compescev.
/kəmˈpɛs/ archaic.
transitive. To restrain, repress, curb.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restrain [verb (transitive)] > hold in check
bridleOE
tempera1050
chastec1230
to hold inc1300
straina1340
stintc1366
attemperc1380
restraina1387
rulea1391
ward1390
coarctc1400
obtemper?a1425
to hold or keep (a person) shortc1425
compesce1430
stent1488
coactc1520
repressa1525
compress1526
control1548
snaffle1555
temperatea1568
brank1574
halter1577
curb1588
shortena1599
to bear (a rein) upon1603
check1629
coerceate1657
bit1825
throttle1862
hold1901
1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy ii. xiv By manly force rathest there compesse The spyryte of Ire and melancolye.
1637 G. Gillespie Dispute against Eng.-Popish Ceremonies iii. viii. 176 A coactive power to compesce the turbulent.
1680 ‘Philalethes’ tr. G. Buchanan De Jure Regni apud Scotos 54 A plaister to compesce the eruptions of flegme.
1681 S. Colvil Mock Poem (1751) 102 Compesce me, muse, these stout bravadoes.
1721 R. Wodrow Hist. Sufferings Church of Scotl. (1828) I. Introd. 21 Tyranny which was compesced with very much ado.
1865 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia V. xviii. iii. 61 Oldenburg..has coerced and compesced them..into soldierly obedience.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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