Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

Lib, v.² Also: libb(e. [e.m.E. lib (1597–8), but ? orig. north. (see Libbing vbl. n.), ? repr. an OE. *lybban cogn. with MDu. lubben, MLG. lübben, to castrate, and prob. also conn. with Lib n. and Libv.¹ In the mod. dial. only Sc. and north.]

1. tr. To castrate, geld, ‘cut’. 1531 Bell. Boece I. lv.
The steirkis, quhen thay ar bot young velis, ar othir slane, or ellis libbit to be oxin 1535 Stewart 44409.
All the menkynd of his surname and clan [he] Gart lib thame all than be the leist ane man 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Castro, -as, to geld, to libbe 1600 Hamilton Facile Tr. 236.
Our Saueour sayes … Some hes libbit thame selfis for the kingdome of heauin a 1733 Shetland Sheriff Ct. Acts in Soc. Ant. XXVI. 200.
That none libb any beast upon Sunday

b. fig. 1700 Maidment Sc. Pasquils (1868) 359.
Some affirme … That F — did libb our volluntar collectione

2. a. Appar., To treat for venereal disease by cutting the chancres. Perh. however belonging rather with Lib v.¹ b. To cut off (a person's ears). c1500-c1512 Dunb. iv. 5;
Thair wyffis … baid tham … abyd Att haem and lib tham of the pockisIb. 15. 1686 G. Stuart Joco-Ser. Disc. 67.
But vet suppose he leuv'd to fib, And some for that, his luggs should libb [gl. geld]