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: 1456-1616, 1668-1700+
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Beld, Belde, a. [Late northern ME. belde, reduced form of bellyde Bellit, corresp. to late ME. balde for earlier balled(e.]
1. Of persons: Bald. 1456 Hay II. 122/1.
It … lettis a man to be sone beld 1492 Myll Spect. 291/30.
Scho … pullit the haire of his heid that he semyt all beld 1531 Bell. Boece I. p. lxvi.
Nane of thame, throw ithand cowing of thair hedis, grew beld 1533 Boece ii. ix. 74.
Thare hedis schavin and nocht beld owder bare c1550 Rolland Court of Venus iv. 708.
That weill I knaw by thy beld heid & ene a1578 Pitsc. I. 258/17.
His forheid was beld and bair a1605 Montg. Misc. P. i. 4.
Sho hes … A toppe befor, bot beld behind hir bak 1595 Duncan Appendix.
Calvo, … to make beld
2. Of horses or cattle: Having a white spot or mark on the forehead. 1501 Acts Lords of Council MS. XI. 116.
Ane quhite meir with ane blak foale beld in the forehed 1549 Protocol Book of Sir Alexander Gaw 6.
Ane beld stot of ii ȝeir ald 1576 Edinburgh Testaments V. 45 b.
Ane blak beld meir 1586 Ib. XV. 215 b.
Ane broun naig by the broun beld staig tane to the hereald 1616 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) II. 4.
Ane blak broun hors beld in his foreheid 1668 Melrose R. Rec. II. 224.
Ane blak beld ox with tua hindermost whyte feett 1703 Foulis Acc. Bk. 325.
For bleiding the beld horse and haugh milne hors
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"Beld adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 16 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/beld_adj>
