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.
†OBSERVATOR, n. Sc. Church usage: a member of a Kirk Session appointed to keep watch on the morals of the community, a kind of public censor.Sth. 1746 C. D. Bentinck Dornoch (1926) 289:
To assist the Session in their efforts to put down immorality and crime in the parish, “observators were appointed in 1746”.
