A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1540-1626, 1689
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Relent, v. [ME and e.m.E. relente(n (Chaucer), -lent, med. L. relentāre. Cf. F. ralentir to slacken (mid-16th c. in Larousse), L. relentescere to grow slack.] a. tr. To lessen, abate (weakness); to soften (a person's heart). b. ? To free in part (from (of) harshness). c. intr. To slacken; to act more cautiously. —a. 1540 Lynd. Sat. 391.
I am bot schent, Withowt scho [cum] incontinent, My grit langour for to relent c1614 Mure Dido & Æneas ii 543. —
How dar he this his enterprise reveale To furiows Dido? how her minde relent?b. 1626 Justiciary Cases I 52. —
Scho was compellit to say and ganesay as it pleisit thame other to puneis or to relent hir of thair rigourc. c1590 Fowler I 62/124.
Our chaines did not relent, Nor yit wer we vnloused of thame 1689 Siege Castle Edinb. 75.
The garrison fired warmly … till … they relented to menadge ther powder
