WORD OF THE DAY: HONISH

HONISH
 
VERB
1. to bring to disgrace, to dishonour, to insult;
to destroy, to ruin, to cause to perish ...a1325 obs.
​2. (also HUNNISH) to ill-treat; to starve a person for want of food ...1878 Eng. dial.

ETYMOLOGY
(vb. 1) from Anglo-Norman huniss-, Anglo-Norman and Old French honiss-, extended stem of Anglo-Norman hunir, Anglo-Norman and Old french honir (vb. to shame, humiliate, to ruin, damage), from a Germanic cognate of hean (vb. to insult, to humiliate, to debase, to lower

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1325 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...As ffer as me him seye, Me sholde him hounschy & skorne boþe ffer & neye..."
From: The Southern Passion
From Pepysian M.S. 2344 in the Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Edited by Beatrice Daw Brown, 1927