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: 1513, 1572-1575, 1638
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Gowl(e, Goule, n. [OF. goule (F. gueule).] a. The throat or mouth. Also transf. b. A narrow pass.a. 1513 Doug. ix. ix. 86.
As a ravanus bludy wolf … Hyntis in his gowl … The litill tendyr kyd 1513 Ib. x. xii. 94.
A hungry lyon … bradis tharon dispytuusly With gapand gowle [v.r. goule] 1513 Ib. vii. ix. 63.
A ryft or swelch so grysly for to se, … Gapand with pestiferus gowle full wideb. 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 285.
The haill number of Leith, … come throw the Windie govile [sic] 1572-5 Ib. 290.
The futemen returnit in at the Windie goule 1638 Adamson Muses Thren. vi. 177.
From thence we, passing by the Windie gowle, Did make the hollow rocks with echoes yowle
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"Gowl n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/gowle>
