CHURCH, "a _church_ here beside," etc. (M28,_b_), _i.e._ the abbey larder should provide the requisite cheer.
CHURCH-STILE, "on the _church stile_" (M26,_a_), a stile in, or leading to, the precincts of the church.
CLARIFY, "This question to _clarify_" (M5,_a_), make clear or intelligible, answer, clear up. "A word to you I wold _claryfy_."--_Towneley Myst._, p. 67.
CLASH, "at _clash_ and cards" (IP338,_b_), bawdy talk, gossiping, tittle-tattle, quarrelling. "Good Lord! what fiery _clashings_ we have had lately for a cap and a surplice!"--Howell, _Lett._ (1644-45), iv. 29.
CLAWBACK, "you flearing _clawback_ you" (R188,_a_), lickspittle, flatterer. The whole passage is a striking early instance of sarcastic vituperation, and the gradual piling up of the weight of abuse.
CLEAN, "a clean gentleman" (M22,_a_), fair, comely, noble: a general appreciative. "With the _clennest_ _cumpanye_ that euer king ladde."--_Will. of Paleren_ (_c._ 1360), 1609.
CLEPE, "if I should _clepe_ to memory" (N45,_a_), call. "I shall inwardly _clepe_ the Lord."--Wycliffe, _Psalm_ xvii. 4.
CLERICAL, "_clerical_ manner" (M8,_b_),--"a _clerical_ matter" (M26,_a_), clerk-like, scholarly, abstruse, learned.
CLOTHES, "the _clothes_ of thy _shoon_" (M35,_b_), generic for fabric and material as well as for dress and apparel.
CLOUTERY, (R263,_d_). Mr. Magnus glosses this as "mending," and probably he is right. On the other hand, a glance may be given to the Northern _clouter_ = to do dirty work.
COBS, "the great _cobs_" (R232,_d_), a rich but grasping person, a person of superior rank and power. "Susteynid is not by personis lowe, But _cobbis_ grete this riote sustene."--_Occleve, MS. Soc. Antiq._ 134, f. 267. "But, at leisure, ther must be some of the gret _cobbes_ served likewise, and the king to have ther landes likewise, as, God willing, he shall have th' erle of Kildares in possession, or somer passe."--_State_ _Papers_, ii. 228 (Nares).
COCK'S (_passim_), God's. Hence _Cock's body sacred_ = God's consecrated body.
COMMEDIENS, "as _commediens_ vor us" (R212,_a_), commodious.
COMMODITY (_passim_), advantage and many allied senses: see other volumes of this series.
COMPANABLE, "such as be _companable_" (N62,_a_), affable, sociable, companionable. "Frendly to ben and _compaygnable_ at al." _MS. Fairfax 16_.