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: 1520-1574
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Contrafait, -fat(e, -fete, v Also: -faite, -feict, -fit. [Variants of ME. contrefayt, -fete, etc., after L. contra-.] tr. To counterfeit, to imitate. c1520-c1535 Nisbet III. 343/14.
Heir settis he him furth as anne exempill to contrafaite 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 16/19.
Ther hes bene diuerse translatours ande compilaris … that tuke grite pleseir to contrafait ther vlgare langage c1552 Lynd. Mon. 2134.
Than euerye cuntre tuke consait, Thay wald king Nynus contrafait c1552 Ib. 3120. 1562 Q. Kennedy Ressoning F 26 b.
Willing to contrafit the wisdome and prudence of the … medicinar 1563-1570 Buch. Wr. 43.
Not … to imitat in veritie but onelie to contrafat fenȝeitly the gudnes of thir two personis 1568 Id. Indict. 36.
My Lordis vyif wes … commandit to pas to hir bed and contrafeict hir self to be seik 1568 Ib. 49.
Hir blind raige … vald nocht suffer hir to contrafete dule 1572 Acts III. 75/2.
Sum vtheris hes … contrafatit gifts and prouisiounis of benefices with antedaittis or blankis 1574 St. A. Kirk S. 406.
That nane of them presume … to violat the Sabbat day, be using of playis and gemmis, contrafating the playis of Robein Huid [etc.]
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"Contrafait v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/contrafait_v>
