Bitwixe you ther moot som tyme be pees
Al be ye nought of oo complexioun,
That ilke day causeth such divisioun.
Al be it that this aventure was falle.

Ibid. 1. 2477.

Ibid. 1. 2705.

Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow,
By taking nor by giving of excess.

Shakespeare, Mer. of Ven. 1. 3.

A fuller form is found in Chaucer :

And al be it so that God hath create all thing in ordre and nothing withouten ordre. Parson's Tale (Tyrwhitt's ed.).

Alien, sb. occurs nine times in the A. V.; it is from the Lat. alienus, belonging to another country, a foreigner. So Shakespeare (Mer. of Ven. IV. 1),

If it be proved against an alien

That by direct or indirect attempt,
He seek the life of any citizen.

And Wiclif (John x. 5); 'But thei suen not an alien but fleen fro him; for thei not knowen the vois of aliens.' 'Alien' has gone out of common use, but 'to alienate' = to estrange, still remains. Latimer has a substantive, 'alienate;'Keep us from invasions of alienates and strangers.' Serm. p. 390.

All, in the phrase 'without all contradiction' (Heb. vii. 7), is literally from the Greek. It appears however to be used in conformity with English idiom for 'any' or 'every.'

The trade of monkery, which was without all devotion and understanding. Latimer, Serm. p. 339.

Our tyme is so farre from that olde discipline and obedience, as now, not onelie yong jentlemen, but even verie girles dare without all feare, though not without open shame, where they list, and how they list, marie them selves in spite of father, mother, God, good order, and all. Ascham, The Scholemaster, P. 38.

So in Deut. xxii. 3, 'and with all lost thing of thy brother's.'

All the whole. A redundant expression, which is found in the remarks 'Concerning the service of the Church' prefixed to the Prayer-Book. "For they so ordered the matter that all the whole Bible (or the greatest part thereof) should be read over once every year." It occurs more than once in Shakespeare.

All the whole army stood agazed on him.

1 Hen. VI. I. I.

If Richard will be true, not that alone,
But all the whole inheritance I give,
That doth belong unto the house of York.

Ibid. III. I.

Allege, v. t. (Acts xvii. 3). To adduce proofs, to prove by quotation, and hence to quote, from Lat. allegare, a law term. Not as now simply 'to assert.'

For shame, nay for conscience, either allege the scriptures aright, without any such wresting, or else abstain out of the pulpit. Latimer, Rem. p. 321.

Declaring that the dissention among the Grecians did increase king Philip's power, alledging these verses:

Where discord reignes in Realme or towne
Euen wicked folke do win renowne.

North's Plutarch, Alex. p. 746.

And Ambrose Thesius alleageth the Psalter of the Indians, which he testifieth to haue bene set forth by Potken in Syrian characters. The Trans. to the Readers.

Allied, pp. (Neh. xiii. 4). Connected by marriage. From the Fr. allié, Lat. alligatus.

The others called him (i. e. Leonidas) Alexander's gouernour, because he was a noble man, and allied to the Prince. North's Plutarch, Alex. p. 719.

Allow, v. t. (Luke xi. 48; Baptismal Office; 'He favourably alloweth, &c.). From the Fr. allouer, which is derived from the Lat. allaudare, 'to praise.' To praise, approve; which is the common sense in old writers. It is not to be confounded with allow, ‘to assign,' which is from the Lat. allocare through the Fr. allouer.

And some lakkede my life,

Allowed it fewe.

Piers Ploughman's Vis. 1. 9594. The which__opinion......Pomponius Lætus......dothe well alowe. Polid. Verg. Hist. p. 27.

Notwithstanding that Nathan had before allowed and praised the purpose of David. Latimer, Rem. p. 308.

Thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, IV. 2.

The word is used in a kindred sense (Rom. xiv. 22; I Thess. ii. 4) as the translation of what in Greek signifies 'to approve after trial.' So also in Pr. Book, Ps. xi. 6, 'The Lord alloweth (A. V. 'trieth') the righteous.' In Acts xxiv. 15 the orignal means 'to expect,' and in Rom. vii. 15, ' acknowledge with approbation,' following a Hebrew idiom. See Shakespeare, Rich. II. v. 2:

To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,
Whose state and honour I for aye allow.

