A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Ravel, v.1 Also: rawil, (raveil). [e.m.E. ravel (1591), -ell (Shakesp.), Du. ravelen to tangle, fray out, etc.] a. tr. To entangle or confuse. b. intr. To inquire into or examine at length (cf. 17th c. Eng., in this sense (1618).) —a. c1460 Alex. (Taym.) (ed.) 1388.
Quhill thair battallis with schot sa maglit ware And with hurt horsis rawillit, thai my na mare a1605 Montg. Flyt. 531 (T).
Sick ane mirthles music thes menstrallis did mak That cattell … ran reid-wood and raveld the [H. raveild in ther (see Revell v.)] reillis 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 386.
Twenty times a-day I ravel my heaven, and then I must come with my ill-ravelled work to Christ, to cumber Him (as it were) to right it and to seek again the right end of the thread —b. 1669 Misc. Hist. Soc. VI 224.
After him spok Sir Georg Gordon & rawild into the subject matter of the treaty
