Also 4–7 vauntage, 6 vauntadge; 5–6 Sc. wantage, 7–8 ’vantage. [a. AF. vantage (1302), var. of OF. avantage ADVANTAGE sb. Cf. It. vantaggio, Cf. It. vantaggio, Sp. ventaja, Pg. vantagem.]
1. Advantage, benefit, profit, gain. Now arch.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8015. O þam þou sal haue gret vantage, Bath to þe and to þi barnage.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 302. Not of leesyng of worldliche worship ne worldliche vauntage,… but of lesyng of vertues.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 508/1. Vauntage, (K., or avauntage), profectus, proventus.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IX. 915. This wantage was, the Scottis thaim dantyt swa, Nayn Inglisman durst fra his feris ga.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 172 b. Repute it for your singlar vauntage & wynnynge to be exercised & tossed in dyuerse temptacyons.
1555. Hooper, in Coverdale’s Lett. Mart. (1564), 141. Such fleshe as … had great vauntage by hys word, are become his very enemies.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 72. I receyued two seuerall letters from you,… Out of which … I reaped double commoditie and vauntage.
1617. Collins, Def. Bp. Ely, I. i. 72. What vantage haue you now of all that is said of Peters ship to countenance Rome?
1645. Arraignm. Persecution, 23. Shall we that have received vantage by their rejection, thus recompence them with tyranny?
[1846. Landor, Exam. Shaks., Wks. II. 266. It would give … the neighbourhood much vantage, to see these two fellows good men.]
† b. Pecuniary profit or gain. Obs.
c. 1430. Freemasonry (Halliw., 1840), 149. The mayster schal not, for no vantage, Make no prentes that ys outrage.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 43. Iudas was wo, þat he had noȝt þat vauntage of þo xxx. pens þat was þe tythe of þe iij. hundreth pens.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxv. 27. Then at my commynge shulde I have receaved my money with vauntage.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 340. He became a master in makynge cardes for the sea, whereby he had great vantage.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 90. If one penie vantage be therein to saue, of coast man or fleming be sure to haue.
† c. A perquisite. Obs. (Cf. VAIL sb.1 4.)
a. 1470. H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), VII. xxi. 308/2. That he sholde besydes his salarye take annuell or trentalle, or ony suche other, that they calle vantages.
1481. MS. at St. Nich. Bristol, in Clerk’s Book of 1549 (Bradshaw Soc.), 70. Hit was of old vsage that the vantage of weddyngges was longgynge to the Clerke.
1558. G. Cavendish, Poems (1825), II. 52. First in the privye councell was my foundacion, And cheife secretary with all vantages and fees.
† d. Printing. (See quots.) Obs.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, 393. When a White-page or more happens in a Sheet, the Compositer calls that Vantage: So does the Press-man, when a Form of one Pull comes to the Press.
[1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 151. Vantage, an old synonym for the modern one of ‘fat.’]
† 2. a. A greater amount of something. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. lii. (Tollem. MS.). Therfore þese places of heremites hauen moche noye and trauayll; neþeles it haþ a vauntage [L. plurimum] of commodite and reste.
† b. An additional amount or sum. For or to the vantage, in addition. Vantage of bread (see quot. 1611). Obs.
1529. More, Suppl. Souls, Wks. 331. And yet haue we for the vauntage … the boke of ye kinges, the woordes of the Prophete zacharie [etc.].
1538. Croscombe Ch. Ward. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.), 43. R. Phelyppes for the vantage of bredde, xxiid.
1604. Shaks., Oth., IV. iii. 86. Yes, [there are] a dozen [such women]; and as many to th’ vantage, as would store the world they plaid for.
1611. Cotgr., Le trezain du pain, vantage of bread; the thirteenth loafe giuen by Bakers vnto the dozen.
1617. Collins, Def. Bp. Ely, II. ix. 346. Supererogation there is none, where first all is not done that ought to be done, and then a vantage too, or surplus ouer.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, IV. xiii. (1647), 191. The Popes Legate and Robert Earl of Artois … would make no bargain except Alexandria … were also cast in for vantage to make the conditions down-weight.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Vantage, that which is given over and above just Weight and Measure; Overplus.
