A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1475-1622
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Harlot(t, n. Also: harlote, harlat, harlet, harlit. [ME. harlot (a 1225), OF. harlot, herlot.]
1. A rascal, villain, low fellow; also, a riotous liver, a profligate, a fornicator.(1) c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace viii. 1028.
Gud men mon thoill off harlottis scorn in wer a1508 Kennedy Flyt. 359.
Herefore, fals harlot, hursone, hald thy tong c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxvi. 26.
Heilie harlottis on hawtane wyis Come in with mony sindrie gyis 1531 Bell. Boece I. cviii.
Gif ony churle or velane thé dispise, Bid hence him harlot 1528 Lynd. Dreme 971.
Swyith, harlote, hy thé hence 1535 Stewart 23627.
Na requeist … Ma caus tha harlottis to tak hardiment 1535 Ib. 37118.
[He] callit him bayth harlot, loun and knaue a1578 Pitsc. I. 24/29.
The mischewous companie of harlottis and flatteraris 1584 Satirical Poems xlv. 231.
The superintendent … gat the harlat to the horne(2) a1500 Bk. Chess 1971.
Harlottis thai ar … For in thaim ryngis filth of lichorye a1500 Ib. 1991. c1568 Lauder Minor P. i. 509.
For … daylie it is sene, How sic vile harlotis for hurdome plagit bene c1590 Fowler II. 32/1.
Sua it is a wounderful thing to heare Hammiltoun a common harlot commend chastitie 1597 Misc. Spald. C. I. 192.
Scho … confessit that the Deuil uas in the bed betuix hir and Uilliam Richie, hir harlot c1620 Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 103.
A man a harlot, and a wife a whoore
b. Applied to women.1540 Lynd. Sat. 1720.
Swyith, harlot [sc. Sensuality], hence without dilatioun a1570-86 Maitland Maitland Folio MS c. 58.
Quhat mekle devill brocht thir tuay harlatis [sc. Chastity and Pity] heir? 1622 Elgin Rec. II. 172.
Scho said to hir dochter, … ‘Away, harlat’
2. An unchaste woman, a prostitute, a strumpet.a1500 Tale of the Colkelbie Sow i. 45.
A harlot wynnit neir by And scho wald mak a mangery c1500-c1512 Dunb. xiv. 7 (B).
Sic hant of harlettis with thame bayth nicht and day c1500-c1512 Ib. lv. 32.
Thairfoir all ȝoung men, … Keip ȝon fra harlottis [supra coclinkis] 1560 St. A. Kirk S. 55.
Besse Symsoun … being notourlie knawin ane harlot of hir body to Frensche, Inglis and Scottismen a1578 Pitsc. I. 348/26.
To spend the teindis … of the kirk … on harlattis and houris 1596 Dalr. II. 226/1.
Nobil men … with quhom she was accuiset to play the harlat 1603 Elgin Rec. II. 118.
Scho is delatit a commoun harlot
3. attrib. Villainous, rascally, unchaste; prostitute.a1500 Henr. Fab. 1063.
This harlet huresone … Deuorit hes my lamb c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace i. 219.
Rouch rewlyngis apon thi harlot fete 1563-1570 Buch. Wr. 24.
Godles papistes, harlat protestantis, common brybours 1585 Glasgow Protocols Abstracts IX. 151.
Thi wif that is ane harlit hure 1597 Misc. Spald. C. I. 178.
Seing he wes ane man so guidlyk … and scho ane vgle harlot quyne
