A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1490-1588, 1681
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Sterilitie, -y, Sterelite, n. [Late ME and e.m.E. sterylite (Lydgate), sterylyte (Caxton), stirrility (Shakespeare), sterility (1653), OF sterilitet (1050 in Larousse), L. sterilitās.] Lack of productiveness; barrenness, specif. b. Of land. c. Of a woman. 1490 Irland Mir. I 11/14.
Pharo gouernit in the realme of Egipt in the tyme of sterelite a1561 Norvell Meroure 5a.
Great difference is, betuix these cloudes twane, The one betokneth grace, the other pane. With fyrefraughtis, rumbling and sterilitie 1681 Stair Inst. i xv § 3.
The plenty of a former year doth not compense the sterility of a latterb. 1559 Inchcolm Chart. 95.
To vesy and sicht the grond … and to considder the sterilitie and barrones of the saidis landis 1580 Antiq. Aberd. & B. III 173.
Persaving the barrenness and sterilite of the ground quhair the said burght is situat 1588 Exchequer Rolls XXI 374.
The landis of Lynlythgowschyre, defacit of auld to the tennentis of Abercorn for sterilitie of the groundc. 1535 Stewart 27630.
His wyffe ay in sterilitie All his dais scho wes withoutin cheild
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"Sterilitie n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 19 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sterilitie>
