Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
RINGLE-TREE, n. ? Glossed by Child per W. Walker “as probably the huge block of wood used for scutching flax and mangling clothes. An old game-keeper tells me that he has heard the word and so understands it”. But the word is not otherwise evidenced and the explanation is very doubtful. In sim. contexts the word Gantree, s.v., is used, and it is probable that ringle-tree is a corruption in the text (from an English stall copy).Sc. c.1800 Jolly Beggar in Child Ballads (1894) V. 112; 369:
He laid her on the ringle-tree, and gave her kisses three And he gave her twenty guineas, to pay the nurse's fee.
