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.
†OSLIN, n. Also in the form orzelon. A variety of early apple cultivated in Scotland (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Also attrib.Kcd. 1801 Edb. Weekly Jnl. (23 Sept.) 301:
On an oslin tree near Laurencekirk there are fresh blossoms and a second crop of fruit fully set.Ags. 1817 P. Neill Brit. Hortic. 209:
The Oslin pippin is sometimes called the Original, and sometimes the Arbroath pippin; by Forsyth [Treatise on Fruit-Trees (1802) 64] it is named Orzelon. . . . The Oslin has been for time immemorial cultivated at St Andrews and Arbroath.Ags. 1823 A. Balfour Foundling II. iii.:
Orlins [sic] like very sucker.Nai. 1861 C. Innes Sk. Early Sc. Hist. 464:
Only seven sorts of apples, among which is not found the Oslin, the earliest of all, and the favourite of after generations at Kilravock.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) viii.:
Oslins that you'd stealt ooten his ain garden.
