A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1558-1682
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Bailiff, n. Also: bayliff, -ieff, balieff, -eef, -ife, bailliefe. [ME. bailif (c 1300), baillif, pl. baillifes, bailliues, etc., OF. baillif.]
1. A bailie of a town. (Cf. Bailive.) 1558-66 Knox II. 476.
They having with them one of the Bayliffs took one Sir James Carvet 1558-66 Ib. 477.
Provest, Bayliffe, and Councell of … Edinburgh
2. A bailiff. Also attrib. in bailiff court.1570 Leslie 60 (all officers, sic as justices, sheriffis, stewardis, baylieffis). 1618 Annandale Corr. 277 (the subsherife and his baleefes). 1642 Melrose R. Rec. I. 91 (the balieff court bookes of Melrose). 1682 New Mills Manuf. 27 (to be persued befor the balife court). 1682 Ib. 36 (the baylife of Nungate).
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"Bailiff n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/bailiff>
