A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1500-1650
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Monstr(o)us, a. (adv.). Also: monstros, monstreous, munstrous. [Late ME. and e.m.E. monstrows (1460), monstr(e)ous, OF. monstreux, late L. monstrōs-us, f. monstrum Monster n.1] Monstrous. = Monstruous a., in various senses. Also adv., monstrously, outrageously, enormously.(1) c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 57.
God gif matrimony were made to mell for ane ȝeir; It war but monstrous to be mair, bot gif our myndis pleisit(2) 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 179.
Thair wes ane monstrous fische sene in Lochfyne, havand greit ene [etc.] a1578 Pitsc. II. 222/9.
Ane woman buire ane munstrous beist lyk ane wolff 1619 Garden Elphinstoun 2666.
Monstrous birthsfig. 1587-99 Hume 72/123.
O monstrous beast (inuie)(3) 1533 Boece xii. xvi. 484 b.
Ane bair of monstros quantite a 1600 A. Home in Bell. Livy II. 234/29.
Quhilkes [the remaining 135 books of Livy] Wald be ane volume of ane monstrous bind 1590 Burel Pilgr. ii. ii.
Erix that monstrus mountaine hie Quhois hauture hes na quantitie(4) 1562-3 Winȝet I. 8/28.
Subditis to the monstrous ydolatrie of auarice 1581 Satirical Poems xliv. 68.
God … vnto diuers cuntreis pat asyd The varkmen of that monstreous intent [sc. the Tower of Babel] 1587-99 Hume 82/62.
Remember thy … monstrous sinnes a1585 Polwart Flyt. 156 (T).
Thy coyd comparisonis asklent Ar monstrous lyk to thé that maid thame(5) c1650 Spalding II. 218.
adv. The victuallis heir in Abirdene wes monstrous deir
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"Monstrus adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/monstrous>
