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.
Rift, Ryf(f)t, n.1 Also: ryift. [ME and e.m.E. rift (Cursor M.), ON ript breach of contract. Cf. Dan. and Norw. rift a cleft, chink, etc.] a. A cleft or fissure in the earth, a rock, etc. b. A gap in the clouds. c. A rent, split, crack or chink in any material object. d. fig. or in fig. context.a. c1420 Wynt. iv 1202.
Sa wgsum thare that opynnyng fell That throuch a ryfft men mycht se hell Ib. 1221.
Fra he downe fell in that gape All that ryfft togyddyre crape 1513 Doug. i iii 51.
Salt watir stremmys Fast bullerand in at euery ryft and boyr Ib. vii ix 61.
A ryft or swelch … Till Acheron revin dovneb. 1513 Doug. viii vii 47.
We se The schynand brokkyn thundris lychtnyng fle Wyth subtil fyry stremys throu a ryft 1587-99 Hume 27/54.
The subtile mottie rayons light, At rifts thay are in wonnec. 1513 Doug. vi vi 63.
The saymyt barge, Sa ful of ryftys, and with lekkis perbrake 1561–2 Edinb. Old Acc. II 160.
For solding and mending of dyvers ryftis [pr. rystis] in the uther gutteris 1563–4 Ib. 196. 1590 Crail B. Ct. MS 11 April.
Ane hundereth dailis guid and sufficient … withowt ony rift 1672 Sinclair Hydrostaticks 187.
There are some [metals] that are full of rifts or empty spaces … termed by the vulgar, cutters a1688 Wallace Orkney 54.
The largest bell … had got a rift by the fall which it got(b) 1582 Edinb. D. Guild Acc. 148.
For beiring of clay to stoip the ryiftis & hoillis about the orlaiged. 1587-99 Hume 171/119.
Behold at how narow a rift that awld lubrik serpent hathe slydin in 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 478.
These … narrow souls can hold little of it [sc. love] because we are full of rifts
