a. (Stress variable.) Also 4 luly-. White as a lily.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., vii. 30. Lylie-whyt hue is … that reveth me mi rest.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 977. Loth & þo luly-whit his lefly two deȝter.
a. 1400. Pistill of Susan, 16. Heo was … Loueliche & lilie whit.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. Prol. 453. In loifing of thir ladyis lilly quhyte.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 26. A silken Camus lilly whight.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, I. xi. Cherry Cheeks, small Lily-white Hands.
1818. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 280. As to despotism, your lily-white hands must never touch it.
1820. Scott, Abbot, vii. With … ten lily-white groats in his pouch.
b. as sb. (a) Lily-white color. † (b) Old Cant. A chimney-sweep.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Lilly-white, a Chimney-sweeper.
1713. Eng. Gratitude, 7. See how my Flowers are … dy’d in Lilly-white or Rosy-red.
So Lily-whited a. in same sense; hence Lily-whiteness.
1560. Phaër, Æneid, IX. (1562), Ee iij. Some lylywhyted swan.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, April xxii. Psyche, all in lily-whiteness veil’d.
