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.
Quotation dates: 1375, 1438-1578
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Discomfort, Disconfort, n. Also: discumfort, discom-, disconford, disconfourt. [ME. discomfort (Wyclif), disconfort (Chaucer), OF. desconfort.] Discouragement, disheartening.(a) 1375 Barb. xi. 488.
Oftsis of ane vord may ris Discomfort and tynsall withall 1375 Ib. xii. 368.
Quhen thir lordis had persaving Of the discomford ?1438 Alex. ii. 4368.
Heir helpis na discomfort, … Bot wirship, hardement, and vigour ?1438 Ib. 4880.
Discumfort availȝeis nocht c1490 Irland Asl. MS. I. 75/15.
I haue nocht … counsalit thaim that was in discomfort spiritualie 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 5304.
Thay saw the towre was fallin on sic ane wise … The Senatouris thairof tuik discomfort 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 41.
The Lord Maxwell delyuerit Carlauerok to the Inglismen, quhilk was greit discomfort to the cuntrie(b) 1375 Barb. iii. 191.
For disconford … Is the werst thing that may be ?1438 Alex. ii. 2749.
Quhen that disconfort is in him done, He is shent and discumfit sone c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace x. 168.
The tothir Scottis, that saw this discensioun, For disconford to leiff the feild was boun 1530 Lynd. Test. Pap. 378.
Sum tyme in hope, sum tyme in disconforte a1568 Bannatyne MS 223 b/7.
Dittand [= diting] thir vers with disconfort and dreid a1578 Pitsc. II. 176/2.
So the toune was wone … to the great disconfort of the Protestantis
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"Discomfort n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/discomfort_n>
