A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1614
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Dispare, Dispair, n. Also: dispar, dyspar(e, dispaire, dispear. Also rare variants: despair, despaire. [ME. dyspayr (c 1325), dispeyr, etc., variants of despeire, -peyr, OF. *despeir.] Despair.(a) a1400 Legends of the Saints x. 577 (fal in dispare). a1400 Ib. xvi. 145 (haffand na dispare of hyre syne). c1420 Wynt. viii. 3453 (dispare gyvys hardyment). c1450 Craft of Deyng 77 (in dyspare of mercy). c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace i. 260 (in till a gret dispar). a1500 Lancelot of the Laik 892 (boith … of hym vare in dispare).(b) 1456 Hay I. 16/26 (that … lyvis in dispaire). 1456 Ib. 50/32 (his men tuke sik dispaire). a1500 Henr. Orph. 312 (pit of dispair wythout remission). c1500-c1512 Dunb. lxxi. 36 (of thi cuming we haif grit dispair). c1550 Rolland Court of Venus i. 173 (he was betaucht all with dispair). 1560 Id. Seven Sages 728 (it is ane greit dispair). a1578 Pitsc. I. 406/35 (quhilk pat the kingis grace in dispair). 1585 Edinb. B. Rec. IV. 388 (the damosell that wes in dispair). 1596 Dalr. I. 273/23 (in sa deip dispair of gude luck). c1614 Mure Dido i. 38 (discorde, death, dispair).(c) 1600-1610 Melvill 25 (I was cast in sic a greiff and dispear).(d) 1456 Hay II. 88/32.
Unworthy lyfing … ledis him till a despaire (a1570-86 Dunb.) Maitland Folio MS clxiii. 17.
Despair sayis ay, ‘in tyme prowyde’
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"Dispare n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/dispare_n>
