A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1456, 1568
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Butterfle(e, -flie, n. Also: buter-. [ME. butterflie, buterfliȝe, OE. buttorfléoᵹe.] A butterfly.1456 Hay II. 157/27.
Sum man wys as a bee or ane emot, ane othir fule as a buterflee c1568 Lauder Minor Poems v. 1.
The butterflie, … to flie scho dois nocht stint Unto the candle c1568 Ib. 16.
[They] brint thame selffs, as dois the butterfleis
