subs. phr. (old).—1. A bubo; (2) a person thus infected; and (3) generally in contempt. [The STEWS (q.v.) in Southwark were, in the 16th century, under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester.] Also WINCHESTER-PIGEON.
1585. FLEMING, The Nomenclator, 439b. A sore in the grine or yard, which if it come by lecherie, it is called a WINCHESTER GOOSE, or a botch.
1594. SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., i. 3.
| Glou. [Of the Bishop of Winchester] WINCHESTER GOOSE! I cry a rope! a rope! | |
| Ibid. (1602), Troilus and Cressida, v. 11. | |
| It should be now, but that my fear is this, | |
| Some galled GOOSE OF WINCHESTER would hiss. |
1606. CHAPMAN, Monsieur D’Olive, iv. The court is the only school of good education, especially for pages and waiting women. Paris, or Padua, or the famous school of England called WINCHESTER (famous I mean for the GOOSE) … are but belfries to the body or school of the court.
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. Clapoir … WINCHESTER GOOSE.
1618. ROWLEY, A Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 1. Pett. —had belike some private dealings with her, and there got a GOOSE.… The cunning jade comes me into th’ court, and there deposes that she gave him true WINCHESTER measure.
d. 1637. JONSON, An Execration upon Vulcan [Works, vi. 410].
| The WINCHESTRIAN GOOSE, | |
| Bred on the Bank in time of Popery, | |
| When Venus there maintain’d the mystery. |
