A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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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: 1531, 1596-1637
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Worm(e)-etin, -eitin, -eaten, adj. [ME and e.m.E. worme eten (Trevisa), worme-etone (c1420), worm eaten (Shakespeare).] Eaten or as if eaten by a worm or worms. Also fig. —1531 Bell. Boece I xlviii (see Worm(e n. 4 b).
Worme-etin 1531 Bell. Boece I xlix.
Ane … tre … worme-etin and hollit 1596 Dalr. I 36/12.
Vndir that earth ar fund gret stokis and blokis of wondirful akes and vthir tries … mony of thame … remanes ȝit nocht wormetin and vncorrupte 1624 Dumfr. & Galloway Soc. 3 Ser. XXXII 183.
A fether bed, ane bowster, a pair of round scheitis, ane pair of blankets wormeitin —fig. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1671) 187.
O poor fools who are beguiled with painted things … and rotten worm-eaten hopes!
