COMMODITY, a word which formerly had plenty to do: anything that afforded advantage, interest, or convenience was _commodity_--profit, interest, accommodation, opportunity, wares, goods, movables, and even harlots.
COX, a coxcomb, fool: jesters formerly wore a cap surmounted by a comb or crest resembling that of a cock: cf. cokes = fool.
CRAB, _i.e._ a roasted crabapple put in a bowl of ale: it served a double purpose, to flavour and also to "chill" the beverage.
CULLION, poltroon, base contemptible fellow: a generic term of abuse.
CURTAL, a short-tailed horse, one docked in the tail.
CUT, a gelding: hence of both sexes, but specifically of women.
DAINTRELS, dainties, delicacies, luxuries.
DAISY, "leap at a _daisy_," be hanged. The allusion is to a story of a man who, when the noose was adjusted round his neck, leapt off with the words, "Have at yon daisy that grows yonder."
DICCON, a nickname for Richard: see Bedlam.
DISEASE, anxiety, trouble: originally general in meaning = absence of ease.
DOCK, tail, backside: _i.e._ get his backside kicked.
DODGE, "ga' me the _dodge_," _i.e._ cheated, tricked me.
DRAB, a generic reproach--strumpet, slattern, slut.
DUMP, ill of ease, melancholy: now obsolete in the singular.
EKE, also, besides, likewise, moreover: still occasional in poetry.
FELLOW, (_a_) "originally a courteous mode of addressing a servant, like the French _mon ami_: here _fellow_ = comrade" (Bradley).
(_b_) "Not thy _fellow_, but thy dame," _i.e._ not thy equal, but thy mistress.
FORTY, generic for an indefinite number: forty pence (or ten groats) = the sum commonly offered for a small wager. Several law fees were fixed at that sum, viz., 3s. 4d.; and when money was reckoned by pounds, marks, and nobles, forty pence was just the half-noble, or the sixth of a pound.
FOX, "allured by the _fox_," see _History of Reynard the Fox_ (1701), vii. (Steevens).
FRIAR RUSH, the principal character in a popular folk-lore story translated from the German. The devil, in friar's garb, seeking to corrupt a convent of monks by delicious fare, assumes human shape, knocks at the door, and is admitted as cook's boy. A favourable opportunity enabling him to dispose of his chief in a boiling cauldron, he is appointed to his place. The virtue of the convent is now at his mercy: the monks forget prayer and fasting over Ruus' exquisite cookery. Strife and wantonness creep in, and the monks are all but lost, when a peasant who has involuntarily overheard a conclave of devils discussing Ruus, discloses his true nature. The abbot, summoning all the monks into the church, seizes Ruus, transforms him into a red horse, and commits him to the power of hell (Herford). There are several versions, the earliest known English one bearing date 1620, but the Stationers' Company registers show it as entered in 1568-9. That the story was extremely popular is obvious from numerous contemporary allusions.