† c. And (a or the) vantage, with the vantage, and above, and (a little) more. Obs.
1594. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1860), 244. xxj stirkes of yeare old and vantage, 18l., x stirkes, of two yeares ould and vantage, 16l.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 12. But Venus ascendeth up to her station in fifteene daies and the vantage.
1621. Fletcher, Pilgrim, I. i. She is fifteen, with the vantage, And if she be not ready now for mannage—.
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann. (1658), 251. Of a huge stature, and a mind answerable thereunto, for it is said, that he was five cubids high, and vantage.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4472/4. Stoln or Stray’d…, a brown bay Gelding,… 14 hands and the vantage high. Ibid. (1711), No. 4875/4. A large kindly black Mare,… two Years old, with the Vantage.
1754. J. Shebbeare, Matrimony (1766), I. 4. In plain English, she had seen One and Thirty Birth-days, and a ’Vantage, as they say in the West of England.
† d. ellipt. = prec. Obs.–1
1601. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 124. A litle younge styre of towe yeres old vantage.
3. Advantage or superiority in a contest; position or opportunity likely to give superiority; vantage-ground. † Upon the vantage, at an advantage.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xvii. 18. The archers … haue noo vauntage of hym nor of his company.
1579–80. North, Plutarch, Theseus (1595), 3. The cause why they were thus shauen before, was, for that their enemies should not haue the vauntage to take them by the hayres of the head while they were fighting. Ibid., 4. They which by might could haue vantage ouer others, had nothing to doe with … quiet qualities.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 215. Oft thay meit [in battle]: oft thay parte with lytle vantage.
1600. Holland, Livy, I. xxvii. 20. When hee thought hee had gained vantage ynough, hee mounted up the hill with all his companies.
1627. E. F., Hist. Edw. II. (1680), 117. Knowing the weakness, he esteem’d his vantage in suffering them to land.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 27. A Castle, strong, and of white chalky stone, its Ordnance planted high to play in Mounts upon the vantage.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, VII. 345. The exasperate knight … up the steps advanced, Like one who disregarded in his strength The enemy’s vantage.
1850. Blackie, Æschylus, II. 160. Though close hedged in by the foe, The vantage hath been ours.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. xviii. 156. The bishop found that he would thus lose his expected vantage.
b. With defining term introduced by of.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxcix. 97/1. The englisshemen had the vauntage of the hyll, and helde themselfe so cloose together that none coude entre into them.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 242. Assoone as the king and his Marshalles had ordered hys battayle, he drewe vp the sayles and came with a quarter winde to haue the vauntage of the sonne.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 599. It hath been anciently practised to burne Heath, and Ling, and Sedge, with the vantage of the Wind, upon the Ground.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, V. xviii. To each knight their care assigned Like vantage of the sun and wind. Ibid. (1828), F. M. Perth, v. Thou wilt have better access to drive them back, having the vantage of the house.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvi. III. 621. James … consented to retreat till he should reach some spot where he might have the vantage of ground.
c. In the phrases coign (see COIGN sb. 1), place, point (etc.) of vantage. So also † dice of vantage.
c. 1570. Misogonus, II. iv. 168 (Brandl). The preistes handes ith mustardpott; the knave, throwe at an inch, Has some dise of vauntadge, myne oth I durst take.
1805–6. Cary, Dante, Inf., XVI. 24. Naked champions … Are wont, intent, to watch their place of hold And vantage, ere in closer strife they meet.
1832–4. De Quincey, Caesars, Wks. 1860, X. 55. This adoption would have been applied … as a station of vantage for introducing him to the public favour.
1860. Motley, Netherl., xvii. (1868), II. 347. It was unfortunate that the possession of Sluys had given Alexander such a point of vantage.
† 4. With a and pl.: An advantage; a position or state of superiority. Freq. with at or for. Obs.
