† toretadj.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps a noun, and showing the same word as torret n.; compare Old French, Middle French toret, touret in the senses ‘ornament of female dress’ (mid 13th cent.), ‘headband’ (second quarter of the 14th cent.), ‘decoration made of pieces of jewellery arranged in a circle’ (15th cent.).Compare Old Occitan toret tiara (c1400). The syntax of the passage is difficult, and the line may well involve scribal corruption. Toret has either been emended to toreted (compare -ed suffix²) or interpreted as a syncopated variant of that word. Alternatively, an interpretation of & as an adverb (compare and adv.) would make toret a noun qualified by treleted . (With the latter word, compare Middle French treiller to decorate cloth with interlaced ornaments (1352) < Middle French treillis coarse cloth, canvas, mesh (12th cent. in Old French as tresliz ; see treillis n.).) Compare the following entry in medieval French accounts, containing a list of items similar to that in the Middle English passage:1352 in L. Douët-d'Arcq Comptes de l'argenterie des rois de France (1851) 293 Plusieurs pièces de cueuvrechiefs, gorgières, tourez, espingles et autres atours.