Forms: α. 4 talȝ, talwgh, 4–5 talwȝ, 5 talgh(e; Sc. 5–6 talch, 6 tawlche, tawche, tauche, tawcht, 6–7 tauch, 7–8 taulch, 9 taugh. β. 4 talowȝ, 4–6 talow(e, 5 talogh, -ough, -owgh, talwhe, talwe, 5–6 talugh(e, talo, 5–7 tallo, tallowe, 6– tallow. γ. Sc. 5–6 tallone, -own(e, 5–7 -on, -oun(e, 9 dial. tallan, -in. [ME. talȝ, talgh, known first in 14th c.; corresponds to MLG. talg, talch, LG. talg, in early mod.Du. talg, talch (16th c.), Du. talk fem. and Ger. talg, in 1572 talck masc.; MIcel. (14th c.) tólg, tólk, MDa. (13th c.) talgh, talwh, MSw. talgh(er), mod.Icel. tólg, Norw., Da., Sw. talg, Norw. dial. tolg, taag, taalg, tølg, Fær. tálg.
These forms indicate a common origin, but nowhere has the word yet been found before the 13th c. In the Scandinavian langs. a great diversity of gender suggests that the word is borrowed from MLG.; the ME. may have had a similar origin, but the parallelism of Eng. sallow, Sc. sauch,:—OE. sealh, Anglian salh, suggests for Eng. tallow, Sc. tauch, an OE. *tealh, *talh, = OLG. *talg, talh. Ulterior etymology unknown.]
1. The fat or adipose tissue of an animal, esp. that which yields the substance described in 2; suet.
α. 1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xlvii. 2. As talȝ [1388 ynnere fatnesse] seuered fro the flesh.
14[?]. Med. Receipts, in Rel. Ant., I. 53. Fresch talgh of a schepe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 486/1. Talwhe (Pynson talowe), cepum.
15[?]. Aberdeen Regr., XXI. (Jam.). Scheip tawcht & nolt tawcht.
1871. Waddell, Ps. in Scottis, xvii. 10. They’re theekit about wi’ their ain taugh.
β. 1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxiii. 18. [Thow] shal not leeue the talowȝ of my solempnete vnto the morwen.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 60. Take schepis talow [B. M. MS. schepys talwȝ].
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 660/37. Hoc sepum, tallo.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F ij. All beestis that beere talow and stonde vpright.
1518. Cov. Leet Bk., 663. That no bocher sell eny of his tallowe aboue ij s. the ston.
1613. Markham, Eng. Husb., II. II. vii. (1635), 90. Hee feeds fast, and his tallow wonderfully increaseth.
1787. Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXXVII. 389. Ruminating animals have that species of fat called tallow.
1897. G. H. Clark, in Outing (U.S.), XXIX. 338/1. A much needed lunch of delicious reindeer tallow.
† b. fig. ‘Fatness,’ richness. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 104. For þei [prelatis] ben so chokid wiþ talow of worldly goodis.
2. A substance consisting of a somewhat hard animal fat (esp. that obtained from the parts about the kidneys of ruminating animals, now chiefly the sheep and ox), separated by melting and clarifying from the membranes, etc., naturally mixed with it; used for making candles and soap, dressing leather, and other purposes. In quot. 1590, dripping.
α. 13[?]. Coer de L., 1552. And wex sumdel caste thertoo, Talwgh and grese menge alsoo.
c. 1350. Usages Winchester, in Eng. Gilds (1870), 359. Euerych sellere of grece and of smere and of talwȝ.
c. 1440. trans. Pallad. on Husb., I. 444. Thorgh the ston, yf that the water synke, Take picche & talgh, as need is the to spende.
1449. Aberdeen Regr. (1844), I. 402. That na man by talch mar than may suffice his houss.
14[?]. (MS. a. 1600) Iter Camerar., c. 22, in Scotch Acts (1840), I. App. iv. 700/1. Þai suld gif þair lethir gude oyle and taulch [1609 Skene tauch].
1505. Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1869), I. 107. It is … forbidden that any maner of persoun melt or rynde thair tawlche in fore housis on the hie gaitt.
1544. Aberdeen Regr., I. 207. Selling of tauch.
1548. Burgh Rec. Edinb., II. 141. [To] by na kitchein fie nor paynsche tawche.
β. 1391. Earl Derby’s Exped. (Camden), 71. Pro grees et talowe … emptis ibidem.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), II. lxi. (1859), 58. Wax smelleth wors after it is quenchid, than doth ony talowe.
