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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

RETOUR, n., v. [rə′tur]

I. n. 1. A return, a return journey.Sc. 1792 “Juvenis Scoticus” Melpomene 54:
On a retour frae creeshy dinners.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals i.:
By retour of the post, I got an answer.Edb. 1897 W. Beatty Secretar viii.:
Keep that auld carle Geddes in gude ward till my retour. Abd. 1991 George Bruce in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 22:
and mither at the tap eidently protectin her brood
frae the storms o divisions in retour for lealty,
as we ken noo, seein their doups jig up and doon

†2. Specif. A return journey made at reduced rates in a carriage or on a horse which had been specially hired for the outward journey bv another party. Also attrib. applied to an animal or vehicle used for this (Sc. 1808 Jam.). In 1771 quot. a passenger prepared to hire a vehicle for a return journey.Sc. 1711 Caldwell Papers (M.C.) 226:
To retour west . . . . . . . . . . £3 0 0 Sc.Sc. 1757 Session Papers, Countess of Gsw. v. Thermes (20 Dec.) 2:
He thought fit to send the Box by a Retourcart to Glasgow.Sc. 1765 Session Papers, Lord Advocate v. Baitlie (13 June) 16:
A person hired a retour horse to Dundee.Edb. 1771 Session Papers, Mackenzie v. Brown & Craig Proof 14:
If she got him a retour from Inverness, sne was to have the chaise for five guineas.Clc. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XIV. 628:
The port and harbour of Alloa . . . from which, by a retour carriage, the propietors can easily bring any supplies.Lnl. 1856 A. Dawson Rambling Recoll. 26:
Not a little travelling was accomplished by what was called “retours” or by means of return post chaises.

3. A round, a turn, bout; a second round or helping, an extra dose, of food etc. (Abd. 1968).Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 143:
He's hid a gey retour o' drinkan. She ga' ‘im a retour o' scaulan, it made's lugs crack.Abd. 1931 Abd. Press and Jnl. (30 Jan.):
The flailsman laid on, turned the sheaves, and gave them another retour till the golden grain was duntit oot.Abd. 1954:
To come back for a retour, i.e. for a second helping of food, another round of drink, etc.

4. Sc. Law: the return or extract of a decision sent to Chancery by a Jury or Inquest, declaring a successor heir to ms ancestor; the record of such a return entered in the Chancerv books, esp. one including the annual taxable value of the inherited land as assessed under the Old or New Extent, q.v. See Service. Comb. retour duty, the amount of tax payable based on the value recorded in the retour. Cf. v., 2. Now only hist. since 1847.Bnff. 1702 Rec. Bnff. (S.C.) 113:
His retour being a thrie pound land is here produced.Sc. 1722 W. Forbes Institutes I. II. 81:
The Inquest. if they find the Points of the Brief clear instructed, they serve the claimant Heir in special, in the Lands, &c. Which special service being returned to the chancery, he gets an Extract thereof from the Director, called a Special Retour.Sc. 1745 Session Papers, Petition H. Crawfurd (1 Feb.) 3:
A Retour, properly speaking, is the Verdict of the Inquest, or, at least, an Extract of the Proceedings before the Sheriff-court, under the Clerk's Hand, returned to the Chancery: But a Retour may also mean the Record of a Retour in the Chancery-books.Sc. 1747 Scots Mag. (Aug.) 366:
As often as such lands fall in non-entry, they shall be no longer subject to the new extent or retour duty, but, instead thereof, to the annual payment of one pound Scots for every hundred pounds Scots of their valued rent.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 861:
Where there is no retour of lands, . . . the superior is entitled to the valued rent. . . . Blanch-holdings . . . are liable in a retour duty of one per cent of the valued rent.w.Lth. 1845 Stat. Acc.² H. 62:
The second Lord Bargeny, (John Hamilton), who was served heir to his father, the first lord, on the 17th October 1662, as the retour in Thomson's Abridgement bears.Sc. 1905 M. Livingstone Guide to Public Rec. 215:
Retours are so named from being the return to this office of the verdict of a jury in inquests proceeding upon brieves or royal warrants issued from Chancery. By far the larger part of these retours contain the verdicts serving heirs to their ancestors; which form the basis of their written title to the heritage of the latter; these are designed briefly as retours of service.Sc. 1954 Ork. Miscellany II. 73:
Before the heir could obtain a precept to put him in possession, the sheriff was instructed to summon a jury to determine of what lands the heir's predecessor had been in possession, whether the heir's right was sound, what the lands were worth, on what terms they were held, and so forth. The sheriff reported the findings of the jury to the chancery, where they were entered in a register called the Record of Retours, because it consists of information “retoured” or returned by the sheriffs.

II. v. 1. To return. Arch.Sc. 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah lv. 10:
Like's the showir an' the snaw frae the lifts win awa, an' they dinna retour.Sc. 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ I. xi. 15:
Whan a bit mishanter fa's, we're owre sune dowf, an' retour tae the warl' for consolement.

2. Sc. Law: to make a return to Chancery declaring a successor heir (Sc. 1808 Jam.); to declare formally as heir; to declare the annual taxable value of the land concerned on such a return (Ib.). See I. 4. Gen. in ppl.adj. retoured. Comb. retoured duty, = retour duty s.v. n., 4. Deriv. retourable, of a document: returnable to the authority issuing it. Hist.Bnff. 1702 Rec. Bnff. (S.C.) 112:
The rolls of the retoured dut ies and valuationes of the shyre does clearly instruct who hes liberty to vote or not.Sc. 1703 Acts Parl. Scot. XI. App. 18:
The Barony of Bathgate which was retoured as a ten merk land of old extent.Sc. 1722 W. Forbes Institutes I. II. 186:
Brieves of Chancery . . . are of Two Sorts, viz. Brieves retoured to the Chancery, and Brieves not retoured. Retoured Brieves are those which are executed, without citing particular Parties, at the Market-cross of the head Burgh of the Jurisdiction.Sc. 1734 J. Spotiswood Hope's Practicks 185:
If the Lands in Controversy be not retoured to a special Extent, but are Part of a Barony, whereof there's a known retour'd Duty ascertained in the ancient Retours.Sc. 1736 Session Papers, Maxwel v. Maxwel (10 Feb.) 1:
Anna Maxwel was served and retoured nearest Protestant Heir in general to her Predecessors.Sc. 1754 Erskine Principles III. vii. § 28:
The brief of inquest was from the beginning retourable, i.e. it behoved the judge to return the brief, with the service proceeding on it, to the chancery.Sc. 1800 Edb. Advertiser (16 May) 312:
The said lands are instructed to have been retoured to an £8 land of old extent, so far back as April 1648.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. lviii.:
[We have] got our youngster's special service retoured into Chancery. We had him served heir before the macers.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Notandums 13:
He was retoured heir of Mongrynen.Sc. 1958 Intro. Sc. Legal Hist. (Stair Soc.) 173:
This was a retourable brieve, and, accordingly, if the jury was satisfied that the claim was proved, they served the claimant as heir, and the clerk prepared the “Retour” to the Chancery from which the brieve had emanated.