A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1527-1588, 1650-1653
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Semistar, -er, Semstar, n. Also: semestare, -air, -er, seamster, sempster. [ME and e.m.E. semstere (1379), semster (c1400), shempster (1550), sempster (1559), seamster (1601), OE séamestre (orig.) fem., a seamstress.] A seamstress, also, maistres semister. 1527 Treasurer's Accounts V 314.
To Jonet Dowglas, semestair of the kingis lynnyng claithis 1531 Treasurer's Accounts VI 47.
Semestare 1534 Treasurer's Accounts VI 212.
Semistar 1545 Treasurer's Accounts VIII 410.
To Besse Murray, semstar 1579 Treasurer's Accounts XIII 275.
To Grissell Gray, semister, to by hir claithis 1588 Exchequer Rolls XXI 413.
To Girsell Hamiltoun, maistres semister, for hir meit and drink … £120 c1650 Spalding (1792) I 289.
The taylors and cordiners … were set to work to make up thir cloaths and shoes, and sempsters [1850 sewsteris] to sew thir shirts 1650 Reg. Privy C. 2 Ser. VIII 234.
Katherine Angous … depones … that shoe never was a semester to hire tread and never sewed a mutch 1650 Reg. Privy C. 2 Ser. VIII 235.
Semister 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i vii.
The seamsters (when the point of their needles was broken) began to work and occupie with the tail
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"Semistar n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/semistar>
