in pl. jesses. Forms: α. 4 (sing. and pl.) ges; 5 (in pl. sense) gesse, 6 iesse; β. (pl.) 4–8 gesses, 5 iessis, -ys, (7 chesses, gests), 6– jesses. [ME. ges, a. OF. ges (gez, getz) nom. sing. and pl., of get (giet, geet, gest, gect), mod.F. jet ‘cast’ (= Pr. get, It. getto, geto):—L. jact-us throw, cast, f. jacĕre to throw. Both sing. and pl. were orig. as in OF. ges, but the pl. was soon conformed to the Eng. type as gesses. The sing. does not occur in our mod. examples.]
A short strap of leather, silk, or other material, fastened round each of the legs of a hawk used in falconry; usually bearing on its free end a small ring or varvel to which the swivel of the leash is attached.
1340. Ayenb., 254. Alsuo ase me ofhalt þane uoȝel be þe ges þet he ne vly to his wylle.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. ii. (Tollem. MS.). Hire feet beþ fastenid with gesses þat þey may not fle frely to euery brid.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, B iv g. Sett yowre honde and be sure of the gesse. Ibid., B v b. Hawkys haue aboute ther legges Gesse made of leder most commynly, som of silke.
1530. Palsgr., 183. Vngz gietz, a payre of gesses for a hauke. Ibid., 234/1. Iesses for a hauke, get.
c. 1560. Parlt. Byrdes, 142, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 174. Kepe him in a payre of Jesse. That he flye not to no byrde about.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 209. [They] make tame Doves the speedy transporters of their letters; which they wrap about their legs like iesses.
1671. Lond. Gaz., No. 623/4. A Falcon lost … with the Kings Varvels upon her Gesses.
1685. Cotton, trans. Montaigne, I. 504. We commend … a hawk for her wing, not for her gests and bells.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1860), II. II. v. 47.
1828. Sir J. S. Sebright, Observ. Hawking, 9–10. Slips of light leather, seven or eight inches long, and a quarter of an inch wide, are to be made fast to each of his legs. These are called jesses.
1874. Tennyson, Merlin, 123. Their talk was all of training, terms of art, Diet and seeling, jesses, leash and lure.
b. In figurative applications.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., II. ii. Soar ye ne’er so high, I have the jesses that will pull you down.
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 261. If I do proue her Haggard, Though that her Iesses were my deere heart-strings, I’ld whistle her off, and let her downe the winde To prey at Fortune.
1630. Brathwait, Eng. Gentlem., Ded. Intangled with the light chesses of vanity.
1849. G. P. R. James, Woodman, xvii. Methinks you are one who would find even gesses of silk or gold cord difficult to wear.
¶ Erroneously defined in Dictionaries.
1706. Phillips, Jesses, Ribbons hanging down from Garlands or Crowns.
1828. Webster adds ‘in falconry’; repeated by Ogilvie, Cassell, Cent. Dict., Funk.
