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: 1450-1649, 1700+
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Holin(e, Holyn(e, n. Also: hollin(e, holing, hollyng, holen(e, holeine. [North. e.m.E. hollyn (1501), ME. holyn, OE. holen, holeᵹn.] Holly, a holly-tree. Also attrib.(a) c1450-2 Howlat 48.
I sawe ane howlat, … vndir ane holyne a1500 Henr. Fab. 2096.
Ane staf … That heuie wes and of the holyne grene c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace xi. 378.
A place … off gret holyns, that grew bathe heych and greyn c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. ii.
Vnder ane holyn hewinlie grein hewit c1500-c1512 Id. vi. 64.
Quhen the holyne growis grene 1513 Doug. viii. iii. 193.
The benk, ybeldyt of the grene holyne 1579 Inverness B. Rec. I. 273.
Saucht, asche, and holyne c1590 Fowler II. 193/34.
Then began her musike in greene holyne howboyes in fiue partes(b) 1561 Invent. Q. Mary 29.
In broderie with great treis, … and branches of holine 1561 Ib. 43.
Ane litle pacquet of lyvelie leiffis of holine c1550 Rolland Court of Venus i. 90.
His Spaniȝe cloik was of the holine hew c1590 J. Stewart 242 § 170.
I persawed ane holin fair vpspring 1633 Maxwell Mem. II. 231.
Birkis and holline, as they wer growing 1649 Guild Old Roman Cath. Ep. Ded. 9.
As your arms are the ever-green holline leaues [etc.] 1715 Coll. Aberd. & Banff 41.
The body of the devise was a hollin or lawrell branch(c) 1538 Protocol Book of Sir John Cristisone 63.
The holing busk besyd Auchtmoyr c1552 Lynd. Mon. 308.
Onder ane hollyng he reposit c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace (1570) xi. 378.
Wallace ane place hes sene Of greit holing(d) a1568 Bannatyne MS 229 a/12.
Ane holene hevinly hewit grene a1605 Montg. Sonn. li. 1.
Suete Nictingale! in holene grene that pan[ts] a1598 Ferg. Prov. (1641) 10.
He lies never but when the holen is green a1610 Sempill Ballates 243/33.
Cheefe and aboue all this holeine sade and grene
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"Holin n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/holine>
