Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
PRIVATE, adj. Also preevat (Slk. 1829 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) xii.), prevet (Sc. 1875 A. Hislop Bk. Sc. Anecdote 308). Sc. forms and usages in combs.: 1. private schools, in the Univ. of St Andrews: appar. a kind of seminar or private class as opposed to a public lecture; 2. private waddin, a wedding at which the guests did not contribute money for their entertainment as was done at a penny-waddin or pay-waddin (Fif. 1952).1. Fif. 1714 W. C. Dickinson Two Students (1952) 48, xxv.:
It was K's turn last week to impugn theses in their private Schools, and it will [be] Th's this week. . . . Here he must be in the publick and private Schools three hours in the forenoon and about two in the afternoon without a fire.
