A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1375, 1604-1689
[1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1]
Wesand, Vassand, n. Also: wessand, wiesand, weasand, -ont, waisen. [ME and e.m.E. wesaunt (14th c.), wosen (Trevisa), wesant (c1400), wesande (15th c.), weasand (1596), OE wásend.] The gullet; the windpipe; the throat generally.(a) 1375 Barb. vii 591.
And hynt owt off a mannys hand … A bow and [a braid arow] als, And hyt the formast in the hals Till thropill and wesand [C. vassand, H. wessand] ȝeid in [twa](b) 1604 Ellon Presb. 48.
[He] thairefter cam girning and graiging, putting baith his hands on her thrappell and wiesand(c) 1604 Criminal Trials II 449.
He … grippit him be the thrott or waisen, quhilk he held fast ane lang tyme, quhill he wirreit him(d) 1643 Fugitive Poetry II xx 7/8.
They riven, did cut the weasont of the throat a1689 Cleland 104.
That so constraineth our wind pipes, Our weasands, stomacks, and small tripes
