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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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About this entry:
First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Cell, Cel, n. [ME. cell(e, OF. celle, L. cella.]

1. A monastic cell; a small or dependent monastery or religious house. (See also Sell.) a1400 Leg. S. xxxiv. 283.
Scho … gerte mak hyre a litil cel c1420 Wynt. vii. 355.
Thare off Cluny wes a cel, Quhare this lord oysyd for to duell 1442 Rep. Milne Home MSS. 21.
[They … grant to him the office of bailie of] the said celle and the baronry of Coldynhame 1500–1 Acta Conc. II. 478.
The place of Urquhart, quhilk was ane cell of the abbay of Dunfermling 1533 Boece ix. x. 311 b.
Sanct Colm … rewlit na litill nowmer of abbayis and cellis 1561 Reg. Privy S. MS. 56 b.
The cell of Lesmahago … the same being ane cell of the abbacie of Kelso 1592 Acts III. 587/2; 1607 Ib. IV. 399/2.
The abbacies of Coldinghame and Kelso and cell of Lesmahago

b. A small chamber. 1590 Reg. Cupar A. II. 296.
[The office of portership of the] utir ȝet, cell, and chalmer within the samin callit the portar luge

2. A cell in a honey-comb. 1513 Doug. i. vii. 30.
Quhen … [the bees] with sweit liquour stuffis thair cellis scheyn