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.
Multiplie, -ply, -plé, n. [OF. multepli, moltepli, vbl. n. f. multiplier, moltepleier, Multiply v.] Multitude, (a) (large) number or quantity.c1475 Wall. ix. 1707.
‘Dicson,’ he said, ‘wait thow thair multiple?’ ‘Iij thowsand men thair power mycht nocht be;’ Ib. xi. 13.
The sotheroun fled fra him on athir sid To Burdeous in gret multiplye [: se] 1549 Compl. 15/25.
That battellis consistis vndir the gouernance of fortune ande nocht in the ingyne of men nor in the multiplie of pepil Ib. 23/26.
Ande my een to be cum obscure throucht the multiplie of salt teyris Ib. 79/30. 1551 Acts II. 483/2.
The multiplie [v.r. greit multiply] of wynis daylie cummand within this realme 1596 Dalr. I. 7/33. Ib. 41/17.
In sum places is funde multiplie of tinne Ib. II. 224/22.
