Forms: 4 felaghe, south. velaȝe, 4–6 felow, 5 felewe, 6 Sc. fallow, 6– fellow. [f. prec. sb.]
† 1. trans. To conjoin, associate (a person or thing) in partnership or companionship with, to (another). Obs.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, v. 11. Wham swa þai may felaghe wiþ þaim.
1340. Ayenb., 101. Þou him uelaȝest mid þe huanne þou zayst: ‘yef ous’ and ne zayst naȝt ‘yef me.’
c. 1410. Love, Bonavent. Mirr., lvi. (Gibbs MS.), 110. He ioyneþ and feleweþ hym to hem homely.
1450–1530. Myrr. our Ladye, 146. That when the greate and ferefulle day of doume cometh, they may be arered amongest thy sayntes, and our soulles mote ioye endelesly with the, and deserue to be felowed to thy chosen.
a. 1577. Sir T. Smith, Commw. Eng., xi. (1589), 13. A man by nature is rather desirous to fellow himselfe to another and so to liue in couple, then to adhere himselfe with many.
1589. T. L., Advt. Q. Eliz. (1651), 47. Who being fellowed in glory with the highest.
1594. Carew, Tasso (1881), 96.
| And blush of scorne fellowd with that of shame, | |
| Forth both at once, mixt and confused came. |
b. To put on a level with; to make, or represent as, an equal or match to.
1450–1530. Myrr. our Ladye, 251. O, moder of lyfe, whiche by thyne obedience ye mekely felowed vnto vs, & in thy syghte was dampned for vs, by moste fowle dethe.
1500–20. Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, xx.
| And lat no nettill, vyle and full of vyce, | |
| Hir fallow to the gudly flour-de-lyce. |
1648. Bp. Hall, Select Thoughts, § 100. Let me rather affect and applaud the harmless humor of that mis-called Saint, who in an indiscreet humility called every Woolf his brother, and every Sheep, yea, every Ant his sister, fellowing himself with every thing that had life in it, as well as himself.
1884. W. H. Ward, Sidney Lanier, Poet, in Century Mag., XXVII., April, 820/1. It is this quality, high and consecrate, as a palmer with his vow, this knightly valiance, this constant San Grail quest after the lofty in character and aim, this passion for Good and Love, which fellows him rather with Milton and Ruskin than with the less sturdily built poets of his day.
† 2. a. To be a fellow to; to accompany, be associated with. b. To be a partner or sharer in.
1434. Misyn, Mending of Life, 119. So þat it be not greuus to an [vn]profetabyll seruand to felo his lorde & emprour.
1593. Q. Eliz., Boeth. (E.E.T.S.), 6. Easing thy Labor with felowing of thi paine?
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 142.
| Affection? … With what’s vnreall: thou coactiue art, | |
| And fellow’st nothing. |
1614. Sylvester, Little Bartas, 454.
| Yea, all Delights of Earth have ever been | |
| Fellow’d or follow’d by some tragick Teen. |
1639. Fuller, Holy War, I. (1647), 8. The conquer’d fellow for the most part the religion of the conquerors.
3. To produce a fellow to; to equal, match.
1656. Heylin, Surv. France, 74. It will be a palace … not fellowed in Europe.
1716. Cibber, Love makes Man, III. iii. It’s impossible to fellow it, but in Paris.
1862. Lady Morgan, Mem., II. 469. I have at this moment, perfuming my rooms, twelve Hyacinths … fellow me that in your garden!
† b. To arrange in pairs; to pair. Obs.
1654. [see FELLOWED ppl. a.].
1751. R. Paltock, P. Wilkins, xlvi. (1833), 137/2. I here found … so many shoes, as when I had fellowed them, served me as long as I stayed.
4. nonce-use. To address as ‘fellow.’
1752. Fielding, Amelia, VIII. vi. ‘Don’t fellow me.’
Hence † Fellowed ppl. a., joined together in pairs.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 115. He can teach … whether the Kidneyes be fellowed or single, and how many Hearts most Men have.
1698. T. Molyneux, in Phil. Trans., XX. 216. Naturally fellow’d in Pairs.
1775. in Ash.
