A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Lowance, n. (In this elaborately ambiguous passage considerance, lowance, bair and semblance are all more or less ambiguous, and various interpretations and more than one arrangement of punctuation are possible: thus e.g. bair may be taken as either ‘naked, uncovered’ or as ‘destitute’ (with a fig. pun, sc. ‘of sexual power’). For lowance, cf. 1. ME. and e.m.E. allowance (= Allowance n.1) praise, honour; approval, sanction, and 2. e.m.E. lowance (c 1565) an allowance of provisions, aphetic f. allowance (= Allowance n.2) allowance of money on account, credit; rebate, discount; an allowance of expenses or provisions.) —a1570-86 Balnavis Maitl. F. cxxix. 33.
For in that play … Gud will is not allowit, … Considerance hes no lowance [B. lovance] Fra thow be bair thair ben At that semblance is no plesance Quhone pithles is thi pen
