The name of an English county, occurring attrib. in Essex calf, properly a calf reared in Essex, but often used as a contemptuous designation for the natives of that county. Hence, punningly, † Essex-growth, growth in the ‘calf’ of the leg.
Hence † Essexed a.
1659. Lady Alimony, V. v. in Hazl., Dodsley, XIV. 361. You would wish that his puny baker-legs had more Essex growth [i.e., more calf] in them.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Praise Clean Linen, Ep. Ded. Wks. II. 165. A good Legge is a great grace if it be discreetly essex’d in the calfe, and not too much spindled in the small.
