ouche
noun
- a clasp, buckle, fibula, or brooch, esp. one set with precious stones, for holding together the two sides of a garment; (hence) a clasped necklace, bracelet, or the like. Also, in later use: a buckle or brooch worn as an ornament; (more generally) a gem, jewel, or precious ornament
- (obsolete) the gold or silver setting of a precious stone
- (obsolete, rare) an abscess; a carbuncle; a sore
- (obsolete, rare) a wound
verb
- to set or adorn with, or as with, ouches; to spangle; to set like a jewel. Usually in past participle
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /aʊtʃ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English ouche, from nouche, which in phrases like a nouche was re-analyzed as an ouche (rebracketing). From Anglo-Norman nusche and Old French nusche (with metanalysis), from a Germanic source; compare German Nusche, Proto-Germanic *hnuts.
- A brooch or clasp for fastening a piece of clothing together, especially when set with jewels or valuable.
“My huſbonde had a legende of his lyfe^([sic – meaning wyfe?]) / Eriphilem that for an ouche of golde / Hath preuely vnto the grekes tolde / Where that hir huſbonde hyd him in a place / For which he had at Thebes ſory grace.”
“[A]nd the hors trapped in the ſame wyſe doune to the helys wyth many owchys y ſette with ſtones and perlys in gold to the nombre of a thowſand […]”