Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Nut, Nute, Nuit(t, n. Also: nutt, nwt(e, nuyt(t; nout. [ME. note (c 1290), nott(e (Wyclif), nutt(e (Trevisa), e.m.E. nut(t, ME. and early ME. nute, OE. hnutu fem.]

1. A nut, the fruit.Also deaf (= hollow, empty) nuts, and sanct Jhones nutt, see Johne d. Also transf.(a) c1420 Wynt. i. 435.
Nwt or appyl a1500 Henr. Fab. 15 (Makc.).
The nuttis schell Ib. 222 (Bann.); etc.
Thir widderit peis and nuttis [Asl. nuittis] 1496 Treas. Acc. I. 304.
To a woman in Falkland that brocht nvttis to the King xxxij d. c1580-90 Rules of Health.
Abstene … fra peis, benis and nuttis etc. a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 813.
He leives on na deaf nuts 1661 Acts VII. 253/1.
Nutstransf. c 1680 Morisone in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II. 214.
The sea casteth on shore sometimes a sort of nutts growing upon tangles round and flat … , of the bread of a dollor(b) 1456 Hay II. 136/8.
Nutis 1531 Bell. Boece I. xxxiii.
In Murray is … gret plente of nutis and appilis 1549 Compl. 80/31.
Tua kyrnellis of nutis 1584-9 Maxwall Commonpl. Bk. 24 b.
Of the nwte cumes the nwte trie 1579, 1617 Despauter (1579).
The scrufe of the nute a1605 Montg. Sonn. xlvi. 8.
I will wed ane appleand a nute [: shute] 16.. Rudiments 38 b.
I would not buy it with a rotten nute 1642 Elgin Rec. II. 241.
For selling of nutes upon Sunday at even(c) c 1630 Black Bk. Taymouth 440.
To send him the noutis [appar., of fir-trees]

b. A gourd. c. ? A type of drinking vessel; orig. one ‘formed from the shell of a coco-nut mounted in metal’. 1500-1699 Herbarius Latinus Annot. xlvi (Adv.).
Cucumer, gurtis or the nuttis that ȝe put drinke in, the quhilk cu mis fra sanct Jamis 1667 Edinb. Test. LXXIII. 123 b.
Four little potts, ane nutt, ane looking glas

d. Attrib. in nute-yaird. — 1580 Reg. Great S. 47/2.
Et horto nute-yaird vocato eidem warde

2. transf. in various technical applications.a. ? A nut for a screw or bolt. b. Some accessory part (appar., see quot. 1565, of wood) of a gun. c. A cog-wheel, spur-wheel or pinion. d. Some accessory part of a stocks.a. 1507 Treas. Acc. III. 397.
xliiij vices and nutis for harnes sadilles xxxij s. viij d. 1645 Aberd. B. Rec. IV. 51.
To speik any of the Flanders merchands for bringing home of tua stangs and aucht suifficient nutes [pr. mites] for the pheissis in the packhouiseb. 1545 Treas. Acc. VIII. 379 (see Flask n.¹). Ib. 381.
For caring of xlvi berrellis pulder, iiij^c and thre culveringis, iiij berrellis and ane puntion of hornis and nutis 1565 Reg. Privy C. I. 403.
Thre hundrith daillis … and … jeistis of aik for platformis, handspakis. waigeis, and nuyttis to the said artailyeariec. 1599 Haddington B. Rec. (Robb) 6 Apr.
For the panis tan be him in mending the knok, making of ane new extre nutt & spindall therto 1672 Sinclair Hydrostaticks 299.
This ragg-wheel by a nutt or trinle turns anotherd. 1628 M. Works Acc. (ed.) II. 240.
To thrie saweris ane day in sawing of aickin jeistis for to be nuttis to the commoun stokis