A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
(Spaling,) Spealling, n. [Spale n.] The action of cutting a shaving from a barrel as a means of identification. —1686 Fountainhall Decis. I 429.
Spealling is the cutting off a speal, that by joining it again, they may know the property of the puncheon they had chosen
