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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Husband, Housband, n. Also: housbane, howsband, huisband, hisband. [ME. housband(e, housebonde (1239), husband, -bonde (also husebonde), late OE. húsbonda, -bunda, ON. húsbóndi, the master of the house: for the second element, see Bond n.1 In senses 1 and 2 largely obsolete from before the middle of the 16th c.: cf. Husbandman.An early example is the personal name Alexandrum Husband (1291). For early examples in the Latin form, see sense 2 below.]
1. A farmer, husbandman, peasant. 1375 Barb. vii. 151.
Till a vast husbandis [E. housbandis] hous Ib. x. 387.
Ane nemmyt ane husband thar-by neir ‘That has left all his oxyne out’ a1400 Leg. S. xxv. 127.
A housband agane oure lay Telyt his land one Sownday c1420 Wynt. v. 3193.
Off Brettayne [he] gert be tane Off hwsbandys a hundyre thowsand Till inhabyt and hald that land ?1438 Alex. i. 3115.
Richt as the husband driuis his fee To sell at markat a1500 Henr. Fab. 2729.
The pure husband [has] richt nocht Bot croip and calf vpon ane clout of land a1500 Bernardus 389.
Gef ther faderis war seruandis or hwsbandis Lat tham ga seike sic laboris in the landis a1500 Prestis of Peblis 287.
Thus ar the husbandis dytit all c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxxix. 21.
Husbandis that grangis had full grete, … Hes now no beist bot cattis and myce 1513 Doug. x. vi. 53.
The rowtis of the lauboreris Or rurall husbandis 15.. Wyf Awchtirm. 2.
In Awchtirmwchty thair dwelt ane man, Ane husband a1568 Scott i. 174.
Merchandis to trafique … , husbandis to saw and scheir 1684 Symson Descr. Galloway 74.
Good husbands till but little of this
b. Attrib. with charge, lauboure, weid, wark. a1500 Rauf C. 593.
Ane man in husband weid 1527 Liber Aberb. 479.
Arreage and carreage, and all other husband charges 1533 Boece ix. xviii. 336 b.
Thir deuote persouns … gevin … to husband lauboure, quharethrow thai mycht sustene thare narow life Ib.xi. ix. 423 b.
The King … decretit that Hay … suld leif husband lauboure and … resaue certane landis 1658 Rothesay B. Rec. 275.
For the working of the pound of yron of plew yronis of ... great work as sock coulter teimes spades and utheris husband wark thairto belonging
2. spec. A manorial tenant who had, in return for rent and services, a certain holding in land in addition to his ‘toft’ or homestead, and who thus differed from a ‘cottar’ or a ‘grassman’. Also attrib. with tak. See also Husbandman 2. 14.. Acts I. 271/1.
[De heryheldis. Si quis sedet super terram alicuius liberi hominis et terram de eo tenet vt husbandus c 1300 Coldingham Priory App. p. lxxxviii.
Sunt ibi x husbandi in duabus partibus Prioris quorum quilibet tenet unum toftum et xv acras terræ 1328 Exch. R. I. 102.
Per contribucionem de husbandis regis in Kynclevyn 1368 Ib. 298.
Cuidam pauperi husbando, volenti dimittere terram suam propter penuriam. iij s. 1438 Ib. V. 58.]
De custuma husbandorum de Marr 14.. Acts I. 324/2.
Of the scheip forsuth of the kingis husbandis j d. … of the flok 1431 Reg. Great S. 44/2.
Five pondis … yhere be yhere, to be tane throw the handdis of our husbandis dowelland in the Kyrktoun of Strethechtin 1473 Reg. Cupar A. I. 166.
Ilk ane of the said husbandis sal ȝerly pay ij bol of atys as fallys of the chafe Ib. 189.
Lattyn to the sad Dauid his husband tak of our grange forsaid 1503 Orkney Rentals i. 41.
Sa thair is in pley amangis all the husbandis and uthale men of thir placeis before written but vii settins allannerlie 1626 Leys Baron Ct. in Misc. Spald. C. V. 223.
The absentis from the wapinschaw [etc.] … , the husbands to pay for thair hyremen
3. a. Husbandis landis, the fields held by the ‘husband, tenants on an estate. = Husbandry n. 1 a. c 1350 Liber Dryburgh 231.]
[Inter terras husbandorum de Thirlstane et Clottyside 1431 Liber Melros 524.
Four akiris of land … marchand on the est side with the lordis husbandis landis
b. Husband town, a homestead occupied by a husband man, or, usually, husbandmen; a farm-steading with its cluster of peasants' houses; a settlement or hamlet of husbandmen. a1400 Leg. S. xl. 867.
The knycht … In til a housband ton that nycht To slepe and ese hyme can dycht 1478 Acta Aud. 67/2.
Johne Ramsay sall remain with the landis of the sext part of the husband tovne liand in the barony of Dovny 1611 Reg. Panmure I. p. xciii.
The ground of this towne … is aistimat the earest husband towne of Angus
A barron may cognosce upon and punish the raisers of fire rashly, within husband towns in the barrony
4. A husband, correlative of wife.(a) a1400 Leg. S. xxix 809.
Scho … cane se That hyre awn housband wes he 1456 Hay I. 254/32.
The … traisouns of thai twa ladies housbandis 1543–4 Prestwick B. Rec. 59.
iiij syil ruttis of aik quhylk hyr housbane bocht fra hyme 1561 St. A. Kirk S. 81.
Wyth liberte to the said Elizabeth to marye ony lawfull howsband 1576 Digest Justiciary Proc. I. 22.
Our geir is traikit and my housband is on the point of deid 1596 Dalr. I. 197/10.
Quhen he fand her lyeng neir her housbandis graue 1600-1610 Melvill 15.
A woman … belovit of hir housband's frinds 1667 Highland P. II. 20.
This woman quho occasioned her housband … so manie mischeifes(b) a1400 Leg. S. i. 642.
Wemen at thu drawis fra Thare husbandis 14.. Acts I. 44/2.
Wythout the consent of hir husband 1456 Hay I. 190/12.
The injure that is doine to the wyf is pertenand till hir husband a1500 Bk. Chess 2070.
A woman aw to follow hir husband c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 436.
Quhen frendis of my husbandis behaldis me 1531 Bell. Boece I. 241.
To suffer thaim leif … to pray for thair husbandis 1550 Edinb. B. Rec. II. 150.
Fra scho be anis maryit, and hir husband decessand, … hir secund husband to pay the rigour a1578 Pitsc. I. 125/14.
Seand nathing bot wraikis to come to hir pretendit husband(c) 1568 Buch. Indict. 33.
Being ryd ... of the King hir laufull huisband Ib. 43.
After the deceis of thair huisbandis 1570 Reg. Morton I. 51.
Seildome hes bene sene that gentilvemenis geir … suld be … stayit for thair huisbandis dettis(d) 1549 Compl. 2/22.
Oure nobil illustir prince, … ȝour vmquhile faythtful lord and hisband Ib. 62/26.
My veil belouit hisband1568 Waus Corr. 41, etc.
