assoyle

English

Verb

assoyle (third-person singular simple present assoyles, present participle assoyling, simple past and past participle assoyled)

1. Obsolete spelling of assoil. [Middle English – 17th c.]
   • 1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Gospell of Saincte Matthew. The .xviii. Chapter.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xciii, recto:

     Whom Ceſar doth condemne, god ſumtime doeth aſſoyle: and whom the prince doth aſſoyle, he leaueth in the cumpany of mẽ [men], to make other like himſelf: […]

   • 1565, Thomas Stapleton, chapter 14, in A Fortresse of the Faith […], Antwerp: […] Ihon Laet, […], →OCLC, folio 65, verso:

     I ſaie, aſſoyleth this doubt and queſtion, by the only argument and aſſuraunce of the knovven Catholik church of Chriſt.

   • 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard,Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier. […], London: […] [Thomas Orwin] for William Ponsonby, […], →OCLC, signature [C4], recto:

     And ye poore Pilgrimes, that vvith reſtleſſe toyle / VVearie your ſelues in vvandring deſert vvayes, / Till that you come, vvhere ye your vovves aſſoyle, / VVhen paſsing by ye read theſe vvofull layes / On my graue vvritten, […]

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 40:

     His wearie ghoſt aſſoyld from fleſhly band, / Did not as others wont, directly fly / Vnto her reſt in Plutoes grieſly land, / Ne into ayre did vaniſh preſently, / Ne chaunged was into a ſtarre in sky: […]

   • 1607, Michael Drayton, “The Legend of Great Cromwell”, in Poems: […], London: […] Willi[am] Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, published 1630, →OCLC, page 461:

     But ſecretly aſſoyling of his ſin, / No other med'cine vvill he to him lay, / Saying that Heauen his ſiluer him ſhould vvin, / And to giue Friers, vvas better then to pray, / So he vvere ſhrieu'd, vvhat need he care a pin?

   • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Iohn, Duke of Normandie, Guyen, and Aquitaine, &c. […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 51, page 501, column 1:

     [H]is Barons […] flatly oppoſe themſelues both to his commaund and their Countries good, denying him (vntill he vvere aſſoyled of his excommunication,) their attendance in ſo behouefull a ſeruice.

Middle English

Verb

assoyle

1. to assoil
   • [1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Pardoners Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio lxx, recto, column 2:

     And who ſo fyndeth hym out of ſuche blame / Commeth up and offre in goddes name / And I assoyle hym by the auctorite / Such as by bulle was graunted to me.

     And who so findeth him out of such blame / Cometh up and offer in God's name / And I assoil him by the authority / Such as by bull was granted to me.]