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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Phrase, n. Also: phrais(e, phraisse. [e.m.E. phrase (1530), phraies, phraze, L. phrasis, Gk. φράσις speech, way of speaking, phraseology, F. phrase (c 1575).] Phrase, or a phrase, in various usual senses.

1. The choice, or arrangement, of words chosen to express a particular idea. 1549 Compl. 17/5.
Gyf sic vordis suld be disusit … than the phrasis of the antiquite vald be confundit ande adnullit 1561 Q. Kennedy Compendious Ressonyng (ed.) 162/18.
Thay will na man of iugement or learning mak difference betuix thir wordis ‘gevin for ȝou’ and ‘offerit for ȝou’ as towart the effect albeit the phrase and maneir of speche differis Ib. 162/26.
As the phrase of the wordis planelie declaris 1582 Misc. Stair Soc. I. 108.
Berring that the falsett apperis be the phrais of the charter in the language, maner of constructioune … etc. 1597 James VI Dæmonol. 57.
Yee must notwithstanding thereof note my phrase of speaking in that

b. Only in Kennedy: ? The thought or opinion expressed by the words (as opposed to their arrangement, or style). — a1561 Q. Kennedy Breif Tract. (ed.) 123/5.
Quhat phrais and maner of spekynge menis thir vordes Ib. 141/11.
It is nocht ane phraise nor maner of spekin … propir for ane Christiane man to speir quhow [etc.]

2. A manner of expression or style, esp. one characteristic of a language, work, author or age; an idiom. 1562-3 Winȝet I. 60/34.
The phrase and dictioun heirof 1568 Cal. Sc. P. II. 499.
The Frenchemen and thair evill Frenche phraissis 1594 Charteris Pref. Wall. in Misc. Bann. C. III. 172.
I haif insert ane pairt of the said fourtene chapter in Latine, smelland the phrase of thay dayis a1605 Montg. Son. xliv. 6.
Done With more affectione nor with formall phrais 1619 Garden Elphinstoun 683.
Whose melleit mouthe and flowent phrase So much admeired hes bene 1632 Fugitive Poetry II. viii. 2/1.
In simple phraise

3. A small group of words expressing a single notion and forming part of the structure of a sentence; an expression. 1652 Conv. Burghs III. 363.
By delaiting interlyning or margining such phrases wordis and sillables as he findis therin defective 1679 Wodrow Hist. (1828) III. 7.
Till it was amended in several phrases he reckoned wrong — 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 74/30.
The wordis sentences and phrasis necessair for a poete to vse in his verse

4. In other senses.a. An aphoristic saying; a proverb. — 1678 Essay Inscr. Macduff's Crosse 6.
Have we not the phrase, ilk land has its laugh

b. Only Sc.: To mak a phrase (to do something), to urge (a course of action) vociferously; to make an outcry. — 1637 Baillie I. 43.
Some of the lords … made a phrase to sett down the session in the Palace of Linlithgow