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

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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Schete, Scheit(e, Sheat, n.² Also: scheyt, sheet. [ME and e.m.E. schete (1336), chete (1352), shette (1373), shit (1522), OE scéat wk. masc. = S(c)hete n.¹, also ‘lower corner of a sail’, comb. in scéatlíne in this sense.] ‘A rope … attached to … the lower corners of a square sail (or the after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail), and used to extend the sail or to alter its direction' (OED).Betuix (betweene) twa schetes, in references to sailing before a directly following wind.(1) a1570-86 Shaw Maitl. F. 384/7.
Giff chynges the wynd on force ȝe mon Bolyn huke haik and schete hale on 1513 Doug. iii iv 111.
Lows the rabandis and lat down the saill The sowth wyndis stentis furth strait our schete [L. Noti vela tendunt] Ib. viii 28.
We … slakis down the schetis and maid sayll Ib. 84.
Down fallys the schetis of the salys swith Ib. 108.
Pallynurus fyrst Hard halys the schete [Sm. scheit, Ruddim. scheite] on syde 1513 Doug. v i 30.
Commandis he euery feir Do red thar takillis … Hym self infangis the le schete of the saill Ib. v xiv 7.
Than al sammyn … Dyd heys thar sail and trossyt down thar teys; Now the le schete [Ruddim. scheyt] and now the luf thai slak 1516 Exch. R. XIV 149.
Pro retibus, cordis et groundrapis, schetis, sale [etc.] 1538 Acta Conc. & Sess. MS X 167.
His said schip and hir thre cablis … salis, schetis, crossis, brokis & vther geir 1549 Compl. 40/32.
Hail eftir the mane sail scheit Ib. 41/19.
The master cryit, … hail the linche and the scheitis a1605 Montg. Misc. P. xlviii 142.
To saill vp Sigeum, mates, we ar assuir[d] Thairfor tak on ȝour babert luif abuird. Out with ȝour boulings. The wind is south south west. Wp with ȝour sheats, and haill them to the bes[t] 1600-1610 Melvill 169.
He cust about and pykit on the wind, halding bathe the helme and scheit Id. Seamans Shout 144.
The ship made snog; sheates smyttes and ties all fast(2) a1570-86 Shaw Maitl. F. 384/4.
I rid ȝow than war lufe war le Suppois ȝe sale betuix twa scheittis 1513 Doug. iii vi 193.
On burd! a fair wynd blawis betwix twa schetis [L. et vi cursus in altum vela vocet] 1535 Stewart 585.
The wynd wes fair … Betuix tua scheittis thai salit … Ay be ane burd a1605 Montg. Misc. P. xlviii 102.
Fair wes the wind, and roum betuene tua sheits 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii 328.
Each bulging sayle … begins to swell, betweene two sheetes