Forms: 1 hlid(d, 2 hlyd, 3–4 lid(e, 4–6 lidd(e, lydde, 5 led(e, lyd(e, 3– lid. [OE. hlid neut. = Du. lid, OHG. hlit (MHG. lit, mod.G. in comb. augenlid eyelid) lid, ON. hliđ gate, gateway, gap:—OTeut. *hliđom f. wk.-grade of root *hlĭđ- to cover, in OE. be-hlídan, OS. bihlîdan to cover, OE. on-hlídan, OS. anhlîdan to open.]
1. That which covers the opening at the top of a vessel or closes the month of an aperture; the upper part of a receptacle, which may be detached or turned upon a hinge in order to give access to the interior.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 262. Ða ledon ða þeʓenas ðone Hælend ðæron, and mid hlide belucon ure ealra Alysend.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 53/213. So huy openeden þat lid of isswete toumbe þere.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5618. In þis kist þe barn sco did Quen it spird was wit þe lid [Fairf. lidde].
a. 1375. Joseph Arim., 41. Make a luytel whucche, Forte do in þat ilke blod … whon þe lust speke with me lift þe lide sone.
c. 1410. Sir Cleges, 272. The porter to the panere went, And the led vppe he hentt.
c. 1450. Two Cookery-bks., 73. Hele the potte with a close led, and stoppe hit abouȝte with dogh or bater.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 437/2. The preest taketh the lydde of the chalys on whyche is the hoost.
1535. Coverdale, Num. xix. 15. And euery open vessel that hath no lydd nor couerynge, is vncleane.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings xii. 9. Iehoiada the priest tooke a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 471, ¶ 8. Upon his lifting up the Lid of it [Pandora’s Box] … there flew out all the Calamities and Distempers incident to Men.
1840. Browning, Sordello, I. 589. Meantime some pyx to screen The full-grown pest, some lid to shut upon The goblin!
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 417. The outer layer of the lid is formed of earth precisely similar to that which surrounds the hole.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., x. 159. ‘Lift the lid of this box for me,’ she said.
b. Applied to a door, shutter, board, or the like, closing an aperture. Now dial. Cf. PORT-LID.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings vi. 4. In ye house he made wyndowes, which might be opened and shut with lyddes.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Supererog., Wks. (Grosart), II. 231. Stop thy oven-mouth with a lidde of butter.
1686–7. Aubrey, Rem. Gentilism & Judaism (1881), 48. Whereas his former Physitian shutt up his windowes and kept him in utter darknesse, he did open his windowe-lids and let in the light.
1890. Glouc. Gloss., Lid, a cupboard door.
c. The top crust of a pie. dial.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housewife, 68. At a vent in the top of the lid put in the same, and then set it into the Oven again.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, 73. A Yorkshire Christmas-Pye. First make a good Standing Crust…. Then lay on your Lid, which must be a very thick one.
† d. Lid of the knee: the patella, knee-cap. Obs.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 462. The lids of my knees beeing crushed.
2. Lid (of the eye) = EYELID.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 26. Ðe leun ðanne he lieð to slepen Sal he neure luken ðe lides of hise eȝen.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. viii. (1495), 114. Euery byrde closyth the eye wyth the nether lydde.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3759. His loke was full louely, when ledys were opyn.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. xxxv. And of her eyen held the ledes downe.
1548–77. Vicary, Anat., ii. (1888), 19. It is needeful that some members be holden vp with a grystle, as the liddes of the eyes.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. iii. 20. Sleepe shall neyther Night nor Day Hang vpon his Pent-house Lid.
1719. Young, Job, 378. When his [Leviathan’s] burnish’d eyes Lift their broad lids, the morning seems to rise.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., IV. vii. I closed my lids, and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat.
1830. Tennyson, Poems, 122. I straightly would commend the tears to creep From my charged lids.
1879. Harlan, Eyesight, ii. 23. The skin of the lids contains no fat.
fig. 1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. v. Wks. 1856, I. 131. Ere night shall close the lids of yon bright stars.
1646. Crashaw, Sospetto d’Herode, I. xlviii. The fields … saw no more, But shut their flowry lids for ever.
3. Each of the two sides or covers (of a book). Chiefly dial. and U.S.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomenclator, 7/1. Inuolucrum, operculum libri, sittybus,… the couer or lid of a booke.
1854. A. E. Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Lid, the boarded cover of a book.
1864. Grosart, Lambs all Safe (1865), 85. I might close the lids of the Bible, and still feel myself shut up to accept the transmission of moral evil.
1881. Leicester Gloss., s.v. Hilling, In Leicestershire generally, however, the covers of a book are the ‘lids.’
1896. N. Y. Sun, in Catholic News, 29 Feb., 2/7. I have never yet found ‘a good Catholic’ who would deny anything in ‘The Word of God’ from lid to lid.
4. Bot. and Conch. = OPERCULUM.
1681. Grew, Musæum, 130. That little Shell called Blatta Byzantia, is the Operculum or Lid of the Purple.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 34. Many of them [sea snails] are also furnished with a lid, which covers the mouth of the shell, and which opens and shuts at the animal’s pleasure.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants, 799. Lid, a cover to the tips of several of the Mosses; as in the Bogmoss.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot., I. ii. (ed. 3), 141. The singular form of leaf … which has been called a pitcher … consists of a fistular green body … closed at its extremity by a lid, termed the operculum.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVI. 9/2. The urn itself [sc. of a moss] is closed by a lid, or operculum, and contains the spores.
1863. Berkeley, Brit. Mosses, Gloss. 312. Lid, the terminal portion of the sporangium, which usually separates by a circular horizontal fissure.
5. Mining. a. The roof or roof-stone covering a ‘pipe’; a lid-stone (q.v.). b. A flat piece of wood placed between the roof and the prop supporting it.
a. 1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., L iv b. Pipes never fail of Lids, it is that by which they are distinguished from Flats.
b. 1847. in Halliwell.
1860. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), Derbysh. Terms, Cap or Lid, a flat piece of wood placed between the top of the punch and the roof of the mine.
6. attrib. and Comb., as lid-elevator, -lash; lid-cells Bot. (see quot.); lid-flower, a tree or shrub of the genus Calyptranthes (N.O. Myrtaceæ), in which the upper part of the calyx forms a lid; lid-stone Mining (see quot. 1858).
1887. Garnsey, trans. Goebel’s Morphol. Plants, 482. *Lid-cells of archegonium [of a cryptogam], terminal cells of neck closing for a time canal of neck. Same as stigmatic cells.
1827. Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. 490/1. The knob, or *lid-elevator, is a pine attached to the lid by a brass pin.
1866. Treas. Bot., *Lid-flower, Calyptranthes.
1820. Keats, Lamia, I. 151. Her eyes … Hot, glazed, and wide, with *lid-lashes all sear.
1653. Manlove, Lead-Mines, 265. *Lid-Stones.
1851. Tapping, Derbysh. Lead-Mining Terms (E.D.S.), Rake,… that species of metallic vein which … is not covered with a lid-stone.
1858. A. C. Ramsay, Catal. Rock Specimens (1862), 63 (E. D. D.). Locally called ‘lid-stone,’ from its lying on the top of the iron ore which occurs in the limestone of the Forest of Dean.
