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.
Finger, Fingar, n. Also: fyngyre, -ir(e, -er, -re, -ar; fingir(e, -re. [ME. fynger, -gir, finger, fingre, etc., OE. finger, fynger.]
1. A finger of the hand.(a) a1400 Leg. S. v. 603.
He … of his fynger tuk a ringe Ib. xxxvi. 293.
With fyngir beknyng mad he c1420 Wynt. iii. 8.
Off hys fyngrys … The utmast endys … was strekyn off 1513 Doug. xi. ii. 28.
The fresch flowris … Newly pullyt vp … With tendyr fyngeris of the damysaill c1536 Lynd. Compl. Bagsche 157.
The gentill hound wes … with the kingis awin fingeris fed 1596 Dalr. I. 51/6.
Thair ȝoung, … afor thay be a fingre gretter, … swome to the sey(b) 1492 Myll Spect. 290/17.
In paryng hir naill hir fyngar bled a lytill c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 25.
Thair mantillis … Fetrit with thair quhyt fingaris about thair fair sydis 1535 Stewart 61166.
Of the left hand tua fyngaris [he] lost 1564 Crim. Trials I. 454.
Wounding … in hir rycht hand of twa fyngaris thairof a1570-86 Henr.) Maitl. F. cliv. 29. (
Ȝour fyngaris small, quhyt as quhalis bane
b. Attrib. and comb. with braid (breadth), end, fed, fang'd.a1400 Leg. S. xxvii. 566.
He … one his fyngyre end blew ewine a1499 Contempl. Sinn. 537.
Thi flesch quhilk now is fynger fed 1561 Inv. Wardrobe 148.
Bandis of claith of gold twa finger braid 1596 Dalr. II. 302/24.
That na man … a finger braid … durst seperat him selfe from his cumpanie c1590 Fowler 192, lv/10.
Bound in loves bandis I liue, … quhair I am fingar-fangd a1651 Calderwood VII. 631.
The ministers … were well fingerfedd in other men's houses, howbeit they had sufficient to maintaine them at home
2. A metal attachment to a cannon.1496 Treas. Acc. I. 292.
For lokkis, fyngeris, and boltis to the bombartis that wer in Leith