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warison

noun /ˈwɒɹɪsən/

  1. A war cry played to order the soldiers to attack (normally played on a bugle).

    obsolete

    Then since a lone and widowed Dame / These restless riders may not tame, / Either receive within thy towers / Two hundred of my master’s powers, / Or straight they sound their warison§, / And storm and spoil thy garrison; […]

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Middle Scots warisoun, from Middle English warisoun (“reward, punishment”), from Old Northern French warison, variant garison, guarison. Doublet of garrison. The change in sense from "reward" to "bugle call" arose from Walter Scott's apparent misinterpretation of a line in the Middle English text The Battle of Otterburn, equivalent to modern English "Minstrels, play up for your warison".

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry warison (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← warishwarrantise →

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