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 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Mantil(l, n.¹ Also: -tyl(l, -tel(l, -tle, -tale. [ME. (c 1200) and e.m.E. mantel, mantle, mantill, etc., OF. mantel, (mod. F. manteau: see Manto n.), L. mantellum. Cf. Mandil(l n. and Mantele n.]

1. A kind of loose sleeveless cloak or wrap, a mantle.Also Fut(e)mantil(l n. 1329 Exch. R. I. 255.
[Quibusdam armigeris … pro mantellis et tunicis 1337 Rot. Sc. 493/1.]
Johannes del Mantel 1375 Barb. v. 317.
For that men suld nocht him ken, He suld a mantill haf, ald and bare a1400 Leg. S. xxviii. 374.
The face he hyd With his mantyl ?1438 Alex. ii. 4698.
Porrus … Vnarmit was delyuerly, In kirtill and mantill [F. cote et mantel] syne cled cleinly Ib. 1928. Ib. 3301. 1455 Acts II. 43/2.
That all erlis sall vse mantillis of brown granyt opyn befor furryt with quhyt and lynyt befor outwith [etc.] … with litill hudis of the samyn clath 1456 Hay I. 134/33.
Treuly it war better, quhen he tuke the mantill, leve him the cote with a1500 Henr. Garmont Gud Ladeis 23.
Hir mantill [should be] of humilitie, To tholl bayth wind & weit Id. Test. Cress. 386. 1504 Halyb. 272. c1500-c1512 Dunb. G. Targe 139. Id. Tua Mar. W. 24. Id. xlviii. 46.
In serk and mantill [eftir hir] I went In to this garth 1511 Treas. Acc. IV. 209.
Ane fyne blew mantill to the Quene 1513 Doug. xi. xv. 19.
Hys rych mantill, of quham the forbreist lappys … was buklyt with a knot Ib. iv. iv. 15. a1538 Abell 81 b.
[The Templars] first thai wsit quhit mantillis 15.. Clar. ii. 1403. 1549–50 Elgin Rec. I. 101.
For the vrangus … cuttyng of ane mantill beand about Thomas Gadderar the bailȝeis dochter gangand hir lesum busenes 1571 Edinb. Test. II. 168.
Hir best mantill 1625 Scot Vox Vera 5.
When Sathan appeared to Saul, hee was lapped in Samuels mantle

b. Freq. applied to a kind of plaid or blanket worn as their principal garment by Highlanders and Irishmen.Also ersche, Ireland, hieland mantill. c1515 Asl. MS. I. 221/9.
And thai [the Earl of Ross and the Lord of the Isles] gaf thaim [the Douglases] mantillis agane c1475 Wall. i. 217.
Thow Scot, … Ane Ersche mantill it war thi kynd to wer, … Rouch rewlyngis [etc.] 1546 Acta Conc. & Sess. MS. XXI. 55 b.
Ane Ireland mantill 1578 Inv. Wardrobe 231.
Ane hieland mantill of blak freis pasmentit with gold and lynit with blak taffetie a1578 Pitsc. (1814) xxiii.
They be cloathed with ane mantle, with ane schirt fachioned after the Irisch maner, going bair legged to the knie 1587 Carmichael Etym. 45.
Gausapa, a plaid or mantil c 1620 Sutherland Bk. II. 359.
Purge your countrey … from that vnciwill kynd of cloithes, such as plaids, mantels, truses, and blew bonnets

c. A bedcover, coverlet. Also bed-mantill.(The Barbour quot. may, however, belong to one of the prec. uses.) 1375 Barb. xix. 672.
A lauchtane mantell than him by Liand apon the bed he saw 1521–2 Old Dundee II. 239.
A werdor bed, with twa blankets and a cod [26s. 8d.] … the mantill and sheets [20s.] 1528 Balfour Pract. 234.
Ane langsettil bed with ane arras work, ane mantle, ane napsek [etc.] 1582 Edinb. Test. XI. 14 b.
Foure mantillis price of the pece xxx s., … Item ane new bed mantill price iij l.

d. fig. and transf. a1500 Henr. Fab. 1678 (Bann.).
The somer with his iolye mantill grene With flouris fair furrit on everye fent c1475 Wall. ix. 23.
Fresch Flora hir floury mantill spreid In euery waill 1501 Doug. Pal. Hon. Prol. 2.
Paill Aurora … Her russat mantill borderit all with sabill c1500-c1512 Dunb. G. Targe 48. 1528 Lynd. Dreme 101. c1552 Id. Mon. 147. a 1550 Misc. Spald. C. II. xxix.
The nicht with mistie mantles spred a1585 Maitl. Q. xxxviii. 7 i.

e. Attrib. with claith, coit, freis, goun, rob, and with lape. a1400 Leg. S. xvi. 677.
Thai lyftyt vpe the mantil-lape & fand the child at the pape 1533 Boece vi. vii. 199.
The cognissance of the emprioure was sett in his mantill rob of purpure or cote armour 1541 Treas. Acc. VII. 447.
Ane steke of mantill freis to be coittis to the kingis grace 1561 Ib. XI. 85.
x elnis of gray mantill claith 1577 Edinb. Test. V. 204.
Ane blak mantill coit price thairof xiij s. iiij d. 1587 Ib. XVII. 245.
My best gray cloik of self blak with ane mantill goun

2. a. A large shield or screen to give cover to fighting men on a ship. 1549 Compl. 41/29.
Bayr stanis & lyme pottis … to the top, and paueis veil the top vitht pauesis and mantillis

b. Mantill wall, a curtain wall, an outer wall, a rampart, a screen wall. 1513 Doug. ix. iii. 159.
Quhat meyn thai be this myddill mantill wall, This litill stop of dykis and fowseis all? Ib. xii. Prol. 24.
The twynklyng stremowris of the orient … Bet doun the skyis clowdy mantill wall 1574 Glasgow B. Rec. I. 12.
The said Thomas to big wp the pece mantale wall wpone the said maister Dauidis ground 1580 Liber Dryburgh 313.
Jacentem apud murum vulgo lie mantill wall 1584 Melrose Reg. Rec. III. 317.
The yard callit the baikhous yeard lyand within the mantill wall of the said abbay 1608 Chron. Perth 12.
The great wind blew down the stanes of the mantil wall of the kirk