lyardlyartadj.n.
Obsolete exc. dialect.
A. adj. A designation of colour.
a. Of a horse: Spotted with white or silver grey.In northern English dialects ‘a white lyared horse means a grey one, or one dappled with white and black; and a red lyared one is dappled with bay or red and white’ ( Eng. Dial. Dict.).
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > colour or marking > [adjective] > spotted with white
lyardc1386
mealyc1465
1300 Liber Quotid. Garderobæ (1787) 78 Pro uno equo nigro liardo empto de eodem [etc.] 10 0 0.
1300 Liber Quotid. Garderobæ (1787) 78 Pro uno equo griseo liardo empto de eodem ad opus Regis [etc.] 7 6 8.]
c1386 G. Chaucer Friar's Tale 265 This carter þakked his hors..‘Hayt now’ quod he,..‘Þat was wel twight, myn owne lyard boy’.
?a1400 Morte Arth. 2542 Laggene with longe speres one lyarde stedes.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 221 Tak in this gray hors, auld Dumbar, Quhilk in my aucht with seruice trew In lyart changeit is his hew.
1590 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 247 To Oswin Fenwick a graie nagge. To William Fenwick the lyerd nagge.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice i. 22 The best colour for a stallion, is browne bay dapled, daple gray, bright bay, or white lyard.
b. Of hair: Grey, silvery grey approaching white.
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c1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 826 Colouris now to knowe attendith ye:..The liard & the white, and broun is sure.
1438 tr. Bk. Alexander Great (1831) 115 Yon ald man..With lyart berd and hare gresone.
1721 A. Ramsay Prospect of Plenty xvii Nereus rising frae his wat'ry bed, The pearly drops hap down his lyart head.
c1750 J. Elliot Flowers of Forest (song) iii The bandsters are lyart and runkled and grey.
1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 16 The lyart veteran.
1895 S. R. Crockett Men of Moss-hags 156 His hair, lyart and long, fell upon his shoulders.
c. Applied by Burns to the colour of withered leaves.
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?a1786 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 195 When lyart leaves bestrow the yird.
1786 R. Burns Holy Fair ii, in Poems 41 Twa had manteeles o' dolefu' black, But ane wi' lyart lining.
B. n.
As the proper name of a ‘lyard’ horse.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > colour or marking > [noun] > dappled horse > with white
lyard13..
13.. Pol. Songs (Camden) 71 Thou shalt ride sporeles o thy lyard Al the ryhte way to Dovere ward.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xvii. 64 He lyȝte adown of lyard and ladde hym in his hande.
c1470 W. Gregory Chron. in Hist. Coll. Citizen London (Camden) 238 As for beddyng, Lyard my hors had more ese thenn had sum good yeman.
1486–1504 in W. Denton Eng. in 15th Cent. (1888) 319 I sall gyff yow to yowr plesure lyerd my horse.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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adj.n.13..