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, 1475-1650
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Dispit(e)fully, Dispyt(e)fully, adv. [f. Dispit(e)full,a. Cf. e.m.E. despitefully (1535).]
1. With hostility or malice; spitefully, cruelly. 1375 Barb. xiii. 70.
In hy apon thame can he ryde, … Strikand thame sua dispitfully, … That thai thame scalit 1375 Ib. xvi. 632.
Thai … slew thame sa dispitfully, That all the feldis strowit war Of Inglis men c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ii. 193.
My faithfull fadyr dispitfully thai slew c1515 Asloan MS I. 223/22.
The forsaid Sir Gilbert … harllit & led thaim away rycht dispytfully 1533 Boece i. v. 42.
Ony persoun be aventure reparing in the boundis of vtheris … dispitefully was slane c1552 Lynd. Mon. 3993.
Dispytfullye, Thare awin sowldiouris full gredelye Reft thame that flesche 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 300.
The said cuntrie men … schote dispytfullie the pairtie of Edinburgh without 1596 Dalr. II. 77/23.
Donald, quha hated the king afor sa dispytfullie, now louet him sa weil, that [etc.]
2. Scornfully, contemptuously. c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ii. 390.
Till him he raid, and said dispitfully, ‘Thow Scot, abide’ c1552 Lynd. Mon. 3852.
Quham gatherit I wald haif to gidder, … Quhilk thay refusit dispytefullye 1600-1610 Melvill 135.
I hard him als dispytfullie and lightlifullie … tak upe my uncle, … as movit me … to almaist debord c1650 Spalding I. 87.
The scolleris … rave thame [the service books] all in blaidis dispytfullie, and kest them in the sea
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"Dispitfully adv.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/dispitefully>
