Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

lissan

  • verb
Dictionary links
to soften, weaken, tame, subdue
Show examples
  • Yldo beoþ on eorþan ǽghwæs cræftig ... lisseþ eal ðæt heó wile beám heó ábreóteþ ... friteþ wildne fugol ... heó oferwígeþ wulf

    on earth age has power over everything ... .she subdues all that she will; the tree she destroys ... the wild bird she devours ... the wolf she conquers,

    • Salm. Kmbl. 590
    • ;
    • Sal. 294
    • .
Etymology
[Cf.
I trowe my peyne shalle never lisse, Chauc. R. R. 4128
:
it shulde lisse me, Glow. iii. 82, 19
:
hire care to lisse, Will. 631.
Jamieson gives the verb in his Scottish Dict. lis to ease, assuage; liss to cease, stop.
]
Similar entries
v. liss.
Full form

Word-wheel

  • lissan, v.