A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1475-1640
[0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0]
Dern(e, Darn(e, a. [ME. dern(e, OE. derne, dyrne. Only in poetry.]
1. Of places: Secret, hidden, concealed.(a) a1400 Legends of the Saints xvi. 782.
Scho til wildirnes has socht, & fand a derne sted, was wrocht In til a crage c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ix. 1282.
Thai … buschit thaim in a dern sted tharby c1475 Ib. xi. 343.
A dern holl furth … thai had To the watter a1500 Golagros and Gawane 840.
Evin to the castell he raid, Huvit in ane dern slaid a1508 Kennedy Pass. Christ 12.
Haill, dern closit till woundit and very 1513 Doug. ii. viii. 31.
A small wykket … , or entre dern, A litil ȝet clepit a postern 1513 Ib. v. xiv. 99; etc.
In dern dennys, quharin wild bestis dwellis 1533 Boece viii. ii. 248 b.
The commouns … hid thame amang … derne cavernis or forestis 1533 Ib. vii. 263.
To fle … to cavernis and covis or vthir derne placis 1535 Stewart 47174.
Syne in ane place that quyet wes and derne … With armit men he closit thame about 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 7138.
Than past he to the Quene incontinent, Be his derne caif 1560 Ib. 7151.
The Quene come hir dern gait c1590 Fowler I. 75/222.
They progrest on till they did come vnto Sibilla derne 1640 Lithgow Poet. Rem. 230.
Most courtiers mouthes seeme kind, with hearts as hollow As derne Sybillas Hall, which few can follow(b) 1513 Doug. iii. vi. 131.
Scilla lurkand in darn hyddyllis lyis, Within hir cave 1513 Ib. vi. vii. 43.
The hydlys held thai and the roddis darn 1581 Reg. Great S. 58/1.
Inter terras Alex. Boyne … et lie darne rod ducen a dicto burgo ad cathedralem ecclesiam Moravien. a1570-86 Maitland Folio MS cxxix. 54.
Mak thow na vant ouiroft to hant ln places darne thair doun 1584 Acts III. 305/1.
The gun pulder quhilk … wes placeit … vnder the ground … and within the voltis laiche and darne partis 1602 Reg. Privy C. VI. 469.
[They seized their horses and] carryit thaim furth of his Majesteis hie way to a darne place in the mure c1614 Mure Dido ii. 872.
Those little troupes … through darne passages their spoyles convoy
b. Affording concealment; serving to hide. c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace iv. 430.
In a dern woode thai stellit thaim full law c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 242.
Thai drank, and did away dule, vnder derne bewis 1513 Doug. iv. i. 51.
I desyre … almychty Iove … Me smyte ful deip onto the schaddoys dern 1513 Ib. ix. vii. 52.
This ilk wilsum perplexit way Bakwart he held … .Throw the dern wod dissaitfull and onplane
c. Covered with darkness. 1513 Doug. iii. viii. 153.
Nowthir lycht of planetis mycht we knaw, … Bot in dyrk clowdis the hevynnys warpit darn
2. Done in secret; kept concealed. a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 879.
Quhar our derne deidis sall be examynat c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 448.
We dule for na euill deid, sa it be derne haldin c1500-c1512 Ib. 456.
As dois thir damysellis for derne dotit lufe c1550 Rolland Court of Venus iii. 716.
That Bersabea lay … With King Dauid … Throw dern fauour, and luif betuix thame twa 1560 Id. Seven Sages 7004.
With ane masoun he maid ane derne contrak
3. Obscure; not open or plain. 1535 Stewart 28927.
Tha fand thre bodeis [so alike] … That no man culd, for ony takynis derne, Ane by ane vther in the tyme decerne
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Dern adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/derne_adj>
