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.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1627
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Thift(e, v. [Thift n.] a. ? To bring, fetch, obtain. b. reflex. To absent oneself, steal away (from another). —a. a1400 Legends of the Saints xi 977.
Thane ves he … with asyse culpable mad & to the gebet demyt but bad, Thane to the rape wes til thifte —b. 1627 Bk. Carlaverock II 96.
Alexander Coupland … was waged soldier to Capitane Annand … and … tuik all advantage off him evin wnto the last randewoues, and then he thifted him selff, and was obscur quhill that regiment was gone, and ondoubtedlie he intendis ȝit to desave the thrid capitane 1627 Bk. Carlaverock II 96.
Alexander Coupland … dissimulatlie absented him from imbarking … in this ship [and] … hes not only thifted him selff from the Capitane bot [etc.]
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"Thift v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/thifte>
