lyard

lyard

Middle English

FWOTD – 11 July 2015

Alternative forms

• lyart

Etymology

From Old French liart or Latin liardus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlʌɪət/

Adjective

lyard

1. (of a horse) having dappled white and grey spots
   • late 1300s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Friar's Tale:

     Þat was wel twiȝt, myn owene lyard boy. / I pray God save þee, and Seinte Loy!

Noun

lyard

1. a horse which is dappled and spotted in the aforementioned way
   • c. 1264, unknown author, Richard of Almaigne, quoted in 1856, Thomas Percy (editor), Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, page 172:

     Be the luef, be the loht, sue Edward, / Thou shalt ride sporeless o thy lyard,

   • c. 1370-1390, William Langdon, The Vision of Piers Plowman, 1882, Thomas Wright (editor), The Vision and the Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume 2, page 352:

     Ac so soone so the Samaritan / Hadde sighte of this leode, / He lighte a-down of lyard,

See also

• bayard

Anagrams

• Daryl
• lardy

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Scots

Adjective

lyard

1. Alternative spelling of lyart
   • 1778, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature (edited by Tobias George Smollett):

     In har'st at the shearing, nae swankies are jeering,

     Our bansters are wrinkled and lyard and grey:

     At a fair or a preaching, nae wooing nae fleetching, […]