Perh. originally a wrong division of avantage.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxxii. 654. Petrius … cowde well fle and returne at a vauntage, and well fight with his enmyes.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, liii. 204. They chased Subyon that was horsed at a vauntage better than they were.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 117. Then they issued out boldly and shot coragiously as men that shot for a vauntage.
a. 1568. in A. Scott’s Poems (E.E.T.S.), 44. Thair is nocht ane winche þat I se Sall win ane wantage of me.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 268 b. Hereupon he doth conclude as it were at a vauntage that the doctrine of these men is not onely unprofitable, but also pestiferous.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 32. Wee may well assure our selues, (as in all other Arts, so in this) there is a vantage and dexterity, by skill.
1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 263. Naaman seemed humble, when he stood at Elisha his doore, but it was for a vantage.
† b. An opportunity; a chance. Obs.
1592. Soliman & Pers., I. ii. I, watch you vauntages? Thine be it then.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. iii. 24. When shall we heare from him. Pisanio. Be assurd Madam, With his next vantage. Ibid., II. iii. 50. You are most bound to th’ King, Who let’s go by no vantages, that may Preferre you to his daughter.
5. In phrases with verbs: a. With personal object, as to catch, have, hold, take (one) at († a or † the) vantage.
c. 1510. Gesta Rom. (W. de W.), A ij. At the last she had hym at a vauntage agayne, ande was afore hym.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 156 b. You haue taken me at a vauntage.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 51. Me seely wretch she so at vauntage caught.
1596. Harington, Metam. Ajax (1814), 12. He will take a weak man at the vantage.
1827. Southey, Hist. Penins. War, II. 123. In this sort of warfare their loss was generally greater than that of the natives, who on such occasions had them at vantage.
1857. Emerson, Poems, 153. Complement of human kind, Holding us at vantage still.
† b. With vantage as object, esp. to take … vantage (of). Obs. (Cf. ADVANTAGE sb. 5 b.)
(a) 1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 2. If the vantage had bene presently takin.
c. 1585. [R. Browne], Answ. Cartwright, 23. If any will take vantage, that yet their censers were holy,… let vs consider what holines this was.
1592. Marlowe, Massacre Paris, III. i. [He] takes his vantage on Religion, To plant the Pope and popelings in the Realme.
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 50. Hee thought to make his Vantage upon his Parliament.
(b.) 1591. Lyly, Endym., II. i. You will be sure I shall take no vantage of your words.
1600. Holland, Livy, I. ii. 9. The armie of the Antemnates, taking the vantage of the time,… entred the confines of Rome.
1624. Quarles, Job Militant, xvi. 40. I Will take no ’vantage of thy Miserie.
6. Lawn Tennis. = ADVANTAGE sb. 2.
1884. Peile, Lawn Tennis, 50. If he lose the next stroke (he being vantage to love), the score is again called deuce.
1897. Outing, XXX. 467/2. Then our opponents ran to deuce, and another victory made the score vantage in our favor.
7. attrib., as (sense 2 b) † vantage-loaf; (sense 3) vantage-coign, -ditch, -place, -point; (sense 6) vantage-game, -set. Also VANTAGE-GROUND.
1612. in Plomer, Abstracts fr. Wills of Eng. Printers (1903), 45. To twelve Poore people … one penny loafe and Twoe pence a peece and the vauntage loafe to the Clerke there.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. ii. Bulwark,… bastion, tower, and vantage-coign.
a. 1861. Clough, Relig. Poems, ii. 85. Quick seizure and fast unrelaxing hold of vantage-place.
1865. J. H. Ingraham, Pillar of Fire (1871), 322. The towers of the pylones, the roofs of temples, the colonnades of palaces, terraces, house-tops,—every vantage-point—were crowded thickly with spectators.
1885. J. H. Dell, Dawning Grey, Prefatory. Some last vantage-ditch of wrong.
1892. Pall Mall G., 7 July, 6/3. The Londoners equalized and made another ‘vantage’ set necessary. Ibid. The Irishmen gained the ‘vantage’ game every time.
