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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†TINCHEL, n., v. Also teinchil, tinchal, tainchel, tanchell; tin(c)kell and erron. tinckbell (Sc. 1771 T. Pennant Tour 1769 105). [′tɪŋxəl]

I. n. 1. In hunting: a ring of hunters who surround a chosen area and gradually close in to entrap any quarry, esp. deer, found in the circle, an ambush of deer (Sc. 1825 Jm.). Hist. Also fig. Comb. tinchel man, one of the beaters or drivers in a deer-hunt.Sc. 1810 Scott Lady of Lake vi. xvii.:
We'll quell the savage mountaineer, As their Tinchel cows the game!Sc. 1820 Hogg Tales (1874) 121, 128:
The tinckell was raised at two in the morning — upwards of 400 men were gathered that day. . . . The tinckell was then but thin.Gall. 1843 J. Nicholson Tales 208:
The tinckell, as it was called in hunting phrase, was crowded together on a low hill.Sc. 1873 J. H. Burton Hist. Scot. I. 141, V. 367:
It is a Tinchel or general sweeping of the contents of the district. . . . Gillies or tinchel men had been scouring the hills within a radius of fifty or sixty miles, driving before them all the wild beasts.Sc. 1899 Edb. Review (Jan.) 222:
A vast extent of mountain is encircled by an ever contracting line, as in the old Scottish tinchal.Per. 1906 J. A. Harvie-Brown Fauna of Tay 36:
When the Duke of Atholl called his men and neighbours together for a great “Tinchel” or Deer-hunt.Highl. 1950 Scots Mag. (Jan.) 248:
There it was that the nobility held high holiday at their great deer-drives or “tinchels” as they were called.Abd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 39:
As if the stobs o a sick rose
War plottin in secret
Tae draw a tinchel roon me -
Their reids, their blaiks,
In the mids o a deep glen.

2. A pack (of animals).Abd. a.1909 Deeside Field (1929) 42:
And fa' met I but Simpson Wi' a teinchil o' tykes at his heels?

¶II. v. To hunt, track down, round up.Abd. p.1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shep. MS. 122:
In search of Mashly up thro' Murray's braes Whiles here o' her gets notice, whileoms there Still follows on and tanchells her with care.