† fersn.
Chess. Obsolete.
1. The piece now known as the queen.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > pieces > queen
fersc1369
ladyc1450
queenc1450
dame1574
Amazon1656
c1369 G. Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 654 She stal on me and took my fers And whan I saw my fers aweye Alas! I couthe no lenger pleye.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. C.iiv And when your ferse is had, And all your warre is done.
a1577 G. Gascoigne Hundred Flowers in Wks. (1587) 45 Prepare hymselfe to saue his pawne, or else to leese his phearse.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Fers, the Queene in chesse play.
2. A pawn which has passed to the eighth square (see quot. 1474).
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > positions or status of pawns
pawn errantc1369
fers1474
passed pawn1777
queen1797
promotion1799
isolated pawn1842
pawn skeleton1915
hanging pawn1927
pawn chain1937
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iv. vii. 181 He may not goo on neyther side tyll he hath ben in the furdest ligne of theschequer, And that he hath taken the nature of the draughtes of the quene, And than he is a fiers.
3. the ferses twelve: according to Prof. Skeat, all the men exc. the king (the bishops, knights, and rooks, being counted as one each).
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > pieces > all pieces except king
the ferses twelvec1369
c1369 G. Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 723 Thogh ye had lost the ferses twelve.
1671 S. Skinner & T. Henshaw Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ Fers, Feers, Feerses, men at Chess.
1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Fers, Feers, Feerses, Chessmen.]
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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