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

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Skep(e, Skeip(e, n. Also: scep, skepp-, skaip(e, scape, skape, skeipe, skip. [ME and e.m.E. scep (Cursor M.), skeppe (c1340), skepe (1397), skip (Wyclif), med. L. (Eng.) sceppa (a1100), scheppa (1216), eskeppa (1315), ON skeppa basket, bushel.]

1. A basket, ? freq. one of straw. 1223 Reg. Episc. Glasg. I 105.]
[Quatuor skeppis farine(a) a1400 Leg. S. xviii 1257.
Sic met as with hyme had he In a skepe a1400 Leg. S. xxx 682.
Come a man that a skepe bare Fyllyt of met of delyt 1522 Dunferm. B. Rec. I 209.
Ane skep of stra 1558–9 Edinb. Old Acc. I 279.
For skeppis under the Lordis feit the wynter sessioun … ix s. 1559 Inverness Rec. I 32.
The spulȝeingis of twe scep of his quhilkis wes gottyn in the … corne fra the saidis Williamis serwandis 1598 Black Bk. Taymouth 333.
Skeppis 1685 Soc. Ant. LVIII 366.
A corne skep(b) 1569 Inverness Rec. I 180.
Ane stray skeipe price xviij d.(c) 1608 Tailor's Acc. Bk. 59.
For ane glas of watter to the ladyis eyn & ane skaip to cary it in

2. A basket of a specific size used as a measure.‘The skep measure is said to have been borrowed from the English practice. It contained twelve bushels’; A. Jeffrey Roxburghshire (1859) III vii 125 (OED). 1681 Blackness Customs 25b.
Ane barrell containing three skaipes of reaseines 1681 Blackness Customs 32b, 33b.
Tua hundretht sixty three pund reaseines in ane barrell & skep … tua hundretht pund weycht of reaseines in four skaips

3. A beehive, ? orig. one made from straw.See Beis skep and Be-skep n. for further examples. 1575 Edinb. Test. III 445.
Twa bee skeppis price of the pece xl s. 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 49/101.
Quhen he [sc. their king] delytis furth of the scapes to spring Then all the leaue [sc. honey bees] uill follou him 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 227/228.
As bussie bees into thaire skeppis … thaire emptie hoilis to fill 1587-99 Hume 30/149.
Forth of their skepps some raging bees Lyes out and will not cast 1607 Edinb. Test. XLIII 324.
Thrie bie skepis price of the peice ouerheid iii li. 1613 Kirkcudbr. B. Rec. II 129.
Ane bie skep 1623 Crim. Trials III 555.
Bie-skeppis 1671 Nicolson Diurnals 3 May.
For 8 skeps from Tuedmouth for the bees 3 l. 4 s. 1674 Melrose Reg. Rec. II 398.
Beis skaip 1681 Fawside Coal Compt 77.
To the garner for tuo beies scapes 13 s. 4 d. 1694 Foulis Acc. Bk. 166.
For 3 bee skeps

4. attrib. and comb. 1566 Canongate Kirk S. (ed.) 58.
Scepmaker 1567 Canongate Kirk S. 69.
Skepmaker 1665 Nicolson Diurnals 20 Nov.
Ane skep lid for the masking fatt