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: 1499-1646
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Bunch(e, n. Also: buns(c)he, bwnsche, bonch. [e.m.E. and ME. bunche (c 1325), ME. bonche, of obscure origin.] A bunch or bundle. a1500 Henr. Test. Cress. 439.
For thy bed tak now ane bunche of stro 1513–4 Master of Works Accounts X. 3.
To Nicoll Wilsoun … for ane bunche of lynes 1531 Bell. Boece I. p. lvi.
Thay slepit on benkis, or bonchis of stra 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 172/21.
He ordand his eldest sonne to brak that bunche of treis at ane tyme 1561 Reg. Privy C. I. 175.
Aucht fardellis and iiij bunchis of cardis 1567 Edinburgh Testaments I. 80 b.
Four bunchis of glaspis 1571 Inverness B. Rec. I. 206.
Thre bunchis and liiij dussane rales 1594 Edinburgh Testaments XXVI. 216 b.
Sevin buncheis blak siluer pasmentis … ilk bunche at xv s. the vnce 1626 Master of Works Accounts XIX. 22.
For thrie bwnsche of small towis 1646 Stirling B. Rec. II. 192.
Thre bunsches of the tounes registrat bandis
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"Bunch n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/bunche_n>
