formative of the pa. t. of some weak verbs, for earlier -te, -de, -ede (:—da, -ida, -eda). Parallel in formation to the prec., and generally going along with it in ME., and identical in form in mod.E.; but in OE. a pa. t. in -te was sometimes used where the pa. pple. retained the fuller -ed, as in cyssan to kiss, cyste, cyssed, settan to set, sette, seted (and sett). In mod.Eng. on the contrary the spelling in t is more frequent in the pa. pple., esp. when used adjectivally, than in the pa. t.: cf. tempest-tost, the wind tossed the ship; in time past, he passed his time. In some cases even the form in -ed is a mere modern fashion of spelling, at variance with both the pronunciation and the history; thus, kissed was in OS. kusta, OE. cyste, ME. kist, as actually pronounced; it has come to be spelt kissed, because in other verbs -ed is pronounced -t.
