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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.

Old(e, Ould(e, a. (n.) Also: oild, olld, oled, -od, owl(l)d. [ME. oold(e (Wyclif), hold(e, wold(e, ole (Prompt. Parv.), ME. and e.m.E. old(e (c 1200, Layamon), e.m.E. ould(e (1530), owld, taking the place of Ald a.]But perh. some or all of the earliest examples of this form are to be attributed to editorial miscopying or misprinting.

Old. = Ald a. in its various senses. (The) old, also = elder, in contradistinction to younger: see also Lard n.¹ 3 a, Lady n. 4, etc. The old goodman, the Devil: see Gud(e)man n. 1 a.(1) 1375 Barb. x. 746 (C).
As old men sayis a1500 Colk. Sow iii. 149.
My beledame old Gurgunnald 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Strix, an olde hagge, a witche 1633 Sc. Ant. I. 93.
Oled Mester Anglea 1675 Kirkcudbr. Test. (Reg. H.).
Ten olld sheepabsol. c1400 Troy-bk. ii. 1376 (C).
Both old & yhing(b) 1549 Sel. MSS. Q. Mary 53.
I shall ware these ould bones of myne 1570 Leslie 222. c1590 Fowler I. 80/81. Ib. 81/112.
Ould, harie, lothesom, crooked age 1608 Highland P. III. 114.
Seing my ould aige dayle crepis on 1604-9 Grahame Anat. Hum. 41 b.
To nurisch their parents when they are oulde 1674 Kirkcudbr. Test. (Reg. H.) 4 May.
Ane ould naige(2) a1633 Hope Major Pract. II. 94.
Ane decreit of removeing obtained contra old Bandein … could not prejudge the ejectione in prejudice of young Bandein 1657 Misc. Hist. Soc. VII. 24.
The owlld larde 1677 Brodie Diary 383.
The old Ladi Colvil(3) 1646 Strathbogie Presb. 71.
Being accused of sorcerie in alloting and giuing over some land to the old goodman (as they call it), denyed the same and … promised to manure said land(4) 1666 Wemyss Corr. 127.
When you are both a hunder yirs olodabsol. 1677 Thanes of Cawdor 334.
My 3 yeir old cowes, my 2 yeir olds and my year olds(5) 1569-73 Bann. Memor. 15.
Gif the ould bloud, innocentlie shed, wilbe so covered with new bloud 1602 Colville Paraenese Ep. 4.
My … ould acquentance 1623 Argyll Rentals MS. 9 Sept.
An old and native tenant c1650 Spalding I. 69.
Not being of the old blood of the toun 1663 Misc. Hist. Soc.V. 163.
That he is an old malignant I leik him all the better 1666 Laing MSS. I. 354.
2 of the oild cumpanes of my Loird Lithgois regement 1675 Edinb. B. Rec. X. 228.
George Reid old provast and Walter Borthwick old dean of gild(6) 1529–30 M. Works Acc. (ed.) I. 24.
The laying and stelyng of the ould cawel 1612 Ib. 340.
Aucht feit new glas and tene of ould glas 1657 Galloway P. 28 Dec.
10 bolls old meat 1657 Hibbert P. No. 19.
It [sc. beer] will not be malt for itts old & small 1675 Cramond Kirk S. II. 5 Dec.
The velvet mortcloath, because worn something olde, to pay [etc.](7) c1400 Troy-bk. ii. 578 (C).
In old tyme a1500 Colk. Sow i. 19.
In old prouerbe we sing 1570 Leslie 17.
Remembring on oulde injureis, he [etc.] 1588 Events Q. Mary & Jas. VI 50.
His majesties guid health … continewis in the ould mainer c1590 Fowler I. 55/213.
It is so ancient, so vniuersall ould that [etc.] 1663 Brown Suppl. Dict. Decis. II. 316.
Of the old met and meesure of Duns 1666-74 Fraser Polichron. 474.
The old kitchin Latin 1674 Cunningham Diary 36.
Of old debt [2s./8d.] 1669 Jus Populi 442.
Why then did you chant over the old song againe to make yourself ridiculous? 1677 Rothesay B. Rec. 351.
According to old use and wont 1693 Sage Fundam. Chart. Presb. (1695) Pref.
The good old cause(8) a 1685 Sempill P. lxxvii.
Should old acquaintance be forgot … On old longsyne c1680 McWard Serm. Cup of Cold Water 27.(9) c1400 Troy-bk. ii. 1054.
Of one ould tour 1447 Reg. Episc. Aberd. I. 244.
Sanct Peteris hospitale of old Aberdene [infra ald Aberdon] c 1536–7 Rec. Earld. Orkney 222.
Be all right meiths merchis old and dewydit [etc.] c1590 Fowler I. 397/27.
Ould(10) c1630 Scot Narr. 14.
In March 1571 (or, according to the old accompt, 1570) c 1630 Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II. 158.
Ten merkland of old rentall 1671 McWard True Nonconf. 125.
The old dispensation(11) 1627 Rep. Parishes 2.
They payed off owld [etc.] c1650-1700 Descr. Zetland 23.
The broughs … were of old great places of refuge(12) c1400 Troy-bk. ii. 2374.
This Acastrus was ȝit liffand, For he for old scantlie mycht stand(13) comb. ?a1648 Polemo-Mid. 35.
Oldmoudus 1665 Gunn Cross Kirk, Peebles 191.
An old-faced warlock's get