Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Kale, Kail(l, n. Also: kail(l)e, kayll; keall, keale; kele, keill, keile, keyll, keel; kell. [Common later variant of Cale n. The spelling kale is rare, the commonest form being kaill.]

1. Colewort, cabbage, or borecole.(1) 1546 Treas. Acc. VIII. 461.
For thair kaill distroyit and dountrod be mennis feit 1560 Inverness Rec. I. 46.
That … he lattis his gudis … destroy his kayll to gret quantete a1568 Bann. MS. 137 b/29.
Ane rowsty quhittill to scheir the kaill 1573 Edinb. Test. III. 30 b.
Thrie ȝairdis of kaill 1603 Aberd. Eccl. Rec. 28.
That thair sall be na maner of mercatt nather of … peattis, grass, kail nor herbis … on the Saboth day a 1700 J. Maidment New Bk. Old Ballads (1844) 13.
Noganes full of hacket kaile 1700 Misc. Spald. C. III. 188.
The Egiptians stole his peatts and kaill(b) 1600-1610 Melvill 134.
Twa or thrie crownes warit upon a stok of keall dressing c1650 Spalding I. 49.
At Martimess, … the keall cam to seid and schot 1662 Crim. Trials III. 603.
We took … blaidis of keall, and haked thaim all verie small(c) 1604 Shetland Sheriff Ct. MS. 147 b.
The haile inhabitantis … quha wantis kele and peitis to quit them selffis … of the stowtht of my lordis peitis 1604 Urie Baron Ct. 5.
Sik personis as beis fund onlauchfull, to wit, occupeiris in stouth, in stelyng of keyll, eldyng [etc.] 1622 Ib. 45.
Keill 1624 Brechin Test. IV. 174 b.
Certane inȝouis and keill within thair ȝeard(d) 1614 Misc. Spald. C. V. 218.
The barlamen sall … sicht the persones … that hes not kell and peitis sufficient 1626 Banff Ann. I. 54.
Resaiweing of honest menis geir thifteouslie fra thair serwands sic as kell, peitis, breid 1661 Lanark B. Rec. 187.
The thiftious fackes of corne and kell committit be the persones following 1672 Hist. Kinloss A. p. xvi.
To furnish the hous suficientlie with kell, herbs and roots 1684 Dundee B. Laws 451.
Being found in ther yards gathring in ther kell in tyme of sermon(e) 1643 S. Leith Kirk S. 45.
Helen Tailȝour … acknowledged her gilt of carrying kale on the Sabbath day 1698 Elgin Rec. II. 322.
The gardners … use frequently to vend and sell kale, fruits and roots upon the Sabbath day(2) a1646 Wedderb. Voc. 18 (J).
Brassica, great kail, unlocked. Brassica capitata alba, white locked kail. Brassica crispa, frizzled or curled kail. Brassica minor, smaller kail

b. With qualifying words, denoting particular varieties. Also attrib. See also Bowcaill.viz. quhite, reid and grein kaill, hard kaill and lang kaill. 1550 Breadalbane Doc. No. 73.
The said Johne sall saw quhite kaill seid, reid kaill and vnȝeoun seid 1581 Elgin Rec. I. 164.
Sufficient bowkaill seid [in replacement of that which] grew bot bastard and reid kaill 1691 Corshill Baron Ct. 185.
The … destroying of his boll and reid kaill — 1652 Peebles B. Rec. II. 4.
Ane private watche nightlie for trying pykeres of corne, eldine, or green kaille 1660 Melrose Reg. Rec. I. 289.
His hoggis hes pasturit daylie in his kaill yaird and hes eatin and destroyit the haill grein kaill plants 1691 Argyll Justic. Rec. I. 130.
There was a good quantity of green kail found hidd therein under the muck — 1596 Wedderb. Compt Bk. 46.
Johne Duncane gardner awin me xx ^s with twa furris hard keill to be gifin my wyf quhen winter cumis 1631 Buccleuch Household Bk. 25 Sept.
For 2 hens 2 pare dous hard kell carrots neips Ib.
Hard keill — 16.. Blythsome Wedding in Sempill P. 67/5.
There will be lang-kail and pottage And bannocks of barley-meal a 1700 J. Maidment New Bk. Old Ballads (1844) 13.
With croudy moudy they fed me. Lang kail and ranty tanty

2. Broth in which cabbage was a principal ingredient; hence, broth or soup, generally. 1535 Stewart 2762.
Quhilis milk but other breid or aill Without kitching or ony kind of kaill a1568 Bann. MS. 138 a/76.
The wyfe said, Speid, the kaill ar soddin 1567 G. Ball. 206.
The monkis of Melros maid gude kaill On Frydayis quhen thay fastit 1590 Crim. Trials I. 196.
Quhidder the poysone foirsaid servit bettir to be gevin in eggis, browis or keill 1597 Misc. Spald. C. I. 105.
To eat sourrakis about sonue rysing, … siclyk to eat valcars, and to mak lavrie kaill and soupt 1645 Sc. Hist. Rev. XXX. 147.
Of beir to be kell, on peck 1649 Glasgow B. Rec. II. 179.
It is thoght they wald have kaill, an[d] so for this must have twa peckis of grottis in the monethe a 1660 Sempill P. 37/728.
They sate so long, they cooled all their kail 1661 Elgin Rec. II. 297.
She did give him keall and meall and he eating or suping the samine [etc.] 1680 Irvine Mun. II. 285.
For stoves, broth and kaill [12/-] 1692 Pitcairn Assembly ii. (1817) 25.
Make a dish of kail of my powny 1731 Bk. O. Edinb. C. XVII. 71.]
[That beef to the value of 18 pence will make twenty four pynts of broth or kail, … To make the said 24 pynts of kail it will require eight pence worth of barley or grotts and greens

b. Wattir-kaill, vegetable broth made without meat. a1500 Henr. Fab. 2747 (B).
Skantly may he purches by his maill To leif vpone dry breid and wattir kaill

