A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1420, 1472-1670
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Huge, Hudge, a. Also: hug, hwge, hugis, hughe. [ME. huge (a 1275), hoge, hudge, etc., app. OF. ahuge, ahoge, in the same sense.] Very large, great, numerous, or important.Applied to both material things, persons, animals, etc., and non-material (as sounds, actions, height, etc.). In poetry frequently a disyllable.(1) (a) c1420 Wynt. I. 877.
A towre of huge [C. hugis, W. hughe] hycht 1490 Irland Mir. I. 82/25.
The huge and horrible dragoun 1513 Doug. iii. iii. 91.
Huge wallis [= waves] boldnyt apon loft 1513 Ib. vi. 116.
A huge deip gat [was] thar holkit 1513 Ib. x. 38.
A huge pepill we se Of Cyclopes 1531 Bell. Boece I. 172.
He beildit ane huge wall of fail and devait 1533 Id. Livy I. 238/7.
Ane huge multitude of Wolchis a1540 Freiris Berw. 211.
Ȝone troich … lyis mekle and huge in all ȝone nwke(b) a1500 Prestis of Peblis 73.
Ane hall [that] was large, richt hie and hudge 1570 Satirical Poems xix. 89.
Hudge is ȝour fais within this fals regioun 1591-2 Rob Stene 17.
As montanis hudge and hie 1600-1610 Melvill 437.
Ane hors Als hudge as hill a1650 Row 330.
The … hudge inundation of raine(2) (a) a1400 Legends of the Saints xxviii. 671.
A gret hug thonir [com] but bad c1420 Wynt. i. 815.
Wormys … of hwge streynth c1420 Ib. iv. 1163.
Sa hwge crakyng and sic cry a1500 Henr. III. 168/84.
Our syn is huge 1472 Lennox Mun. 86.
As the said Lord … has … maid hugis expensis a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 1225.
In hell of corporale fyre is huge heit 1513 Doug. i. viii. 128.
The huge ardent batalys at thar has beyn 1513 Ib. ix. 118.
Of siluer playt ane huge wecht 1513 Ib. iii. x. 113.
That thou eschapit sa mony perrellis huge 1531 Bell. Boece I. 44.
Seing the feild left efter sa huge murdir 1531 Ib. II. 122.
Sic huge and brime fury rais c1550 Rolland Court of Venus iv. 245.
Faltis [to] ouir se quhilkis he commitit huge(b) 15.. Clariodus iv. 290.
Ane bulget … of ane hudge wecht 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 2629.
The greit mischeif[is] … war sa hudge and vglie 1638 Baillie I. 109.
Great rumors of hudge preparation for horse and foot in England c1600 Montg. Suppl. 227/25.
I houpe for mercie, thocht my sinnis be hudge 1670 Salmon Borrowstounness 92.
The hudge and exorbitent pryces of penny brydells(3) c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace xi. 29.
Off Glosyster that huge lord and her
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"Huge adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 16 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/huge_adj>
