c. 1470. Babees Book [E.E.T.S.], 404.
| I wold my master were a WATT | |
| & my boke a wyld Catt, | |
| & a brase of grehowndis in his toppe: | |
| I wold be glad for to se that! |
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Venus and Adonis, 697.
| Poor WAT, far off upon a hill | |
| Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear. |
1622. DRAYTON, Poly-Olbion, xxiii. 1115.
| The man whose vacant mind prepares him for the sport, | |
| The finder sendeth out, to seek the nimble WAT, | |
| Which crosseth in each field, each furlong, every flat, | |
| Till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found. |
d. 1635. RANDOLPH, Poems (1668), 94.
| WATT, though he fled for life, yet joy’d withall | |
| So brave a dirge sung forth his funeral. |
1687. CLEVELAND, Works, ‘A Committee.’
| Thus once concluded out the teazers run, | |
| All in full cry and speed ’till WAT’S undone. |
2. (old).—A fellow; ‘a wily, cautious man’ (HALLIWELL).
c. 1400. Coventry Mysteries, 294.
| Ffor be my thryfte I dare sweryn at this seyl, | |
| ȝe xal fynde hym a strawnge WATT! |
