Forms: α. 1 lár, laar, 2 lar, 2–3 lare. Also north. and Sc. 4–5 lar, 5 layre, 6 layr, 4–5, 9 lare, 5– lair. See also LEAR. β. 4–6 loore, 5 loor, 7 loare, 3– lore. [OE. lár str. fem. = OS. lêra (MDu. le(e)re, Du. leer), OHG. lêra (MHG. lêre, G. lehre):—OTeut. *laizâ, f. root lais-: cf. LEARN v.]
1. The act of teaching; the condition of being taught; instruction, tuition, education. In particularized use: A piece of teaching or instruction; a lesson. Now arch. and dial. Phr. † To set to lore: to place under instruction, send to school. At, to the lair (Sc.): at or to school.
971. Blickl. Hom., 47. Ne sceolan þa lareowas aʓimeleasian þa lare.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 116. Hire feder hefde iset hire earliche to lare.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12416. Yeitt þe folk soght eft as ar, To sett iesu to werld lar.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 25. Wele entendand til his lare he wes al tyme.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 392. What kyn þingis ben writun ben writun to oure lore.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 83. Oswy bytook his douȝter to þe lore of Hilda.
a. 1413. Hoccleve, Compl. Soule, 294, Wks. (1897), III. p. lx. Placebo mvst go before, As doth the Crosse in the litel childes lore.
c. 1440. York Myst., xi. 181. A! lorde of lyffe, lere me my layre.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., iv. (Fox’s Confess.), v. Weill worth my father, that send me to the lair.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 207. Who wil not for shame a short tyme suffir lore and lerne.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 1980. Take this caytyfe to thy lore.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 815. She finish’d, and the suttle Fiend his lore Soon learnd.
1771. Antiq. Sarisb., 6. Therein you may find many an excellent Lore That unto your Wives you may teach.
1798. Coleridge, Nightingale, 41. We have learnt A different lore.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Lare or Lear, learning, instruction.
1866. Neale, Sequences & Hymns, 59. In the Cross we found our pulpit, In the Seven great Words, our lore.
2. That which is taught; (a person’s) doctrine or teaching. Applied chiefly to religious doctrine, but used also with reference to moral principles (e.g., virtue’s lore). Now poet. or arch.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John vii. 16. Min laar ne is min ah ðæs seðe sende mec.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 13. Gif ʓe cherrat from me ower heortam and to-brecað mine lare.
c. 1275. Moral Ode, 129 (Jesus Coll. MS.). Bilef sunne hwil þu myht, and do bi godes lore.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 527. But cristes loore, and hise Apostles twelue, He taughte, and first he folwed it hym selue.
c. 1420. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 2074. Walke ye the way of Vertu hys loore.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, Prol. A ij. They shal remembre somme good ensample or some good lore.
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Pain, 591. Directyng their wayes by Gooddis holy lore.
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 13. From unbeleue, and Lollardis lair.
1571. T. Fortescue, Forest of Hist., 198. He began first to honour the christians, permitting theim to liue after their loore, and order.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 5. So pure and innocent … She was in life and every vertuous lore.
1622. Massinger, Virg. Mart., II. ii. So deepe a blow To the Religion here and Pagan lore As this.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 483. Most men admire Vertue, who follow not her lore.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, I. viii. Can piety the discord heal … Can Christian lore, can patriot zeal, Can love of blessed charity?
1838. Trench, Honor Neale, 39, in Sabbation, etc. 23. Where the pure doctrine and the lore of Christ Was truly taught.
† b. pl. Doctrines, precepts, ordinances. Obs.
971. Blickl. Hom., 35. We sceolan … healdan … þa lara þara feower godspellera.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21346. Þir four [ewangelistes] for us ai prai to dright Þat we mai folu þair lares right.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 303. Takynge hede to spiritis of errour & to loris of fendis.
1552. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., II. (1895), 211. We haue taken vpon vs to shewe and declare theyr lores and ordenaunces.
1580. H. Gifford, Gilloflowers (1875), 146. His lores (quoth will) are very sowre, His precepts are but colde.
† c. A form of doctrine, a creed, religion. Obs.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1011. Leaf þi lease wit … & liht to ure lare.
c. 1330. Owayn Miles (1837), 22. Of men and wimen that ther lay That crid allas and waileway For her wicked lore.
14[?]. Sir Beues, 1187 (MS. C.). Y haue leuyd on false lore.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 190. If we should forsake this fayth, and fal vnto their lore.
c. 1550. Exam. W. Thorpe, in Foxe, A. & M. (1583), I. 533. To mayntayne theyr sect & lore agaynst the ordinaunce of holy Church.
