We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By clicking 'continue' or by continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings in your browser at any time.

Continue
Find out more
peruser (1346)
Cite this entry

Browse the Dictionary

    Loading...

peruser (1346)

Cite this entry
 
  FEW:  usare 14,70b Gdf:  paruser 6,14c GdfC: ∅ TL: paruser 7,397 DEAF:  user (paruser)  / user (peruser)  DMF:  paruser  TLF: ∅ OED:  peruse v.  MED: ∅ DMLBS:  perusitari 2247a

While this verb is attested in Continental French, it is in the sense of ‘to use up completely’. Anglo-Norman and English attest to a semantic shift to the sense of ‘to go through, examine’ which is attested in English from the end of the 15th century. The OED suggests that this shift in meaning might be due to its visual similarity to the verb pervise v., meaning ‘to look over, examine’, derived from the past participial stem of pervidere (DMLBS 2249b)

v.trans.

to go through, examine: 
( 1346 )  il [...] fut mys a dire cause pur quei (=why he had challenged the polls), avant le panel perusé  YBB 20 Ed III 487

p.p. as a.

completely used up, worn out: 
( 1397 )  un blanc cope de sarszinet [...] ovesqe l’orfrey de drap d’or de Lukes feble et perusez  Gloucester Inventory 293
( 1423 )  Item, .i. veilx lintheu de Reynes, parusez, de .iiij. lees, pris [...]  Rot Parl1 iv 231

[hp]

See also:

par2  user 
This is an AND2 Phase 4 (N-O/U-P-Q) entry. © 2013-17 The Anglo-Norman Dictionary. All rights reserved. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom.
peruser