Chichevache

chichevache Middle English Etymology From enm fro chicheface Chichevache, from fro chiche miserly + fro face face. The second element was assimilated to fro vache cow in English, probably by Chaucer. Proper noun A legendary cow of enormous size, whose food was patient and obedient wives, and which was therefore in very lean condition. a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Clerk's Tale "O noble wives, full of high prudence, / Let no humility your tongues nail: / Nor let no clerk have cause or diligence / To write of you a story of such marvail, / As of Griselda patient and kind, / Lest Chichevache you swallow in her entrail. Coordinate terms enm Bycorne