Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Detestabill, -ab(i)le, adj. Also: detaist-, deteist-, deteastabill, detasteable. [Late ME. detestable (Caxton), OF. detestable, L. dētestābilis.] Detestable, hateful, odious.(a) 1461 Liber Plusc. 387.
Keip ws, that we eir nocht opinly, To mak ws till oure Makare detestabile 1513 Doug. vii. ix. 89.
The detestabill weris 1531 Bell. Boece I. 20.
Na thing is more detestabill to the goddis Ib. II. 195.
Thir detestabill aithis and blasphlematioun c1550 Rolland C. Venus ii. 295.
So terribill thay ar be apperance, Detestabill for to eik ane mischance 1572 Maitl. Q. lxii. 43.
To doe ane deid so vyle and detestabill(b) 1586 Digest Justiciary Proc. L. 40.
Being judiciallie accusit of the horribill, detaistabill, and treasonabill crymes 1678 Mackenzie Laws & C. ii. (1699) 236.
The ... vice of incest, being so odious and detasteable(c) a1578 Pitsc. II. 66/20.
The gret abuse of it is verrie deteistable to him 1605 Reg. Privy C. VII. 88.
The barbarous and deteastable form of living of the present inhabitants of the Lewis 1627 Ib. 2 Ser. II. 122.
Hir guyltynes of the deteastabill crymes of witchcraft [etc.]