ppl. a. [f. FLOURISH v. + -ED1.]
† 1. Adorned with flowers or verdure; fig. adorned with charms or virtues. Obs.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2438. Þei … founden þan a fayr forest · floriched ful þik.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxiii. 148. All þe tymes of þe ȝere er þaire gardynes flurisched and þaire mydews grene.
c. 1470. Hardyng, Chron., XIV. vii.
| Full peseably from that Elynde was dedde: | |
| Bothe two dyed in their floreshed youthede. |
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 26.
| Off ferliful fyne favour war thair faceis meik, | |
| All full of flurist fairheid, as flouris in June. |
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xix. 2.
| My Maistres gathring flours doth stand, | |
| Amidst the florisht meid. |
† b. Of the brow: Adorned with clustering hair.
c. 1400. Rowland & O., 82.
| With a floreschede thonwange, | |
| Oure noble kynge þat es so strange, | |
| His doghety men I-melle. |
c. Her. = FLEURY.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., E j a. They be calde florishit: for they be made bi ye maner of a flowre deluce.
1830. in Robson, Brit. Her., III. Gloss., Flourished, the same as fleury.
† 2. Of words: Of a flowery character; rhetorically arranged. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3066.
| Flourshede wurdys, and oþerwhyle louely, | |
| Are ful of pryde and trechery. |
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 445. Þey [false freris] deprauen hem to þer parischens bi floriȝshid wordis þat þey bringen yn.
3. Decorated with flourishes or ornamental lines and tracery, or with figures in colours, embroidery, etc.; figured.
c. 1400. Rowland & O., 280.
| For he hathe men in Batell lerede, | |
| Þat wele kon feghte with floresched swerde [orig. espee forbie]. |
1446–7. Eton Coll. Acc., in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 394, note. Pro xxiiij pedibus vitri operati picti vocati florisshed glasse.
1563. Homilies, II. Agst. Excess Apparel (1859), 315. As though a wise and Christian husband should delight to see his wife in such painted and flourished visages, which common harlots mostly do use, to train therewith their lovers to naughtiness.
1678. Lond. Gaz., No. 1265/4. One Silver Plate … marked with the Cipher E. G. flourished.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 13, 8 July, ¶ 8. We have twice as many fire-screens as chimneys, and three flourished quilts for every bed.
1792. Mrs. C. Smith, Desmond, II. 268. His wife put on her best plated cap with pink ribands; a fine flourished shawl; and a pea-green flounced stuffed petticoat, under a flowered cotton gown, drawn up.
1885. D. W. Kettle, Pens, Ink, & Paper, 65. Capital Letters in the Old MSS. are frequently the most remarkable and excusable examples of the Flourish, and all of us are more or less familiar with the Flourished Printed headings to Deeds, beginning with the words ‘This Indenture.’
