Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1703-1706, 1768-1960
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MAW, v.1, n.1 Sc. forms and usages of Eng. mow, to reap. See P.L.D. §34.1. [mǫ:; mɑ:]
I. v. A. Forms: inf., pr.t., maw, ma(a) (s.Sc. 1871 D.S.C.S. 206); pa.t. weak mawed, strong meuw (Ib.; sm.Sc. 1962). [mɪu]; pa.p. mawn, maan (Ib.). Gen.Sc.Sc. 1705 Foulis Acct. Bk. (S.H.S.) 389:
The 2 mawers began to maw the intack this morning.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 23:
But mair nor master maws the field.Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 14:
And wad ha'e kemp'd wi' ony man At dyking or at mawing.Ayr. 1792 Burns In Simmer i.:
In simmer, when the hay was mawn And corn wav'd green in ilka field.Sc. 1817 Scott Rob Roy vi.:
I hae been flitting every term these four-and-twenty years; but when the time comes there's aye . . . something to maw that I would like to see mawn.Slk. 1820 Hogg Tales (1874) 188:
For death spares naebody. . . . He maws them down as the gerse on the field.Bwk. 1859 P. Landreth J. Spindle (1911) 4:
I muckit oot the byre, an' mawed a pickle gerss for the coo.Sh. 1916 J. Burgess Rasmie's Smaa Murr (14 Aagust):
If ye maa girss wi da weet, ye loss naen o da droucght.Ork. 1931 J. Leask Peculiar People 132:
Treu, dere waasna muckle tae maa, forbye whit waas o'd waas tin an' short.
B. Usages: 1. Derivs.: (1) mawer, one engaged in mowing, a mower (Gall. 1962); (2) mawster, id.(1) Sc. 1703 Foulis Acct. Bk. (S.H.S.) 329:
To tomas his mawers in the easter park . . . £0 4 6.Wgt. 1877 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 93:
A pickle mair siller to pay us mawers.(2) Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 100:
The mawster strong, wi' shining steel He bounds the meadow through.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 325:
It has what mawsters call a matted sole, which racks the shouther-blades in cutting it.
2. Combs. with ppl.adj.: ¶(1) mawing-airn, a scythe; (2) maain-girse, meadow hay (Sh., Ags. 1962).(1) Sc. 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah ii. 4:
Till pleughs syne, their swurds they sal dight, an' their spears intil mawin-airns.(2) Sh. 1960 New Shetlander No. 54. 16:
Dey're wuppled roond da maain-girse In mödows growin green.
3. Vbl.n. mawing, the portion of a crop to be laid aside for payment of rent, in allusion to the familiar proverb about the apportionment of every three seeds in a farmer's grain crop, “Ane to saw, and ane to gnaw and ane to pay the laird witha”.Sc. 1706 Charitable Observations on Forbes' Treatise on Tithes 99:
By the old Scots way of calculating the proportion of the growth of the land, which ought to be payed yearly to the Heretor, they make a Tripartit division, by three Words Somewhat Barbarous, Sawing, Gnawing, Mawing: the first Imports, that the 3d part of the Cropt should be laid aside for Sowing the land the next year: the 2d Implies that another 3d part should be allowed to the Farmer for Maintenance of his Family and beasts necessary for his Labour: the last 3d being due to the Land-lord.
†II. n. A single sweep with the scythe (Cld. 1825 Jam.).
