A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: <1375, 1375, 1487-1606, 1659-1681
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But, Bute, n.1 Also: butt (pl. buttys, -is, -es), buit, buyt. [ME. butt (c 1450), but (c 1475), e.m.E. butte, Anglo-L. butta, of uncertain origin.] A ridge or strip of ploughed land; ‘a piece of ground which in ploughing does not form a proper ridge, but is excluded as an angle’ (J); ‘a small piece of ground disjoined in whatever manner from the adjacent lands’ (J).(a) 12.. Liber Dryburgh 141.
Juxta partem occidentalem de Suthebuttes 1487 Reg. Episc. Glasg. 453.
De sex buttys vulgariter nuncupatis … jacentibus super dictum montem de Kyncleth contigue ex parte orientali de Suzannys Ryge 1490 Reg. Great S. 412/1.
Partem suam trium le buttis terre burgalis, prope Litill Dunde 1526 Reg. Privy S. I. 535/1.
Landis of the Castelhill … thre riggis and tua buttis of land pertening thairto 1527 Carnwath Baron Ct. 50 b.
The … reg of croft land & but of hante land pertenit to the said Thomas 1541 Elgin Rec. I. 60.
The assise deliuerit that the souythmest but of ouyr deid brigis … pertinis to the commonte 1555 Protocol Book of T. Dalrymple 2.
He haid schorn … the corn & fodder of twa buttis of land 1586 Liber Scon 234.
[The] eight part of … sex croftis callit the sex buttis 1592 Edinburgh Testaments XXIV. 135 b.
Thrie buttis of land, … ane but callit Flaychland 1606 Melrose R. Rec. I. 10.
To remit the excambione … of ane peice yaird … for ane but of land possessit be the said Robert 1659 Ib. 230.
Having sex buttis of land lyand upon the north syde of the cobilhous 1667 Ib. II. 182.
Halfe ane rig in the Mains, and in the taill buts ane but 1668 Justiciary Ct. Rec. I. 265/6.
Two butts of land worth 50 marks 1681 Acts VIII. 295.
That other rigg or butt of the samin lyand in the field called the Gallow-bank(b) 1526 Reg. Dunfermline. 381.
Descendendo per torrentem vsque ad ly buyt aikir jacent. in parte occidentali ly lymkilhill 1526 Ib.
Ad terras domini de Petincreiff vocatas similiter ly buyt 1578 Aberd. Chart. 340.
At the northt syd of the Wayne Furd quhair thair is nyn buittis of corne land 1578 Ib.
The haill corne land … except fyve buittis in the Resk and twa feldis callit Pluverane Ley 1662 Melrose R. Rec. II. 40.
The possessioune of ane bute of land in the byre end
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"But n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/but_n_1>
