A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1425, 1499-1666
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Ratto(u)n, n. Also: -o(u)ne, -own; rato(u)n(e, ratine. [ME (1300–20, Trevisa) and e.m.E. rato(u)n, e.m.E. also rat(t)en, -in, OF raton, med. L. raton-. See also Rotto(u)n n.] A rat.Also, in extended sense (see Rat(t n.2 (2)), and applied to a person as a nickname.(1) a1400 Legends of the Saints vii 680.
Nothire wes lewit in that towne Hwnde, na catte, na ȝet ratone 1425 Acts I Notice MSS xviii.
Meo mureligo nominato Wery ratoune 1425 Ib. II 12/2.
Of suddande case that may nocht be forsene as wylde fyre or rattounis or foulis a1500 Henr. Fab. 910.
The rattoun ran, the globard furth can glyde 1506 Treasurer's Accounts III 188.
For wesching of the kyrk clathes … and mending of thaim quen tha wer riffin with ratonis 1519 Reg. Episc. Aberd. II 176.
Buird clathis … riffin and holit witht rattownis 1531 Bell. Boece I xxxv.
Rattonis 1531 Ib. II 450. c1552 Lynd. Mon. 2495.
Thay haif none strenth thare self to rais agane, Thocht rattonis ouir thame ryn c1552 Ib. 3985.
Necessitie gart thame eit, perforsse, Dog, catt, and rattone [etc.] 1566 Treasurer's Accounts XI 516.
Talloune … eittin be rattonis and cattis a1568 Bannatyne MS 156a/15.
Ane rattoun in a window satt a1605 Montg. Flyt. 288 (H) (see Rat(t n.2 (2)). 1596 Dalr. I 47/23.
Rattoune 1629 Boyd Last B. 17.
What are barnes of corne on earth … ? … a nest for myce and rattons 1647 Aberd. B. Rec. IV 82.
Ratons 1654 Nicoll Diary 134.
The slayer … was leiched upone the bak … with sum few straikes … quhilk wald not haif killed a rattoun 1664 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. I 549.
Rattones and other vermin(2) 1666 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. II 164.
Jon McInteir, alias called the Rattoun
b. attrib. with fall, poyson, taker.1685 Soc. Ant. LVIII 358 (see Fall n.2). — 1590 Criminal Trials I ii 195.
For bying rattoun poysoune 1590 Ib. 197.
[She] tuik with her … rattoun poysoun to Ardmoir 1635 Duncan Glasg. Physic. & Surg. 220.
That nane sell ratine poyseing, arsenick, or sublimate, under the paine of ane hundreth merkes — a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 139.
A muft cat was never a gud raton taker
c. Also, once, rendering L. glis a dormouse. — 1579 Despauter (1579).
Glis, a rattoun
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