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.
Gres-, Greasman, n. [Late Northern ME. gresman (1461). Cf. Gers-, Girs-, Grasman.] ‘The tenant of a house in the country, who has no land attached to it’, but only a right of pasture, and so differing from a ‘cottar’.c 1150 Chalmers Caledonia I. 720.
[De hurdmannis, et bondis, et gresmannis 1359 Exch. R. I. 572.]
De firmis de Gresmanston 1604 Urie Baron Ct. 9.
The haill gressmen within the barrony … saill help to walk the fald, … or to agre with thais that walkis the fald, and pay thaim thairfor 1622 Ib. 45.
Ilk husbandman … that hes ather cotter, greasman or woman that is thocht … nocht to be laufull nichtbouris, … that thair maister sall remowe thame 1625 Misc. Spald. C. V. 223.
It sall not be leifsum to na husbandman … that sall happin to flit … to tak doune, transport, or away tak mair houss calit taills, bot tua taills furth of ane pleuche, … and ane cotter or greas man ane taill
