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

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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Quhen(e, Quhein(e, adj. and n. Also: qwhene; quheyn(e, qwheyn; qwhayne; (queyn;) wheen(e, whein, whean, whin(e; (*Hyne). [OE hwéne (hwóne, hwǽne) in some degree, somewhat, instr. case of hwón Quhon(e.Also in the later and mod. Sc. dialect.Rare in the Edinburgh MS of Barb., which usu. has Quhon(e adj. and n., q.v. for further instances of quhene, esp. as a variant reading in the Cambridge MS.]

1. adj. Not many, few. = Quhon(e adj. and n. 1.attrib., predic. and absol.attrib. 1375 Barb. xvii 813 (C) (see absol. below). c1400 Troy-bk. ii 2283.
Me and the quheyne folk that war Liffand 1513 Doug. i iii 43, x i 38 (see Quhon(e adj. and n. 1 a). 1549 Lamb Ressonyng 121/13.
Bot within quhene ȝeiris, this Kyng Edward … wes eiectit [etc.] 1557 Aberd. B. Rec. I 303.
The grit exhorbitant chargis … sustenit be this puir toune … within thir quheyne last immediat yeirispredic. 1375 Barb. ii 244.
Thocht thai war qwheyn, thai war worthy Ib. xv 336 (C).
And wend thai had beyn quheyn [E. quhone, 1571 quhene, H. wheene], for he Saw bot the fleand scaill ?1438 Alex. i 910.
Bot thai swa quhein amang thame were That [etc.]absol. (1) 1375 Barb. xvii 813 (E).
Quhar quheyn [C. quheyn men] mar defence had maid a1400 Leg. S. xxvii 21.
For quhen are in this land, at wat His birth [etc.] Ib. xl 921.
That the best part of thaim ves slane, & … Quheine eschapit ?1438 Alex. i 696.
Na knew bot quhein of his duelling Ib. 1933.
That neuer sa qvhein war of sik micht c1420 Wynt. iv 491.
That qwhene [C. qwheyn, W. quhene] wyst thare-off his awine c1420 Wynt. iv 740 (C).
That qwhayne [R. quheyne, L. quhene, A. quhone, E. fewe, W. nane] had toyme thar aynde to draw c1500-c1512 Dunb. (S.T.S.) xiv 14 (Bann.).
So mony priestis cled vp in secular weid … So quhene the Psalme and Testament to reid Ib. 48.
Sa mony estait, for commoun weill sa quhene [: sene](2) 1375 Barb. iii 249.
Be thir quheyne … Ȝe may weill be ensampill se That [etc.] c1420 Wynt. v 3210.
And the quhene [C. queyn, W. few] that etchapyd than, In Brettayne passyd(3) a1400 Leg. S. xxxi 814.
For quhen of thaim defence can ma a1585 Maitland Maitl. Q. xvi 30.
Of gud men thair is our quhein [: sein](4) 1524 Acta Conc. Publ. Aff. 204.
As to ane hundreth persouns or maa or quhenar as thai think best

2. noun. A (ane) quhene ((of) persons, or of material and non-material things), a small number, a few. = Quhon(e n. 2.(1) 1375 Barb. xvii 67 (C).
Athir with ane quheyne [E. a sowme] of men(2) 1513 Doug. iii vi 45 (Sm.) (see Quhon(e n. 2). 1578–9 Haddington Treas. Acc.
To Jok Gray for ane quhein stanes to hald the masonis wirking that day, v s.

3. Quite a large number (of people); a ‘good few’. b. Freq., esp. when followed by a pejorative noun or noun phr.: A ‘set’, ‘pack’, ‘collection’.Const. usu. with omission of of. ?1661-5 M. Bruce Soul-Confirmation 15.
There is a whine old job-troot ministers among us, a whine old job-troot professors Id. Six Dreadfull Alarms 18.
He is sure of the fury of a whean graceless folk 1665 Glasgow Maltmen 42.
And saying … there was not ane honest maltman in all Glasgow, but a whein of false villane knaves 1676 Welsh Gospel Summonds Pref. 5.
They shut out all the godly ministers, and they sent in upon them a wheen wicked, ungodly … men to fill up their room Ib. (5).
There are a wheen poor people 1676 Dumfries & Galloway Soc. XXXV 152.
To see the saints living among a whein (yea, a generation of) vipers 1680 Soc. Ant. XLV 241.
A whin knaves Ib. 237. 1682 Lauder Observes 303.
A wheen loun ladds 1682 Peden Lords Trumpet 21.
O sirs! Christ had a whein noble worthies in Scotland not long ago