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.
Kimpill, n. Also: kimple, kemple, kempyll. [Appar. ON. kimbill, -ull, a truss (mod. Icel. kimbill a bundle (esp. of hay), Norw. (Nynorsk) kimbel, also kimmel a big bundle (of grass, leaves, hay), Færoese kimbil, -ul a bundle); cf. also Hebridean Gael. ciomboll a bundle (of hay or straw) and mod. Caithness dial. kimpal a truss of straw prepared for thatch. Also in the later Sc. dial. as kemple a measure of straw.] A horse-load of straw, or the quantity equivalent to this. —1525 Wigtown B. Ct. 195 b.
A kempyll of haye1565 Reg. Great S. 776/1.
Reddendo annuatim … 8 oneribus equorum straminum (aucht kimpillis of stray) 1629 Byrehills (Fife) Chart. MS. (OED.).
Et quatuor oneribus equorum straminum vulgariter nuncupatis four kimples of stray 1676 Ib.
Foure kemples of strae 1706 Foulis Acc. Bk. 428.
For 7 kemples of strae at 14 ch the kemple
