lucern

English

Etymology 1

Latin lucerna.

Noun

lucern (plural lucerns)

(obsolete) A lamp.
- a. 1500, Robert Henryson, Ane Prayer for the Pest
  Superne Lucerne, guberne this pestilens

Etymology 2

French luzerne.

Noun

lucern (uncountable)

Alternative form of lucerne (the plant alfalfa)

Etymology 3

Uncertain; possibly from Lucerne in Switzerland.

Noun

lucern (plural lucerns)

(obsolete) A sort of hunting dog.
- 1603-1607, George Chapman, Bussy D'Ambois
  My lucerns, too (or dogs inur'd to hunt / Beasts of most rapine).
(obsolete) An animal whose fur was formerly much in request (by some supposed to be the lynx); also spelled lusern or luzern.
- c. 1622, John Fletcher; Philip Massinger [et al.?], “Beggars Bvsh”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, Act III, scene iii:
  The pole-cat, martern, and the rich-skin'd lucern / I know to chase.

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for lucern in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

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