evesdrop

evesdrop (third-person singular simple present evesdrops, present participle evesdropping, simple past and past participle evesdropped)

1. Archaic form of eavesdrop.
   • a. 1667 (date written), James Shirley, “The Humorous Courtier”, in William Gifford, Alexander Dyce, editors, The Dramatic Works and Poems of James Shirley, […], volume IV, London: John Murray, […], published 1833, →OCLC, page 532:

     Princes, they say, have many ears, […] These hangings may evesdrop us

   • 1850, Robert Southey, “[Historical Memoirs.]”, in John Wood Warter, editor, Southey’s Common-place Book. Third Series. Analytical Readings […], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 456, column 1:

     Some who "evesdrop'd the meeting"

     Originally from the Journal of the life of Thomas Story, folio, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1747).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dalton to this entry?)

• “evesdrop”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• oversped