ATTEMPTATES, "immoderate _attemptates_" (R266,_a_), attempts, endeavours: specifically to commit a crime. Puttenham, in 1589, said this word was a recent importation, but it had already been in use half a century at least. "To forbear that _attemptate_."--Sadler (A.D. 1543), in Froude, _Hist. Eng._, vol. iv. p. 241. AVENT, "_avent_ thee! Nature compels" (M25,_b_), _i.e._ relieve the bowels. AVOID, "_Avoid_, good brother!" (M5,_d_)--"_avoid!_ I charge thee" (R254,_d_), begone, make room, depart, "get out." "I shall make you _avoid_ soon."--_Youth_, Anon. Pl. 2 Ser. (E.E.D.S.), 94,_b_. AVOIDANCE, "as for mine _avoidance_" (N52,_a_), departure: see Avoid. AVORE, "I chil wait _avor_ you" (R. _passim_), afore: there are numerous examples of _v_ for _f_ in this play: also of _z_ for _s_. AVOUTRY, "taken in _avoutry_" (_passim_), adultery: see other volumes of this series. AYENST, "_ayenst_ thy sores" (N121,_d_), against. "... whan he wente in batayle _ayenst_ them...."--_Invention_ _of the Holy Cross_ (ed. Morris), p. 159. BA, "_ba_ me" (M19,_d_), kiss: cf. _basse_ or _buss_. BADGE, "bear on my bryst the _badge_ of mine arms" (M15,_b_), badge. Princes, noblemen, and other gentlemen of rank had formerly, and still retain, distinctive badges, and servants and dependants wore these cognisances on their liveries. Douce, in his _Illustrations of Shakespeare_ (1839), pp. 205-7, says: "The history of the changes which badges have undergone is interesting. In the time of Henry IV. the terms _livery_ and _badge_ seem to have been synonymous. A badge consisted of the master's device, crest, or arms on a separate piece of cloth, or sometimes on silver in the form of a shield fastened to the left sleeve. In Queen Elizabeth's reign the nobility placed silver badges on their servants. The sleeve badge was left off in the reign of James I., but its remains are still preserved in the dresses of porters, firemen, and water-men, and possibly in the shoulder-knots of footmen. During the period when badges were worn the coat to which they were affixed was, as a rule, blue, and the blue coat and badge still may be seen on parish and hospital boys." BAGGAGE, "the _baggage_, the trash," etc. (R183,_c_), rubbish, refuse, trumpery, scum. "Fill an egg-shell newly emptied with the juice of singreen, and set it in hot embers; scum off the green _baggage_ from it, and it will be a water."--Lupton, _Thousand_ _Notable Things_ (1579).