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.
Quotation dates: 1375, 1475, 1572-1606
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Rer(e)ward(e, Reirward, n. [ME and e.m.E. rere-, reirward(e (14th c.), AF rerewarde (c1307).] The rearguard of an army. = Rer(e)-gard n. Also in fig. context. —1375 Barb. xi 347.
He said the rerward he wald ma 1375 Ib. xiv 60.
The rerward Schyr Eduuard was 1375 Ib. xvi 58 (C).
Reirward c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace vi 507.
The thrid thousand in [the] rerward he dycht 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 36.
In the reirward was the Erle of Bothwill —fig. 1606 Birnie Kirk-b. xix.
The camshoch commons now at last coms in a rere warde to debate the cause
