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.
Back-beirand, -bearand, ppl. adj. [ME. bacberinde (1292), but app. rare.] Of a thief: Carrying stolen property on the back.c1575 Balfour Pract. 39.
All theives tane and apprehendit in manifest thift, sic as hand-havand and back-beirand 1597 Skene Verb. S. s.v. Infangthefe.
All thieues … quha ar fugitiue and taken … with the fange, that is, hand haveand, and back-bearand 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. ii. 176 b.]
[Barons … may doe justice vpon ane man taken with theift, that is seised thairwith, in hand haueand, or vpon back bearand 1631 Orkney Bp. Ct. MS. 79.]
[He was apprehendit thairwith in hand haveand and on back bearand
