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

Market-gat(e, n. Also: markat-, marcat(e)- and -gait, -gett. [Gate n.¹] a. The street in a burgh on which a market is held. (Chiefly as a place-name within a burgh.) b. A road leading to a market-place in a burgh or elsewhere, a high-road.a. 1344 Highland P. II. 134.
In eadem villa [of Dundee] in via quae dicitur marketgat 1554 Crim. Trials I. i. 372.
Quhair thai wer … at the rowbowlis in the hie marcate gait 1566 Reg. Privy C. I. 484.
Marcat gait 1678 Douglas Bequest II. 15 Mar.b. 1446 Reg. Episc. Aberd. I. 248.
And swa ascendand the markat gate and throw the furde of Ardgrantane 1578 Aberd. Chart. 340.
And thairfra to ane welheid at the bak of the ȝard of the said eilhous croft and thairfra enterand in the markat gett corsand the said gett south-waist 1595 Bamff Chart. 144.
Ascendand … to the marcat gait that passis to the kirk of Blair in Gowrie, and fra the said marcat gait passand southwest [etc.]fig. a1661 Rutherford Cry from the Dead (1765) 9.
The old gate ye dought never have gone, but Christs market-gate is a sweet and easy way