Obs. Also 3–6 lasse, 4 lessi. [ME. lasse, lessi, f. lasse, lesse LESS a.]
1. intr. To become less, decrease.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1718. Þe neauer ne linneð nowðer ne lesseð, ah leasteð aa mare.
c. 1325[?] Old Age, vii. in E. E. P. (1862), 149. I lench, i len on lyme, i lasse.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 414. His men lassed alway tho.
c. 1450. Cov. Myst., xxiv. (Shaks. Soc.), 223. My grett desesse I hope xall lesse.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., cxcvii. 174. Syr Thomas men lancastre lassed and slaked. Ibid. (1483), G. de la Tour, E vij. And thenne shalle lasse the pestylence and pees shalle be.
1496. Dives & Paup. (W. de W.), I. xlvii. 88/1. Our synnes alwaye encreaseth & lesseth not.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), V. ii. 357. That [the fire] of hell is eternall, & neuer lesseth.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccxlix. 369. The englishmen were sore displeased, for their strength dayly lassed.
1602. T. Fitzherbert, Apol., 36. The samin lessed when seuen of Sauls offspring were deliuered to the Gabaonits.
2. trans. To make less, lessen, diminish. occas. const. of = by (a certain amount).
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter xi. 2. Lessed ere sothenes fra mennes sones.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 127. Hyre poer nys nouȝt y-lessed.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 55. His dedys shall be defamyd, and his empir lessyd.
1429. in Rymer, Fœdera (1710), X. 420/2. Nowe that the Poeple of this Land is Lessed and Decressed of late tyme, by Mortalite.
c. 1450. Merlin, 401. Holy cherche was lessed full sore of xxti thousande peple that ther was slain of oon.
1481. Caxton, Godfrey, 164. They had ben mynysshed moche and lassed in the batayle.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxiii. 76. It wald me sumthing satisfie, And less of my malancolie.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., I. Wks. 1168/2. Wee … shall … fynd our heartes lighted, and thereby the grief of our tribulacion lessed.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 4. Polypody drieth and lesseth or thinneth the body.
1633. P. Fletcher, Poet. Misc., 77. But silence thou mayst add but never lesse it.
b. To lower in position or station; to humble, degrade.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (Baptista), 233. In-to man lessit are we, to god þat we ma grewande be.
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 18. Thou hast lassed hym a litel fro angeles.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, L vij. Yf she tooke hym her parentes and frendes shold hold her lassed and hyndered.
c. pass. To decrease (in respect of).
a. 1520. Barclay, Jugurth, 19. But for all this suffrance of Adherball: the mynde of Jugurth was nat more pacified, nor lessed of his cruelte.
