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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.

Lith, n. Also: lithe, lyth, (licht). [ME. liþ, lith, lyth(e, OE. liþ neut. (pl. leoþu), ON. lið-r masc. After the 15th c. appar. only Sc. In the mod. dial., Sc. and north. Eng. Cf. Leth n.²]

A joint or (small) part of the body. a1400 Leg. S. xxxvii. 237.
Na of his lymmis wes a lith For torment lefit ane wthire with Ib. 276.
Of the frame he bad hym tak, That hale had nothire lith na thak c1420 Wynt. iii. 8.
Off hys fyngrys everilkane And off all his tays wytht The utmast endys be the lyth [v.rr. lith, lithe] Qwyt was strekyn off ?a1500 Dewoit Exerc. 278.
The fals tormentouris … drew euery lith of ȝoure precius body syndry 15.. Clar. iii. 1781.
Sir Thomas … was … damnit to be drawin ilke lith from uther 1660 S. Ronaldshay 30.
[Words of a charm:] The Lord God … put it lith to lith and bone to bone. Amen 1662 Crim. Trials III. 608.
Quhan we vold heall ony sor or brokin limb, we say … : ‘He pat the blood to the blood, till all vp stood; The lith to the lith, till all took with [etc.]’ 1667 Justiciary Rec. I. 196.
[Mutilation] in one of the liths of his fingers

b. Out of lith, out of joint, dislocated.Also e.m.E. (Malory). 1585 Waus Corr. 337.
My hors fell with me, and I pat my schulder bled out of lithe 1594 Moysie 116.
The lord Bothuell … his horse fell and strouk his choulder blead out of lithe 1630 Reg. Privy C. 2 Ser. III. 607.
His hors … whois forder spalds wer putt out of lith

c. Commonly coupled with lim, also d. with bane (bone).Also in ME.c. (1) a1400 Leg. S. iv. 126.
To the appostil thai brocht hym, Vnhurt othir in lith ore lyme Ib. xxiv. 518. Ib. xxxvii. 156.
Thar-for in a frame stent hyme In lynth & brede, lith & lyme 1535 Stewart 5271. Ib. 34615.
Men … abill … that ar of lith and lym a1568 Scott ii. 135. 1561 Inverness Rec. I. 59.
Efter he left his horse … with hym hale and fayr without onne hurt oder in lyth or lyme c1575 Balfour Pract. 38.
I B. becumis ȝour man, as my liege King, in land, life, lith, lymme, and warldis honour [etc.] a 1665 Sel. Biog. (W.S.) II. 70.
Little … they … regarded her fra they were heal of lith and limb themselves(2) c1420 Wynt. iv. 2496 Ib. vi. 1912.
And large off lym and lyth [C. lithe] he was 1535 Stewart 1210.
Lustie he wes, and large of lym and lith [: thairwith] Ib. 9571.
Thocht in my persone I be maik of pith, And lyke ane woman into lym and lith Ib. 1880, 23868. 1567 Sat. P. xi. 23.
My … pitcous plicht Dos peirs my hart … That lym nor lyth I may not steir 1590 Burel Pilgr. i. xiv.
The quhittret … Ane litill beist of lim and lith a 1665 Sel. Biog. (W.S.) II. 75.
The disciples were at this time well themselves, and had neither sore limb nor lith(3) pl. 1513 Doug. i. iv. 31 (E).
[The] Troianis … Thair lithis [R lichtis] and lymmis be salt watter bedyit 1638 Cant in Erkskine's Coll. (1741) 40.
All his limbs and liths … shall be brokend. 1513 Doug. vii. vii. 114.
Our all his body bristing furth dvd crepe The warm swait throw enery lith and bane 1590-1 Bruce Serm. 43.
Not that his body was broken in bone or lith, but that it was broken with dolour

e. In fig contexts.To hit the lith of it, transf. from the context of carving fowl or the like. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 221.
To hold off an erroneous conclusion in the least wing or lith of sweet sweet truth 1637 Ib. (1891) 313.
Christ's ‘Not yet’ is a stounding of all the joints and liths of the soul a1658 Carstairs in a1658 Durham Scandal (1740) xiii.
As a most skillful anatomist … never missing, as it were, one lith or joint a1689 Cleland 31.
He did admire and praise the pith of 't. And leugh and said, I hit the lith of 't