1536. _mannish wood_, with masculine manners, and mad; virago-like. Certainly the right reading, and found in E. Hn. Cm. Unluckily, Tyrwhitt and others have adopted the nonsensical reading of Pt. and Hl., viz. _a man is wood_! Cp. Ln. have _of maneres wood_, which is better, but is clearly a mere substitution for the original _mannish_. For _mannish_, masculine, we have Chaucer's own authority; see B. 782, and the note.

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