A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1490-1533, 1597, 1697
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Oc(c)ult, a. [e.m.E. (1567), L. occult-us p.p. covered over, hidden, concealed, F. occulte (OF. occult, 12th c.).] Hidden, concealed; recondite, mysterious; not disclosed or divulged, privy, secret; covert, clandestine. 1490 Irland Mir. I. 128/2.
His fyrst cummynewas occult & secret 1490 Ib. 151/32, 34.
As the wattir, be occult operacioune generit within the erd, procedis in riueris and fludis … sa the Virgin glorius be the occult and sacret operacioune of the haly spreit generit hire sone Jhesus 1533 Bell. Livy I. 72/28.
This nobil prince … fand certain occult & solemne sacrifice in the saidis commentaris maid in the honour of Jupiter Eliseus 1533 Ib. 78/30.
[There] began to rise ilk day occult slauchteris and cruelteis in his ciete 1533 Ib. 156/23.
The Romanis, suspeckand sum occult weris to follow be Mamilius Tusculus … howbeit the samyn nocht opinlie apperit 1533 Boece viii. v. 258 b.
That his polecy suld be occult, feneȝeing him desirous of pece 1597 James VI Dæmonol. 44.
He is farre cunningner then man in the knowledge of all the occult properties of nature 1697 Argyll Justic. Rec. 159.
He brought him to the syde of that moor … being a darned reteired and ocult place
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"Ocult adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/occult>
