Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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

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About this entry:
First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

A, prep.¹ Reduced form of o, On prep.Corresponding to Eng. a, current in various uses from late OE.

1. With ordinary nouns. 1456 Peebles B. Rec. 113.
Land awest half the Cors c1475 Wall. x. 529.
A south the toun 1602 Monkland Baron Ct. 5.
A eistell the wostell end 1610 Carnegie Lett. 343.
Tua legues a this syd off … 1614 Melrose P. 159.
Being a schipboord 1657 Balfour Ann. III. 435.
He … went to Ely, a purpois to embarke

2. With verbal nouns. 1558-66 Knox II. 469.
Not … lang a doing 1596 Dalr. II. 412.
That nathing be … a seiking 1644 Baillie II. 152.
The armies are near a-yocking 1653 Hope Diary 161.
The ludgeing was a faling