Obs. Also 1 liðs, liss, 2–4 lisse, 3 lysse, 4–5 lys. [OE. líðs, líss, f. líðe gentle, soft: see LITHE a.]
1. Remission, release; mitigation, abatement; hence, cessation, end.
c. 1000. Credo, 54 (Gr.). Remissionem peccatorum. Lisse ic ʓelyfe leahtra ʓehwylces.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 145. Song wið-uten lisse.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 239, in Trin. Coll. Hom., Eiðer doð hem wo inoh, nabbeð hie none lisse.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 220. Ther sawe I loues venus kysse And graunted was of the tempest lysse. Ibid. (c. 1386), Frankl. T., 510. What for his labour and his hope of blisse His woful herte of penaunce hadde a lisse.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 200. Loue is lech of lyue and lysse of alle peyne.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, li. 310. Of his peynes he myhte hauen non lys.
1802. Sibbald, Chron. Sc. Poetry, IV. Gloss., Liss, remission or abatement, especially of any acute disease.
2. Tranquillity, peace, rest; joy, delight.
c. 1000. Phœnix, 672 (Gr.). Lifʓan in lisse lucis et pacis.
a. 1023. Wulfstan, Hom. (Napier), 265. Þa eadiʓan ceasterwaran þær ʓefeoþ and wynsumiað on lisse and on blisse.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 15. Blisse and lisse ic sende uppon monnen þe me luuieð.
c. 1205. Lay., 3261. Þat he mihte … libben on lisse [later text ine blisse].
c. 1275. Sayings of Bede, 34, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg., 505. Þer-inne is reste and lisse.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xviii. 57. Suete Ihesu,… Myn huerte love, min huerte lisse.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 430. Bring me of his wodenisse And bring me in to sum lisse.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IX. 29. Lorde of lyf and of lyȝte of lysse and of peyne. Ibid. (1393), C. VII. 315. Me ys leuere in this lif as a lorel beggen þan in lysse to lyue.
