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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Beste, Beist, n. Also: best, beyst, beest, beast(e. Pl. bestis, beistis (etc.); bese, bes; beast. [ME. best(e, beest(e, OF. beste, L. bestia.]Examples of the reduced plural, surviving in Sc. dial. as beass, are: — a1400 Leg. S. iv. 324.
Folow thai bese [i.e. oxen], till thai blyne a1500 Henr. Orph. 161.
My bed sall be … with mony bustuos bes 1669 Forbes Baron Ct. 277.
Any of thair beast in the said wood

1. An animal, esp. a wild animal. (See Wild a.)(a) a1400 Leg. S. xvii. 35.
As beste he vald … sla and ete al that had lyfe Ib. xxviii. 422.
The best … brast in twa c1420 Wynt. i. 87.
Name till bestis Adame gawe Ib. ii. 1246.
Swylk a best wes nevyr made 1456 Hay I. 38/20.
The folk … lyvit apon the raw fruytis as bestis Ib. 78/12.
Bathe beste, foule, and fisch a1499 Contempl. Sinn. 1171.
Blynd as brutale best irresonable 1513 Doug. i. xi. 98.
Quhar of mankynd is maid, … Quharof bestis 1533 Gau 65/31.
Part ar … etine with feish and bestis a1568 Scott xxxi. 19.
As a brutall best [: degest. test](b) c1500 Fyve Bestes 398.
No beist of reif 1513 Doug. iii. iii. 1.
Euery beist on grond Desiris rest 1535 Stewart 33195.
As brutell beistis takand appetyte 1549 Compl. 17/25.
Ve suld nocht say that ane man is ane beyst a1578 Pitsc. II. 222/9.
Ane monstrous beist lyk ane wolff 1596 Dalr. I. 20/14.
A beist of meruellous audacite and suiftnes

2. Any of the animals usually kept as farming stock; a horse, ox, etc.(a) 14.. Acts I. 304/2.
Gyf thir bestis be of ony fre haldand man c1420 Wynt. i. 217.
The brukyd bestys and the wayre 1456 Hay I. 114/3.
The knychtis ar nouthir ordanyt to labour cornis … na to kepe bestis othir na hors 1477 Edinb. Chart. 141.
All qwyk bestis, ky, oxon, nocht to be brocht in the tovne 1513 Doug. iii. vi. 32.
Helenus than … The ȝong bestis slew in sacryfys 1551 Ann. Banff I. 28.
The fyrst apprehendar to have iiij d. for ilk time ony best beis fundin 1615 Kirkwall Sheriff Ct. 5.
[To] shew him the best, the mark, and the mans name(b) 1513 Doug. iii. ix. 97.
Polyphemus, ȝymmand his beystis rouch 1533 Gau 11/5.
Thy nichtburs … beist 1551 Reg. Cupar A. II. 70.
Pasturyng to the beystis of the tenentis 1570 Edinb. Test. I. 76.
Thre ȝoung beistis of twa ȝeir auld 1595 Paisley B. Rec. 162.
Na ky, sterks, nor utheris beists except hors c1650 Spalding I. 81.
Fauldis quhairin beistis war keipit(c) 1616 Dalyell Superst. 118.
Ony wrest of man or beast 1637 Elgin Rec. I. 257.
Thrie tedderit beasts, ayther kye, oxen, or stirks 1671 Wodrow MSS. 4to XXXVIII. No. 7.
Some of the beastis they hoched 1694 Lanark Presb. 118.
She heard the beasts mak din

3. A skin of a fur-bearing animal. 1473 Treas. Acc. I. 17.
Item … xxiiij bestis of grece to lyne a typpat to the King 1508 Ib. IV. 129.
For tagging, grathing and bukkilling of the wild bestis 1513 Ib. 426.
xij new armyn bestis

4. An ignorant, brutal, or cruel person. a1508 Kennedy Flyt. 505.
Ane benefice quha wald gyue sic ane beste 1571 Sempill Sat. P. xxviii. 202.
Mair beist was he that bure it not in his breist a1585 Maitl. Q. lxii. 129.
O cruell, fals, dissaitful, bludie beistis 1611-57 Mure I. 56/13.
This priest, or beist, doth weir a fylthy fame