Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
TREEN, adj. Also treean, treein, trein (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Wooden, made of wood. Arch. Now only dial. in Eng.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 211:
Luggie, quegh, or truncher treein.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
A treein leg, a wooden leg.Sc. 1881 Chambers's Jnl. (28 May):
A huge wooden platter known in Scotland as a “treen truncher.”
Comb. trein mare, an instrument of punishment formerly used in the army, the wooden horse (Sc. 1808 Jam.); also = Stang, n.2, 1. (2).Bnff. 1749 Annals Banff (S.C.) I. 129:
2 dales for mending Treen-mare for the soldiers.Cai. 1891 D. Stephen Gleanings 25:
When I was a young man in Thurso that's the sort of thing they put the men on that were bad to their wives, and they ca'd it the treean mare.