† d. Rule of behavior. Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 236. Enclynande lowe in wommon lore.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 110. By my trowth than be ye changyd to a new lore. A seruand ye are and that a good.
3. Advice, counsel; instruction, command, order.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 472. I schal … do, lemman, þi lore [v.r. do after þi lore].
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 258. And bad al schuld be boun And to his lores liþe.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5153. For alle yede out at oon ere That in that other she dide lere; Fully on me she lost hir lore.
14[?]. Sir Beues, 1386 (MS. M.). I wyll ffor-sake hym nevure the more For none oþure kynges lore.
c. 1530. H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, 140, in Babees Bk. Pare not thy nayles, fyle not the cloth; see thou obserue this lore.
1556. Abp. Parker, Ps. G iv. We will renounce that they pronounce, their loores as stately lordes.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 1128. Understanding rul’d not, and the Will Heard not her lore.
† 4. Used vaguely, esp. in alliterative poetry, for: Something that is spoken; information; story; language. Obs.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2070. Mi ladi for ani lore lengeþ in þis cite ȝut.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 523. If ȝow likis of þis lare to lesten any forthire. Ibid., 5652. Sum in latens lare sum langage of grece.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., st. 1013. Y nyl not þerof speke now to ȝow no lore.
5. That which is learned; learning, scholarship, erudition. Now only arch. and Sc. (in the form lair, LEAR). Also, in recent use, applied (with a coloring derived from contexts like quot. 1766) to the body of traditional facts, anecdotes or beliefs relating to some particular subject; chiefly with attributive sb., as animal, bird, fairy, plant lore.
In the Gentl. Mag. for June, 1830, p. 503, a correspondent suggested that Eng. compounds of lore should be substituted for the names of sciences in -ology: e.g., birdlore for ornithology, earthlore for geology, starlore for astronomy, etc. The suggestion was never adopted, though some few words out of the long list of those proposed are occasionally used, not as names of sciences, but in the sense above explained. In German, several compounds of the equivalent lehre are in regular use as names of sciences or departments of study: e.g., sprachlehre (= speech-lore) grammar. Cf. FOLKLORE.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 134. Of dumbe bestes & of dumbe fueles leorneð wisdom & lore.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 939. Þes is al þe lare Þat ich nu leorni [L. hic est philosophia mea].
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2917. Þat comli quen hade a prest a konyng man of lore.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xliv. (1495), 805. Elephauntes kepeth loore and dysciplyne of the sterres and in wexyng of the mone go to ryuers.
c. 1400. Cursor M., 29400 (Cott. Galba). A maister of lare may bete a clerk bot noght ouer sare.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., IX. 40. My counsellars so wyse of lare.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. vii. 34. [He] Had lever haue knawin the sciens and the layr, The mycht and fors of strengthy herbys fyne.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. ii. 223. Learn’d he was in Med’c’nal Lore.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., III. 150. Unskill’d in Grecian or in Roman lore.
1766. Goldsm., Hermit, xiii. Skill’d in legendary lore.
1780–1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, III. xxvi. (1836), 72. Nor is it only classic lair, Mere Greek and Latin, and nae mair.
1812. Moore, Intercepted Lett., viii. 35. Thou know’st the time, thou man of lore! It takes to chalk a ball-room floor.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y., 2nd Sund. Advent, iv. 8. For all the light of sacred lore.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. iii. (1871), 256. Arthur was initiated into the lore of bird’s eggs.
1901. Expositor, Nov., 375. The Rabbis were the sole depositaries of sacred lore.
† b. A body of knowledge, a science. Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 438/235. Arsmetrike is alore þat of figurs al is.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxv. 4. Off euerie study, lair, or discipline.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., Pref. The Shippes on the sea with Saile and with Ore, were firste founde, and styll made, by Geometries lore.
6. Comb.: † lore-child, a scholar, apprentice; † lore-father, a master in learning; † lore-master = lore-father. Also LORESPELL.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 27237. *Lare child wit-vten buxumnes.
c. 1200. Ormin, 16625. Þatt tu … o Godess hallfe arrt sennd *Larfaderr her to manne.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xlix. 7. Apostils and haly larefadirs.
1790. Grose, Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), Suppl., Larefather, a schoolmaster or instructor. North.
c. 1425. Cursor M., 19679 (Trin.). His *lore maistir I shal be.
