A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Tangle, n. [17th c. Eng. tangle (1603), Norw. taangel, ON þöngull, þangulr.] Seaweed of the Laminaria family of the genus Fucus. Also ? transf., of a stalk of such seaweed. See also se-tangle Se n.1 16 c. —c1680 Morisone in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II 214.
The sea casteth on shore sometimes a sort of nutts growing upon tangles round and flat … , of the bread of a dollor a1688 Wallace Orkney 17.
Tangles full of shells, having pearls in them —transf. a1646 Wedderburn Voc. (1709) 23.
Stiria [= an icicle], a tangle of ice