3. attrib. and comb.With bed, boord (brod), herb, leif, mercat, pie, plant, pot, seid, sellar, silvir, and Kale-ȝard. Kaill-bell, = dinner-bell. Kailman, -wyfe, a man, woman, who sells kale or greens (= kailsellar). Kail-runt, -stock, the stock of a kale-plant, a castock. 1612 Edinb. Test. XLVII. 63.
He lewis to William Patersoun … the rig of land & the kaill bed quhilk he presentlie hes the occupatioun of — 1685 Soc. Ant. LVIII. 357.
The Laigh Hall, … a kaill bell 16.. Sanny Briggs in Sempill P. 48/21.
Wha'll bid me when the kaill-bell's rung To board me speed? — 1643 Mun. Univ. Glasg. III. 536.
Ane kail boord with a baiking boord 1646 Edinb. Test. LXII. 282 b.
Ane kaill brod and ane salt pott — 1556 Peebles B. Rec. I. 232.
That na scheip be pastured … within the fredome of burgh … for deistroying of kaill herbes — 1535 Stewart 56288.
In it he left nocht scant worth ane kaill leif — 1608 Edinb. Test., Index II. 269.
George Mair, kailman — 1595 Edinb. B. Rec. V. 134.
[The council] discharges the said lokman of all taking of any dewteis of … herbes in the kaill merket 1650 Lanark B. Rec. 144.
The kaill mercat to be holdin qwhair Robert Durie his litster tries stand — 1629 Lowther's Jrnl. 41.
The Scottish dialect … , a kealle pie, a pie with pieces of cut mutton and prunes — 1597 Elgin Rec. II. 53.
A generall inhibitioun … to sell … upoun the Sabboth day ony kaill plants or unyeounes 1610 Mun. Univ. Glasg. I. 205.
Haiving licens to transport the kaill planteis — 1540 Acta Conc. & Sess. MS. XIII. 119 b.
Ane skink pot, ane kaill pot, and ane posnate pott 1584 Edinb. Test. XIII. 191 b.
Ane beif pot, ane kaill pot, … with pot boulis 1593 Ib. XXV. 288.
Brander, beif pot, kaill pot, posnat pot — 1602 Dundonald Par. Rec. 7.
Scho … seithit kaill rwnttis in watter for ane ill … scho had in her head — 1598 Brechin Test. I. 166 b.
Awand … be the Lady Flemyngtoun for keill seid xvi s. 1600 Kirkcudbright B. Rec. 379.
Andro McGowane x s. for ane vnce kaill seid 1606 Edinb. Test. XLII. 18 b.
The sawing of kaill seid in xij beddis estimat to iiij lb. 1623 Crim. Trials III. 555.
Away-taking … off dyuerse herbis, … plantis, kaill-seid, artechoissis 1675 Kirkcudbr. B. Rec. MS. 30 June.
Ane pund of kaill seed which proved unsufficient — 1636 Rec. Old Aberd. I. 349.
Isobel Kelman, kailseller 1642 Aberd. B. Rec. III. 280.
Captors and searchers … , for the flesh marcat, fruit and keall sellaris about the croce, David Melvell c1650 Spalding II. 411.
Johne Calder, keilsellar there [in Aberdeen] 1648 Rec. Old Aberd. I. 80.
Ordeanit that na kaill sellar or dilse sellar sall go to the toune of Abd. to sell the samen — 1584 Glasgow B. Rec. I. 115.
[To] geif to euirie ane of the puir men … sax d. … for their kaill siluir — a1646 Wedderburn Voc. 18 (J).
Caulis, a kail-stock 1681 Colvil Whig's Suppl. i. 55.
They felled all our hens and cocks, And rooted out our kail stocks — 1569 Edinb. Test. 243.
Bessy Gray, kaill wiff 1639 Bk. Pasquils 79.
The Kealwyves Comoninge or Currant Newes from the Parliament House Ib. 80.
As I was walking by the Trone … I harde two kealwyffes sore complaine a1689 Cleland 112.
Its follie with kail-wives to flyte

4. In many proverbs and proverbial expressions. 1584 Calderwood IV. 131.
To forge a querrell and be, like Chaucer's cooke, bussier nor yee mister, and skad your lippes in other men's kaile 1597 James VI Dæmonol. 16.
They that suppe keile with the deuill haue neede of long spoones a1598 Ferg. Prov. (1641) No. 423.
Of weillie persons, … He kens his groats among other folks kail Ib. 490.
If thou steal not my kail, break not my dyke Ib. No. 557.
Kail spaires bread Ib. MS. No. 356.
Dog flesh is good aneugh for hemlok kaill 1614 Highland P. III. 160.
Howevir they haif gottin there landis frielye of his majesties predicessouris yit ar they loathe, according to our Scottishe proverbe, to give him kaile of his owne peittis a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 28.
A blak wif wil mak gude kail Ib. No. 156.
Aples and new aile, quo the wower, Drownit mice and cald kaile, quo the maid Ib. No. 1406; etc.
Oft the ladle in the pot maks thin kaile 1629 Kirkcaldy Presb. 53.
And quhair he ansers to that part, … that is no uther thing bot crambe recocta we replie that we think crambe recocta is cold kaill twyse sodden, bot [etc.] 1682 Lauder Observes 306.
The tyke would nather sup kail with the Divel, nor the Pope