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: 1400-1661
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Fire-, Fyreflaucht, -flaught, n. Also: fyr(e)flawcht, fyirflaucht, fyire-, fyrflacht, fireflocht. [Fire n., Flaucht n.] 1. Lightning; flashes of lightning.(a) c1400 Troy-bk. ii. 1711.
Of fyre-flaucht sic flawis fleand That it signified the se birnand c1420 Wynt. v. 4548.
This herytyk … Wes brynt wyth fyrflawcht suddanly 1456 Hay II. 100/15.
Ȝit cummys thare with the rayne grete thonder and fyre flaucht a1500 Buke of the Sevyne Sagis 2030.
With rane, fyreflaucht, & all ill wedder … neir the lyf is out of me 1513 Doug. iv. iv. 80; etc.
The flambe of fyreflaucht lychtnyt heir and thar 1535 Stewart 43596.
So aufull thunder fell doun fra the sky, And fyre-flaucht als c1552 Lynd. Mon. 5556.
As fyreflaucht haistely glansyng, Discend sall the most heuinly kyng 1596 Dalr. I. 288/17.
Quhen nathing was seine bot stormie windis, cludis and rane, thundir and fyrflaucht c1650 Spalding II. 101.
Thair rais … ane extraordinar heiche wynd, with fireflaucht, rayne, and weit(b) 1533 Gau 52/28.
As fyrflacht passis owt of the est and schenis to the vest c1590 J. Stewart 14/78.
Suiftlie so … he gais As fyrflacht fell from firmament fast flew(c) 15.. Clariodus v. 2327.
From both thair helmes the low ȝeid as fyrflaught 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Fulmen, fyre flaught a1650 Row 330.
The terrible fire-flaught and hudge inundation of raine … marred all that purpose of ryding 1654 Lamont Diary 78.
Ther was a great raine, with fyre-flaught or lightning
2. A flash of lightning, a thunder-bolt. c1420 Wynt. vi. 429.
A gret fyreflawcht and a felle Than hapnyd in Rome 1533 Boece xi. iv. 411 b.
The are was … clowdy & mystye, with ithand wynd and fyreflauchtis 1513 Doug. xiii. x. 12.
Ane huge bleys of flambys braid doun fell … In maner of a lychtnyng or fyre flaucht 1551 Hamilton Catechism 270/2.
Delivir us fra all dangears … of fyirflauchtis and thundir a1585 Polwart Flyt. 553 (T).
With fleing fyreflauchis [H. -flaughts] burning bricht and schyre (1604) Melvill 569.
Thair wes … sein gryt inflamatiounes of fyre-flauchtis 1661 Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries XXII. 253.
They daunced together, and … the ground under them was all fireflaughtsfig. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 265.
I find that a fire-flaught of challengis will come in at midsummer
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"Fyreflaucht n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/fyreflaucht>