Allowance, sb. Approval.

Humbly craving of your most Sacred Maiestie, that since things of this quality haue euer bene subiect to the censures of ill meaning and discontented persons, it may receiue approbation and Patronage from so learned and iudicious a Prince as your Highnesse is, whose allowance and acceptance of our Labours, shall more honour and incourage vs, then all the calumniations and hard interpretations of other men shall dismay vs. The Epistle Dedicatorie.

Item, you sent a large commission

To Gregory de Cassalis, to conclude,

Without the king's will, or the states' allowance,
A league between his highness and Ferrara.

Shakespeare, Hen. VIII. 111. 2.

All to (Judges ix. 53). All to pieces. It is a disputed point whether this passage should be read 'all-to brake' or 'all to-brake,' the prefix to being in very common use in old authors to convey the idea of destruction. Thus this very word 'break,' so compounded, occurs in Piers Ploughman:

So also 'to-cleve,' 'to-rende.' In Erasmus' Paraphrase (Q. Kath. Parr's transl.), 'shall be al to crushed' (Luk. fol. clx. ob.); 'all to bruised' (ib. lxxxix.); ‘all to rated him' (John lxix. rev.). On the other hand, there are many passages which seem only to admit of the reading all-to in the sense above given of all to pieces.

Thou farest as frute, that with the frost is taken,
To day redy ripe, to morrow al-to shaken.

Surrey, Sonnet 9.

For that in Durtwych and here about the same we be fallen into the dirt, and be all-to dirtied, even up to the ears. Latimer, Rem. p. 397.

Smiling speakers creep into a man's bosom, they love and all-to love him. Id. Serm. p. 289.

The following examples of words compounded with 'all to' are taken from the Glossary to Forshall and Madden's edition of the Wicliffite versions:

'Al-to-brasten' (2 Chr. xxv. 12), 'al-to-breke' (Deut. xxviii. 20), 'al-to-brende' (Ps. cv. 18), 'al-to-feblid' (Is. xxxviii. 14), 'al-to-kut' (1 Chr. xx. 3), "al-to-trede' (Deut. vii. 24).

Alms, sb. (Acts iii. 3). The English word 'alms' is singular, and, with O. E. almesse, A. S. almesse, G. almosen, and Sc. awmous, is derived from the Gk. ¿λeŋμooúvn.

The patrimonie and the richesse,
Which to Silvester in pure almesse
The firste Constantinus lefte.

Gower, Conf. Am. prol. I. p. 28.,

And he should it were an alms to hang him.

Shakespeare, Much Ado, II. 3.

Beggars that come unto my father's door,
Upon entreaty have a present alms.

Id. Tam. of Shrew, IV. 3. Chaucer uses the plural 'almesses' (comp. richesse, pl. richesses).

These ben general almesses or werkes of charity. Parson's Tale.

In Acts x. 4 'alms' is used as a plural.

Almsdeed, sb. (Acts ix. 36). An act of charity; and so charity in its narrower sense; A. S. almesse-dœed.

In vertu and in holy almes-dede

They lyven alle.

Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 5576.

Now ben ther thre maner of almesdede. Id. Parson's Tale. He loveth thee with his hands, that will help thee in time of necessity, by giving some almsdeeds, or with any other occupation of the hand. Latimer, Serm. p. 21.

Murder is thy alms-deed;

Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back.

Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI. v. 5.

Aloft, adv. (1 Esd. viii. 92). In the passage 'and now is all Ísrael aloft,' the last word is the rendering of the Greek Távo. Chaucer (Ass. of Fowls, 1. 203) uses 'on loft' in the same sense.

Therewith a wind, unneth it might be lesse,

Made in the leaves grene a noise soft,
Accordant to the foules song on loft.

Along, adv. (Judg. vii. 13). At full length; in the phrase 'to lie along. See the quotation from Holland's Pliny under Loaden.