A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1500-1513, 1606
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
Crawdoun, n. Also: crawdown, -done, craudo(u)ne; cradoun(e, -done. [Northern Eng. dial. crawdon, -en and craddon. -an, -en, etc., e.m.E. craddon (1571). ME. crathon, -an and (?) crathoun, -un, of obscure origin.] A craven, a coward. Also attrib. — c1500-c1512 Dunb. Flyt. 76.
Cukcald cradoun, cowart, and commoun theif c1500-c1512 Ib. 129.
Commirwald crawdoun c1500-c1512 Id. Tua Mar. W. 215.
Sic a craudoune, but curage c1500-c1512 Ib. 326.
I crew abone that craudone c1500-c1512 Id. lx. 22.
Crawdones, couhirttis, and theiffis of kynd 1513 Doug. xi. Prol. 119.
Becum thow cowart, crawdoun recryand 1606 Birnie Kirk-b. xv. 23.
I think it wold make our craw-down fedrum fal
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Crawdoun n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/crawdoun>
