phr. Obs. Also 5 lyl for lal, 6 lill for law. [Possibly a jingling perversion of some phrase containing the OE. læl bruise; see quot. c. 1000. For the jingle cf. tit for tat.] To give, etc., lill for loll: to retaliate.

1

[c. 1000.  Ælfric, Exod. xxi. 25. Sylle lif wið life … wunde wið wunde, læl wið læle.]

2

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., III. ii. 263. Thai come onone To bind and led away Sampsone, And to quyt hym lyl for lal [v.r. lill for law].

3

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), II. 336. Scho murdreist this ilk king: And so that tyme scho plaid him lill for law.

4

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 277 b. Why may not I as well wt the like lavishnes of tongue, geve lill for loll?

5

1639.  Smyth, Hund. Berkeley (1885), III. 33. Lill for loll. Id est, one for another: as good as hee brought.

6