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: 1399-1699
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Painful(l, Payn(e)-, Paneful(l, a. Also: paine-, pan-, pean-. [ME. (c 1340) and e.m.E. payn(e)-, pain(e) full, peyneful, f. Pain n.]
1. Fraught with suffering or pain, in various applications of Pain n.; full of, characterised by, expressive of or causing pain.To think panefull of, to regard as fraught with suffering or pain.(1) c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ii. 159.
Leyff I him thar in to that paynfull sted c1475 Ib. x. 766.
For it I passit in mony paynfull place c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxv. 19 (B).
Out of ȝour panefull purgatory To bring ȝow [etc.] 1513 Doug. vi. ix. h. of ch.
Sibilla … gan tell The tormentis of deip drery paynful hell 1528 Lynd. Dreme 189. c1552 Id. Mon. 4779. c1552 Ib. 6020.(2) c1500 Rowll Cursing 53 (B).
The panefull gravell and the gutt 1513 Doug. x. Prol. 140.
In perpetuall memor Of thy passioun and dolorus paynfull ded 1513 Ib. ii. ii. 26. a1538 Abell 21 b.
Fra him at wes fow dredand at othir hungry fleis suld be maire panfull to him 1623 Criminal Trials III. 556.
For cureing of ane woman … of ane grit and panefull seiknes(3) c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxiv. 14 (B).
Wald men considdir … weill … His fall les panefull he suld feill 1513 Doug. xi. xv. 93.
Aruns fled … With blythnes mydlyt havand paynfull dreid 1530 Lynd. Test. Pap. 377.
I durst declare … The painfull plesour as poetis doith reporte a1585 Arbuthnot Maitland Quarto MS xlii. 156.
Ceis then my saull … And let allaine all paynfull penseifnes a1605 Montg. Son. lvii. 7.
Persaiv my painfull pairt And the archer that … me misch[eivis](4) a1450 Fifteen Ois 226.
O Jesu Crist … to tell thi pan(e)full teris c1552 Lynd. Mon. 4034.
The panefull clamour horrabyll Off woundit folk 1572 Satirical Poems xxxii. 90.
With panefull pech with mony grank and grane(5) transf. c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxix. 10.
My panefull purs so prikillis me(6) a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 1416 (Asl.).
Quha wald haue of hevinlie joye wysement … He wald think panefull of this lyf present
2. Causing or involving hardship or difficulty; troublesome, irksome, toilsome, laborious. a1400 Legends of the Saints xxvii. 1342.
It sall be done … How paynefull or how hard it be c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace v. 528.
He … To thaim declarde off all this paynfull cas 1531 Bell. Boece I. xi.
Gif thow be honest lauboure dois ane thing Thy panefull laubour sall vanes but tarying 1573 Sempill Sat. P. xxxix. 65.
That panefull progres I think ill to tell 1585 Reg. Privy C. III. 747.
Nor yit will ony personis of credite … accept on thame the charge of sik a panefull … commissioun 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 195/767. 1600-1610 Melvill 145.
Sa that that labour was fellon peanfull and heavie to me 1616 Criminal Trials III. 395.
As my … lord Regentis grace hes … takin greit and paynefull travellis in the quieting of the bordouris thairof 1671 Moray Synod 151.
The ministers … are recommended to … instruct them by painfull catechizing and examinatione
3. Of persons: Painstaking, laborious, assiduous, diligent. Also transf. 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 11/10.
They see the painfull Vigneron pull the grapes 1598 Id. Basil. Doron 101/2. c1590 Fowler I. 169/1.
Euen as the painfull pylot … shunns the cost 1600-1610 Melvill 75.
Mr. Thomas was verie wacryff and peanfull and skarslie tuk tyme to refreche nature 1616 Rollock Wks. II. 8.
He was faithful and painful in his calling c1611–c1617 Mure Misc. P. xiii. 7. 1622-6 Bisset I. 5/34.
That reverend father, deligent and panefull choronologiare 1630 Gordon Geneal. Hist. ii.
Bot that cuntrey might be much bettered by laborious & painfull inhabitants 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1891) 369. 1647 Elgin Rec. II. 259.
Who were faithfull and painfull in halding hand to see vyce punisched [etc.] 1649 Inverness Presb. 141.
The minister and elderes … ordained to be moir painfull in catechiseing 1653 Elgin Rec. II. 436. 1655 Logie Par. Hist. I. 105. 16.. Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II. 42.
They are mightie fyne burgesses and delicat painfull merchantstransf. 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 220/368.
And carefull laborers to begin To yoke the painefull ploughes 1581-1623 Ib. II. 134/2.
In setting furth by painefull pen your glorious praises due
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"Painful adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/painfull>
