leasow en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈliːzəʊ/
Etymology
From Middle English leesewe, lesewe, leswe, from Old English lǣs (“pasture”), from Proto-West Germanic *lāsu (“pasture”).
Meanings
-
(archaic, dialectal, historical) (Green) land as opposed to flood or desert; a pasture.
Reflexions in her Book, strike one as a Statue does among the tangled Thickets of the Leasowes […].
1803 July 25, Hester Piozzi, Thraliana:Imprimis we do present upon our oaths that one Gilbert Wheeler gentleman enclosed a leasow called the Hide containing 20 acres which was common about 10 years past with the fields there.
2013, Eric Kerridge, Agrarian Problems in the Sixteenth Century and After:Lords could create a leasow by fencing off part of their demesne, if it was held in a block rather than being scattered over the fields and intermingled with the land of tenants.
2012, Christopher Dyer, A Country Merchant, 1495-1520:The oxen which are brought on in succession, run the first summer in the park, and in the leasows and temporary straw-yards in the winter; [...]
1826, Thomas Gill, The Technical repository:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| leasowe | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic | |
| leasows | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| lessow | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic |