A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1456-1623
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Port, n.3 Also: porte; poirt; part (? erroneous form). [ME and e.m.E. port(e (Chaucer), poort (Lydgate), external deportment, style of living, conveyance, means or action of carrying, etc., OF port carrying, bearing, manners, gait, vbl. n. f. porter to carry.]
1. (One's) ‘carriage’, demeanour, bearing, mien. b. (One's) looks or external appearance. c. (One's) face, countenance.Appar. chiefly in verse. 1456 Hay II 7/19.
The worthy man, quhilk be his feris and port semyt till have bene a man of grete valoure a1500 Henr. Test. Cress. 446.
My plesand port, all vtheris precelling c1500-c1512 Dunb. Flyt. 163.
Thow lazarus … may example be To luk vpoun thy gryslie peteous port c1500-c1512 Ib. xi 18 (M).
Thocht thow now be most glaid of cheir Fairest and plesandest of port Ȝit may thow be within ane ȝeir Ane vgsum horrible tramort c1500-c1512 Ib. lxxxvii 11. a1568 Scott xii 11.
Gif trew report To ȝow resort Of my gud port, So tak me 1580 Hume Promine 23.
With manlike maneris, maikles to behald, With princelie port, and visage glorious [etc.] a1605 Montg. Misc. P. l 9.
Quhose port and pereles pulchritud … Pruiffis hir … Of maidis the maikles Margareit 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 21/33.
Her porte was angellike with angels face(b) c1530-40 Stewart Maitl. F. cxxviii 5.
Ane ladie … Plesand but peir of poirt and pulchritude(c) c1460 Wisdom of Solomon 387 (S.T.S.).
The wisdome of a wysman schawis by his contenans part and hewyngys of body and wysage
2. A style of living. 1570 Warrender P. (S.H.S.) I 86.
It is necessar that he have estait of the king to bear ane honest port and to hald ane tabill for conquising the favouris of the nobilitie 1584 Waus Corr. 287.
Quhairby your l. may judge … gif I, having sic vther surffett charges, … am able to beir out sic porte and expenssis
3. An appliance used to carry a piece of artillery. 1548 Treasurer's Accounts IX 260.
Ane gad of Danskyn irne to be portis to the new pecis falcounis 1548 Ib. 272.
To be portis to the artalȝere … tua stane of irne
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"Port n.3". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/port_n_3>
