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: 1569-1586
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Lowance, n. Also: lovance (perhaps conformed to Love v. (and cf. Lovage 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 Maitland Folio MS cxxix. 33.
For in that play … Gud will is not allowit, … Considerance hes no lowance [Bann. MS. 138 b/33: lovance] Fra thow be bair thair ben At that semblance is no plesance Quhone pithles is thi pen