Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
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.
†MEARING, n. Also merin, mearen, miren. A strip of uncultivated ground between two rigs of corn (Mry. 1813 W. Leslie Agric. Mry. 461) or between two holdings (Mry.1 1925). Also in Eng. dial. [′mi:rən]Mry. 1718 W. Cramond Ch. Llanbryd (1900) 75:
Westward to the end of a mearing and thence northward up the said mearing.Mry. 1754 Session Papers, Brodie v. Elison (4 Jan. 1757) 4:
From the said last mentioned Green-meering, in a direct Line South-East, as the said Meering goes.Inv. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XX. 30:
Two heritors of this country, having of late years been at considerable expence, in clearing their grounds of stones, levelling the same, by removing the banks or interstices, vulgarly called merins . . . have also introduced a rotation of crops.Rs. 1810 G. S. Mackenzie Agric. Rs. 88:
The lands . . . were matted with weeds, and sadly encumbered by stones, and with mearings or baulks innumerable.
