Now arch. and poet. Forms: 3– targe; also 4 tarche, 5 taarge, 6 terge, Sc. 6– tairge. [In late OE. targe fem., targa masc., ME. targe, = OF. targe (11th c. in Roland) = It. targa, Pr. targua, ad. ON. targa fem. (c. 950 in Vigf.), shield, cogn. with OHG. zarga fem., ‘edging, border.’ OE. targe fem., targa masc. were prob. from ON.; ME. targe from OF.; the Pr. and Sp. tarja, MHG. tartsche, early mod.Du. tartsche, targie, also from French. (The OCat. darga, Sp. and Pg. adarga, appear to be from Arab. al-darqah the shield of leather and wood.)]

1

  1.  A shield; spec. a light shield or buckler, borne instead of the heavy shield, esp. by footmen and archers.

2

[c. 997.  Charter of Æderic, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., III. 304. Twa targan and tweȝen francan.

3

c. 1015.  Charter of Æðelstan Æðeling, ibid., 363. Ic ȝeann Ælmere minen discðene … mines taregan.]

4

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7462. Wiþ stronge targes hom biuore þat archers ne dude hom noȝt.

5

13[?].  Sir Beues (A.), 4214. Þo Beues seȝ is strokes large, He kepte his strokes wiþ is targe.

6

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 471. On hir heed an hat As brood as is a bokeler or a targe [rhyme large].

7

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VIII. 799. Feill Inglismen … With schot was slayn, for all thar targis strang.

8

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 42. Tua handit sourdis and tairgis.

9

1569.  Stocker, trans. Diod. Sic., I. xiii. 22. His footemen which carried the terges and scaling ladders.

10

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 1111. Those Leaves They [Adam & Eve] gatherd, broad as Amazonian Targe,… To gird thir waste.

11

1715–20.  Pope, Iliad, XIII. 513. The spacious targe (a blazing round, Thick with bull-hides and brazen orbits bound).

12

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., V. xv. Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw.

13

1843.  R. Munro, Bas Chaireill, vi. in Poems, etc., 106.

        Now flash their rapid arms with living fire—
  Their snowy breasts bedewed with liquid toil;
Their tough spears shivered in the contest dire,
  Their targes cloven to the crimson soil.

14

1894.  Gladstone, Odes Horace, II. vii. Philippi’s headlong rout we shared, I parted from my targe, not well.

15

  b.  fig.

16

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9972 (Cott.). Maria maiden, mild o mode … standes vs for sceild and targe [Laud tarche].

17

1536.  Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), II. 181. Knawing weill that devine helpe is the only targe and sicker munition of kingis and realmes.

18

a. 1578.  Lindesay, Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 127. Ane faithfull subiect and sicker tairge to the commone weill.

19

1599.  James I., Βασιλικον Δωρον (1682), To Rdr. To which hydra of diverslie enclined spectators, I have no targe to oppone.

20

  † 2.  A name applied in the reigns of the first three Edwards to the King’s private or privy seal (perh. bearing a shield as its device). Obs.

21

[1309.  Rolls of Parlt., I. 444/2. Quant as Brefs de la targe, le Roy voet, qe l’Ordenance soit gardee, qe en fust fait en temps le Roy son pere, laquele est en Chancellerie.

22

a. 1315.  Lib. de Antiq. Leg. (Camden), App. 252. Ces lettres desuz son prive seal de la targe.

23

1315.  Rolls of Parlt., I. 339/1. Par Bref de la targe. Ibid. (1347), II. 193/1. Briefs soutz le grant Seal, & Letres soutz la targe.]

24

c. 1492.  Gest Robyn Hode, ccclxxxv., in Child, Ballads, III. 75/1. He toke out the brode targe [v.r. seale], And sone he lete hym se.

25

  † b.  (See quot.) Obs. rare.

26

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 487/1. Targe, or chartyr, carta.

27

  3.  attrib. and Comb: targeman, a man armed with a targe.

28

17[?].  Battle of Sheriff-Muir (Cent. Dict.). He stoutly encounter’d the targemen.

29

1895.  Daily News, 29 Oct., 6/5. The twin targe brooch that clasps her robe.

30