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.
Quotation dates: 1498-1599
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Assuage, Asswage, v. Also: assuege, assuadge; assouage; aswage, asswadge. [ME. a(s)suage, a(s)swage, OF. a(s)souager.] tr. To mitigate, moderate, alleviate, etc.(a) c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 167 (I sall me assuage of the swalme). c1500-c1512 Id. lxxix. 26 (quhilk may no tryacle assuage). 1570 Satirical Poems xii. 63 (for sythment to assuage our ire). a1578 Pitsc. I. 302/9 (thir goode wordis assuadgit the Duike of Albanieis anger). a1585 Maitland Quarto MS xciv. iv. 6 (for to assouage Augustus yre). 1596 Dalr. I. 197/7 (the crueltie of the legat was assuaget and kuilet).(b) a1500 Henr. Fab. 1497 (the lyoun gart mercie his cruell ire asswage). a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 295 (thy self fra syn thus till asswage). c1500-c1512 Dunb. lxxxiv. 10 (quhill scho hir lust aswage). 1513 Doug. ii. xii. 29 (with sik wordis my thochtis to asswage). 15.. Clariodus iv. 1479 (then was hir breist asswagit of all thing). a1578 Pitsc. I. 371/5 (quhy did thow nocht asswadge thy furius raige). 1596 Dalr. I. 348/3 (that false knychte culd nocht asswage the ire that his harte buir against Wallase).
b. Used as p.p. Also intr. to become less violent.c1550 Rolland Court of Venus i. 339 (quhen thy lust is asswage). 1560 Id. Seven Sages 154/4 (gude counsall causit hir to asswage).
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"Assuage v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/assuage>