1496. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 177. Talowgh. Also payed … for DCC weight Talowe.
1529. Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.), 32. A candell (which for lacke or talowe … can not geue light).
1541. Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.), I. 81. Hole cakes of rendred tallow.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 100. Her ragges and the Tallow in them, will burne a Poland Winter.
1623. Whitbourne, Newfoundland, 98. Diuersities of the ground … that hath come in the Tallo, on the end of the Lead.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., There are scarce any animals but a sort of Tallow may be prepared from.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, III. 79. Hides and tallow constitute the principal riches of the missions, and, indeed, the main commerce of the country [Upper California].
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., Tallow … of the ox consists of 76 parts of stearine, and 24 of oleine.
1884. Harper’s Mag., July, 299/1. ‘Prime’ tallow is made from the kidney and caul fat only, while ‘regular’ tallow is made from the other fat, bones, and trimmings.
1899. Mary H. Catherwood, Mackinac & Lake Stories, 21. One pint of lyed corn with from two to four ounces of tallow was the daily allowance of a voyageur, and the endurance which this food gave him passes belief.
γ. 1482. in Charters, etc. Edinb. (1871), 169. Buttir, vynagir, flesch, or tallone.
1497. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl., I. 349. Item for xxiij pund of talloune to Mons.
1498. Reg. Privy Seal Scotl., I. 23/1. Gold, siluer, tallon and al uther gudis that ar forbiddin to be had furth of the realme.
1529. Rec. Edinb. (1871), 6. At na candilmakir melt thair tallone on the foirgait.
1542. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl., VIII. 77. For viij dusane … girthis putt upon the talloun punscheonis.
3. Applied to various kinds of grease or greasy substances, e.g., those obtained from plants. Mineral tallow = HATCHETTITE: see MINERAL a. 5.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 185. Of all the Trees that grow in China, that which produces Tallow is in my Opinion the most surprizing.
1860. [see BAYBERRY 2].
b. (See quot.) local.
1876. Woodward, Geol. Eng. & Wales, vii. 185. Beautiful plumose stalactites are often found in the fissures of the rock, and are called by the workmen … tallow.
4. Elliptical for TALLOW CANDLE.
1823. Blackw. Mag., XIII. 97. A little pair of tallows unsnuffed before him.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. Made or consisting of tallow, as tallow-ball, -cake, -dip (DIP sb. 7), -grease, -soap; of, pertaining to, containing, or dealing in tallow, as tallow-can, -crap (CRAP sb.1 3), -cup, -leaf (LEAF sb. 9), -light, -man. b. objective, instrumental, similative, etc., as tallow-boiler, -melter; tallow-caked (obs.), -colored, -hued, -lighted, -like, -pale, -white adjs.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxxii. 448. A few rats chopped up and frozen into the *tallow-balls.
1907. Westm. Gaz., 10 Dec., 9/2. The *tallow-boiler, the soap manufacturer, and a vast number of other dependent trades have been hard hit.
1599. West Riding Sessions Rolls (Yorks. Rec. Series III.), 135. One *tallowe cake … felonice cepit.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 165. With face of *tallow caked hew.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Tallow-can, a vessel to hold melted tallow for lubricating purposes.
1822. Scott, Nigel, x. His cheek was still pale and *tallow-coloured as before.
1828. Craven Gloss., *Tallow-craps, the refuse or cracklings of tallow or hog’s lard, after being rendered.
1863. Holme Lee, Annie Warleigh, III. 224. To eat us out o’ house an’ home, an’ keep Magsie doing for iver wi’ biscuit, an’ tallow-crap.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Tallow-cup, a lubricating device for journal-boxes, etc., in which tallow is employed as the lubricant.
1835. G. A. McCall, Lett. fr. Frontiers (1868), 274. I set down the *tallow-dip upon the table.
1768. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 640. The unhappy negro … is thrown into a stinking hold, kept upon rotten pease besmeared over with *tallow grease.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., s.v., When an ox or a sheep has a gude *tallow-leaf, it is considered to have fed weel, and to be deep on the rib.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VII. xxxvii. *Tallow lights live glitt’ring, stinking die.
1825. Constable, in Lockhart, Scott, lxii. I have hitherto been thinking only of the wax lights, but before I’m a twelvemonth older I shall have my hand upon the tallow.
