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: 1420-1587, 1688
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Flux, n. Also: fluxe, fleux, flukis. [ME. fluxe, flux (late 14th c.), OF. flux, L. fluxus.]
1. An excessive discharge from the bowels. c1420 Wynt. v. 821.
Syne in the flux [W. flukis] hym hapnyd to de c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ii. 244.
The flux he tuk in to thar presoune fell 1531 Bell. Boece I. 203.
The King was sa trublit be flux of wambe, that he was constranit haistely to pas to his eis 1533 Boece iv. xi. 141 b.
The nixt ȝere Petilius in the flux deceissing 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 5675.
This herb … is richt confortiue To heill all flux 1688 Red Bk. Grandtully I. p. cxlv.
The neues … that the souldeares had taken the fleux
b. pl. Instances or varieties of this ailment. 1456 Hay II. 120/6.
Unthrifty maladies, as feveres, fluxis, perleseis c1500 Rowll Cursing 47.
Fluxis, hyvis, or hutit ill 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 57/5.
Diuers maladeis, as … fluxis, caterris, collic and gut 1587 Crossraguel Chart. II. 60.
He had baithe the gulse and bloodie fluxes
c. A discharge of mucus; a catarrh. 1531 Bell. Boece I. 139.
Julius Frontinus fell in gret infirmite, be immoderat flux of catter
2. The flowing of the sea. 1531 Bell. Boece I. p. xxviii.
Howbeit the brayis, be alluvioun and flux of seis, ar worne
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"Flux n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/flux>
