Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
LEASE, v.1 Also leaze, leese, leesh, leeze, lise (Edb. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 16). intr. To tell lies; tr. to tell lies about, slander, calumniate. [li:z]Ayr. 1706 A. Edgar Old Church Life (1886) II. 375:
A mother and a daughter, “were cited before the Session, next Fryday, for leazing Mr Maitland.” Most freq. in ppl.adj. and vbl.n. leasin, leesin, leeshin, lying, slandering, (speaking) falsehood. Phrs.: but leezance [= leasins], without a lie, truly; leesin' like, like a falsehood, unplausible. Mostly arch. or liter.Peb. 1715 A. Pennecuik Works (1815) 405:
Thou speaks a leasing in that thing.Sc. 1721 R. Wodrow Sufferings I. i. s. 2:
All who hear any such Leasings, Calumnies, or Slanders.Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 73:
Thir queans are ay upon the catch For pursie, pocket-book, or watch, And can sae glibb their leesins hatch.Edb. 1801 J. Thomson Poems 133:
Sic things my gude-dam tauld to me, … But O I think it's leesin' like!Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel iv.:
You were better up to your neck in the Nor-Loch … than tell a leasing where his Majesty's name is concerned.Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 37:
But, leezance! it's past redemption now.m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 250:
Some o' their leeshin' nonsense, I fancy.m.Lth. 1858 Dark Night 71:
Maister Elliwut manna tak in a' your leeshin' stories.Dmf. 1877 R. W. Thom Jock o' the Knowe 1:
Gif ony loon wi' a leasing tongue O' the gaberlunzie spoke.Sc. 1907 D. MacAlister Echoes (1923) 125:
Wi' leasin' they begeck the lan'.
Hence Sc. Law comb. leasing-making, the spreading of calumny against the Sovereign likely to cause sedition or disaffection, corresp. to scandalum magnatum in Eng. Law, seditious utterance (see 1811 quot.); calumny, rumour-mongering in gen. (rare). A person guilty of this is a leasing-maker. Obs. exc. hist.Sc. 1703 Acts Parl. Scot. XI. 104:
Act anent Leesing makers and Slanderers.Sc. 1797 D. Hume Punishment of Crimes II. 83:
Act anent Leasing-makers, and the acts therein recited, and by the laws of all well governed nations, leasing-making, and the uttering of slanderous speeches, tending to excite sedition, and alienate the affection of the people from his Majesty's person and government.Sc. 1811 J. Burnett Crim. Law 250:
Leasing-Making is not always sedition, any more than sedition is in every instance Leasing-Making; which last is, in its nature, properly a verbat injury, or slander, directed against the Prince, and may be committed without a seditious intention, though, in effect, it always must have a seditious tendency.Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality xi.:
I would have the fellows that write such nonsence brought to the picquet for leasing-making.Ayr. 1826 Galt Last of Lairds xxviii.:
Did ye no hear o' the leesin' makin' that I was made the innocent victim o'?Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 898:
Sedition is distinguished from leasing-making, in this respect, that the object of leasing-making is to disparage or prejudice the private character of the Sovereign, whereas sedition is directed against the order and tranquillity of the State.Fif. 1864 St Andrews Gaz. (22 Oct.):
Grumblers and leasing makers thought fit to say that an interdict had been served upon the parties.Sc. 1904 A. M. Anderson Criminal Law 63:
Originally the punishment was death, but in 1703 it was relaxed to an arbitrary penalty. By the Leasing-making (Scotland) Act, 1825, the punishment for leasing-making, sedition, and blasphemy was declared to be fine or imprisonment, or both.