1879. G. J. Romanes, in 19th Cent., Sept., 401. The *tallow-lighted blackness of our mines.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxv. 326. Frequently they were combined with small *tallow-like sloughs of the mucous membrane at the angles of the mouth.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Beauty, Wks. (Bohn), II. 435. I have noticed a block of spermaceti lying about … mantelpieces for twenty years…, simply because the tallowman gave it the form of a rabbit.
1815. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 34/2. A very alarming fire broke out at Mr. Dunkin’s, *tallow-melter, in Aldersgate Street.
1596. Gosson, Pleas. Quippes Upst. Gentlew., 98, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 254. But on each wight now are they seene, The *tallow-pale, the browning-bay.
1906. Daily Chron., 23 Oct., 5/2. The use of the old-fashioned *tallow soaps.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxiv. 303. His nose was *tallow-white.
c. Special Combs.: tallow-berry, the edible fruit of a small malpighiaceous tree (Byrsonima lucida) of the West Indies and Florida Keys; also called glamberry (Cent. Dict., 1891); also, the tree; tallow-cut a., = tallow-topped; tallow-drop, chiefly attrib., describing a style of cutting precious stones, by which one side is made smooth and convex, the other similarly convex, or flat, or concave; tallow-gourd, an E. Indian climbing curbitaceous plant, Benincasa cerifera (B. hispida), so called from the waxy substance which exudes from its fruit when ripe; also called wax-gourd, white gourd; tallow-loaf, † (a) a lump of tallow; also fig.; (b) attrib. applied to a kind of cabbage (cf. LOAF sb. 5), also called DRUMHEAD (4); tallow-nut, a thorny tree, Ximenia americana (N.O. Olacaceæ), native of tropical America, bearing a plum-like fruit containing a white seed or ‘nut’; also called HOG-PLUM, MOUNTAIN-plum; tallow-nutmeg, a species of nutmeg-tree, Myristica sebifera, native of tropical S. America, whose seed yields a concrete oil known as American nutmeg-oil, or virola-tallow; tallow-oil, oil expressed from tallow; tallow-shrub, a N. American shrub, Myrica cerifera, also called BAYBERRY (2), CANDLEBERRY (a), or wax-myrtle, whose fruit yields a wax-like substance (bayberry tallow) used for candles; tallow-top, a precious stone cut in tallow-drop fashion; also attrib.; hence tallow-topped adj.; tallow-wood, a large Australian tree, Eucalyptus microcorys, which yields a very hard greasy wood. See also TALLOW CANDLE, -CHANDLER, etc.
1855. trans. Labarte’s Arts Mid. Ages, iv. 111. *Tallow-cut, that is, rounded and polished, in a convex shape, like the modern carbuncle.
1898. Athenæum, 17 Sept., 391/2. A stone cut en cabochon—or tallow-cut, as the old term had it.
1798. Greville, in Phil. Trans., LXXXVIII. 411. Stones … of the common India polish and form, en cabochon, which is often called *tallow drop, from the French … term goutte de suif.
1891. Kipling, Naulahka, vi. I wouldn’t mind wagering that it’s a tallow-drop emerald.
1483. Cath. Angl., 377/2. A *Talghe lafe (A. A Tallow lafe), congiarium.
1596. Nashe, Saffron-Walden, Wks. (Grosart), III. 183. The verie guts and garbage of his Note-book he hath put into this tallow loafe.
1780. Lett. & Pap. Bath Soc., I. 17. The sort principally raised is the tallow-loaf, or drum-head cabbage.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 682. Known in some districts by the name of the tallow loaf cabbage.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Tallow-nut. *Tallow-nutmeg.
1866. Treas. Bot., *Tallow-shrub, Myrica cerifera.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 208. Finishers generally use the old English screw head tool for producing the beautiful *‘tallow top’ screws used in English work.
1865. Emanuel, Diamonds, etc., 144. The old English expression, *tallow-topped, which means cut, not in facets, but with a flat or hollow base, and a smooth convex top.
1889. J. H. Maiden, Usef. Plants Australia, 493. In Queensland it is known as ‘Peppermint.’… But is almost universal name is *Tallow Wood…. Used … for flooring, e.g., in ball-rooms.
1897. Melbourne Argus, 22 Feb., 5/4 (Morris). That the New South Wales black butt and tallow wood were the most durable and noiseless woods for street-paving.
