ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ED2.]
† 1. Having white feathers spotted with black.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, A viij b. Bot and a sparehawke be so Ermyned vppon the brayles.
¶ Perh. the designation Almond Tumbler is a corruption of this: see quot. below.
1735. J. Moore, Columbarium, 39. There is a Mixture of three Colours, vulgarly call’d an Almond, perhaps from the Quantity of Almond-coloured Feathers that are found in the Hackle: Others call it an Ermine, I suppose from the black Spots that are generally in it.
2. Lined or trimmed with ermine; made to resemble ermine.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., Mor. Wisd., i. (1882), 139, heading. With a mantyll … ermyned within.
1814. Hist. Univ. Oxf., II. 261. The ermined hood … is the peculiar badge of the Proctor’s office.
1842. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Auto-da-fé. He wipes his eyes with his ermined sleeve.
18[?]. Longf., Renouveau, i. Now Time throws off his cloak again of ermined frost.
fig. 1715. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., I. 185. The collateral scenes of those Dialogues are freez’d or ermin’d sideward.
3. Robed in ermine; advanced to the dignity of wearing ermine, i.e., made a judge or a peer.
1735. Pope, Ep. Lady, 7. Arcadia’s countess, here, in ermined pride.
1777. W. Whitehead, The Goat’s Beard, 15 (R.).
| Fur gown, gold chain, or regal robe, | |
| Which rules, in ermin’d state, the globe. |
1837. Lockhart, Scott (1839), V. 47. Certain ermined sages of his own acquaintance.
1857. Whittier, Lines, Poet. Wks. (1882), 201. Give ermined knaves their hour of crime.
1869. Globe, 13 Nov., 4. The ten newly ermined members of the Liberal party.
fig. c. 1749. W. G. Hamilton, in Parl. Logick (1808), 204. Thy balm-distilling sweets alone To ermin’d Innocence are known.
4. ? = ERMINE 5 a (Her.) or 5 b.
1823. Rutter, Fonthill, 50. The ermined cinque-foil upon a crimson ground.
