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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.

Fourty, Fourtie, num. and a. Also: fourté, -tté, fourti, fourtye, -tey, foureti, -tye; fowrty(e, -tie, fowrety, fowirty, fowyrti; forty, -tie; fowrthé, fourthy, -thie, forthy. [ME. fourty, -tie, forti(e, fourthi, fowerti, etc., OE. féowertiᵹ.]

1. Forty in number, in attrib. or absol. use.(a) 1375 Barb. iv. 421.
Weill neir to fourty that war ded 1379 Douglas Chart. 28.
All my rycht … to fourty markis worth of land 1418 Liber Melros 503.
He is obliged to gyff … ten pund … attowre the said some of fourty pvnd 1448 Stirlings of Keir 221.
Fourty and acht yheris 1481 Antiq. Aberd. & B. II. 331.
To be payit … incontinent within fourti dais c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxvii. 61 (A).
Than forty tymis the fend cryit fy 1535 Stewart 55168.
For fourtie schilling his ransoun wes maid 1549 Compl. 6/5.
He held in subiectione fourty thousand at the seige of Perone 1592 Reg. Privy C. IV. 788.
Ilk yeman [vnder the pane of] fouretye pund 1643 Aberd. B. Rec. IV. 10.
Vpon fourtie aucht hours aduerteisement 1682 Irvine Mun. II. 282.
Recived … fourtey and an pund(b) 1413 Frasers of Philorth 201.
Widin fowrety dayis eftyr the resignacioun of the sayde landis c1420 Wynt. ii. 403.
Ranys … Fowrty dayis … Schot out thare schowrys 1436 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. App. viii. 45.
The said Willȝam sal geve … fowrti mark at the Qwissonday 1519 Thanes of Cawdor 132.
Within fowyrti dayis therefter 1544 Reg. Cupar A. I. 31.
The aucht day of December … j^m v^c fowrty and fowre ȝeris 1622 Misc. Bann. C. II. 242.
Ane thowsand fyve hundreth fowrtie nyn … Latein buikis 1630 Bamff Chart. 222.
The haill [pewter vessell] weying fowrtie fyve pund wecht(c) 1486 Stirlings of Keir 257.
Within fourthie dais 1498 Melville Chart. 52.
Forthy markis at the completing of the mariage 1510 Lennox Mun. 189.
The sume of twa hundreth and fowrthe pwndis 1577 Stewart Mem. 106.
The said James … oblisses him to pay … fonrthy merkis at Andirmes nixt(d) 1517 Treas. Acc. V. 128.
To fourte sper men 1542 Reg. Morton I. 4.
The ȝeir of God i^m v^c and fourte thua ȝeris 1558–9 Edinb. B. Rec. III. 27.
Ane ring set with … fourte perle and sevinteine stanis a1578 Pitsc. I. 72/16.
To the number of fortte thowsand men

b. With a. A set of forty. 1571 Bann. Memor. 134.
The men of weir brocht about a fourtie long ledderis

c. In attributive compounds. 1402 Mar & Kellie MS.
Ane obligacion of fourti pondisworth of land 1536 Prot. Bk. T. Johnsoun 21.
The forettie s[chilling] land of Foulhope 1567 Edinb. Test. I. 51 b.
Twa fourtie schilling peceis 1572-5 Diurn. Occurr. 115.
Quha sould sla ane erle suld haue ane xl pund land 1577 Stewart Mem. 105.
The fourthy-schilling land of Bonskid

2. adj. Fortieth. 1482 Acta Aud. 98/2.
The multure of the cornes … to the fourty curne a1508 Kennedy Pass. Christ 218.
Vnto the fourty day … he keipit abstinence 1531 Bell. Boece I. 9.
This Symon … deceissit, the fourty yeir of his regne