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: 1399-1438, 1499-1615
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Bissines, Bys(s)ynes, n. Also: bisines; bissynes, bissienes, byssyenes; byssnes, bissness. [ME. bisines(se, bysynes(se, etc., ONhb. bisiᵹnis. Cf. Besines.] Activity, industry, diligence; occupation, business. a1400 Legends of the Saints xxx. 612.
Bysynes ȝet dide he ȝarne ?1438 Alex. i. 16.
With bissines and grit trauell c1420 Ballad in c1420 Ratis Raving 9.
In byssenes ay blyth thow be a1500 Henr. Orph. 604.
Affetterrit in … bissines of temporalitie c1500-c1512 Dunb. xx. 42.
With all thy hart treit bissines and cure c1500-c1512 Ib. lxvi. 2.
The failȝeand and frutles bissines 1513 Doug. vii. Prol. 203.
For byssynes, quhilk occurrit on cace 1535 Stewart 28292.
Greit cuir and bissines 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 2/3.
Al verteus bysynes of body ande saul 1549 Ib. 175/27.
Pacient in his bissynes 1554 Misc. Spald. C. II. 276.
In all thair caussis and querrellis, bissenes and adois 1563-1570 Buch. Wr. 44.
Sending him to France for certane bissines 1596 Dalr. II. 20/31.
He had promiset … to fulfill that bisines 1615 Highland P. III. 235.
Ane ansuer of all thair bissnes
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"Bissines n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/bissines>
