1702. The word _turned_, which is dissyllabic, has evidently been substituted here in the printed editions and in MS. P. for the older and rare word _clew_, which does not occur elsewhere in Chaucer. The line means--'With that (therupon) I rubbed my head all round'; which is a rustic way of expressing perplexity. The verb _clawen_, to scratch, stroke, is not uncommon, but the usual pt. t. is _clawed_. We find, however, at least one other example of the strong form of the past tense in the Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 925--He _clew_ the bor on the rigge,' he stroked the boar on the back, and made him go to sleep; cf. 'thi maister the _clawes_,' i.e. your master strokes you, to flatter you, in l. 937 of the same. Chaucer has, 'to _clawen_ [rub] him on his hele' [heel], Troil. iv. 728; 'he _clawed_ him on the bak,' he stroked him on the back, to encourage him, Cook's Prol., A 4326 (where _clew_ would suit the line better). See _claw_ in Jamieson's Scot. Dict. 1708. 'They would not give a leek.' Cf. 'dere ynough a leek'; Can. Yeom. Tale, Group G, 795. 1740. 'Although no brooch or ring was ever sent us.' 1742-4. 'Nor was it once intended in their heart to make us even friendly cheer, but they might (i.e. were ready to) bring us to our bier'; i.e. so far from caring to please us, they would be satisfied to see us dead. The M.E. _temen_, to produce, to bring, is the same word as mod. E. _teem_, to produce. _To temen on bere_ is parallel to the old phrase _to bringen on bere_; cf. Gaw. Douglas, tr. of Æneid, bk. x. ch. 10, l. 138 (ed. Small, iii. 326), where _brocht on beyr_ means 'brought to their grave.' See _Bier_ in the New Eng. Dictionary. 1747. _For wood_, as (if) mad, 'like mad.' The same phrase recurs in Leg. Good Women, _Phyllis_, l. 27; cf. _as it were wood_, Kn. Tale, A 2950; and _for pure wood_, Rom. Rose, 276. 1759-62. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 9887-90:-- 'Si se sunt maint vanté de maintes; Par paroles fauces et faintes, Dont les cors avoir ne pooient, Lor non à grant tort diffamoient.' 1761. _The name_, the name of it, the credit of it. 1777. _Masty_ (miswritten _maisty_ in F., but _masty_ in the rest) means fat, fattened up, and hence unwieldy, sluggish. Bell alters it to _maisly_, and Moxon's edition to _nastie_; both being wrong. Palsgrave has: '_Masty_, fatte, as swyne be, _gras_.' The Promp. Parv. has: 'Mast-hog or swyne, [or] mastid swyne, _Maialis_'; and 'Mastyn beestys, _sagino, impinguo_.' Way rightly explains _masty_ as 'glutted with acorns or berries'; cf. 'Acorne, _mast_ for swyne, _gland_,' in Palsgrave. See The Former Age, l. 37. 1779. _Wher_, whether, 'is it the case that?'