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: 1420-1623, 1699-1700
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Beuch, Bewch, n. Also: beugh, bewche, buche, bwche; bowcht. pl. bewys, -is, -es, buwys, bowis. [ME. bouh, bouȝ, bogh, etc., OE. bóh, bóᵹ, shoulder, foreleg, branch. The pl. bewis is normally developed from OE. bóᵹas: cf. the pl. of cleuch, heuch, pleuch.]
1. A bough or branch of a tree.(a) sing. c1450-2 Howlat 607.
Ilk braunche and beugh a1500 Henr. Fab. 440.
Vnder ane birkin beuch a1500 Ib. 562.a1500 Ib. 570 (B).
With that the cok brade vnto a buche c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace iv. 653.
The bowcht in twa he straik aboune his hedec1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 205.
Ȝe speik of berdis on bewch c1500-c1512 Ib. l. 27.
Vyld Robeine wnder bewch 1513 Doug. vi. ii. 121.
Amyd a rank tre lurkis a goldin bewch 1535 Stewart 38811.
Sa mony bus and beuch a1605 Montg. Ch. & Slae 35.
Euery blome on bransche and bewch a1605 Id. Son. v. 2.
Sacred beughis 1603 Stirling B. Rec. I. 107.
All tymbir … with the haill bark and beuche thairof(b) pl. c1420 Wynt. i. 111.
Off buskis, bankkis, and of bewys c1420 Ib. v. 156.
The buwys [W. bowis] bowyd lawe c1450-2 Howlat 897.
No bird was him lyke … Wnder the bewes a1500 Henr. Fab. 1322.
The bewis braid blomit abone my heid a1500 Golagros and Gawane 31.
With birkin bewis about a1500 Buke of the Sevyne Sagis 334.
The bewes faire Of the gret tre c1500-c1512 Dunb. G. Targe 39.
Emerant bewis grene 1513 Doug. ii. iv. 94.
With festuale flowris and bewys 1513 Ib. iii. x. 47.
Cipressis berand heich thar bewys 1535 Stewart 639.
The blumand bewis abundand with sic birth 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 46/18.
The bewis and branches of the auld [tree] a1568 Scott v. 18.
To bring in bowis and birkin bobbynis1587-99 Hume ii. 185.
In banks and bewis c1614 Mure Dido & Æneas ii. 950.
Her heaven-bent bewes
2. The shoulder of a person or animal.a1568 Scott ii. 158.
Ryde doun this bra, Thocht ȝe suld brek ane bwche a1568 Ib. 176.
Sum be the bewche he hang 1581 Satirical Poems xliv. 127.
Ron custe the vsurie hard be the beuch a1700 P. D. Mare of Collingtoun in Watson Coll. I. 46.
Willie … came and tuik her by the beugh, And with a rung … Laid on her
3. The bow of a vessel.? 1623 Bannatyne MS 210 b.
Beir vp hir beugh albeit she sould ly over
