furtherer of thair effairs.
2. = AFFAIR 6; appearance, bearing; show, ‘pomp and circumstance’; ceremony.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 608. The king persauit be thair effeir, That all wes suth men till hym tald. Ibid., VII. 30. Iohn of lorn, with gret effere. Ibid., 126. Thai persauit be his spekyng, And his effer, he wes the kyng.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. xxii. 69. Dame Anabil Qwene of Scotland … Cunnand, curtas in her efferis.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 2357. Sche gart bryng … With grete effere this knycht to hir presens.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), I. 299. Thair forwardnes and eik thair fresche effeir.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. This rising in effeir of war.
b. pl. Phenomena, properties.
1500–20. Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 128. Discirnyng all thair [flouris] fassionis and effeiris.
