A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1500-1650
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Deflore, Defloir, v. [ME. deflore (1387), OF. deflorer, L. dēflōrāre. Cf. Deflour(e v.]
1. tr. To disfigure. c1500-c1512 Dunb. lxxii. 53.
With blude and sweit was all deflorde His face
2. To deflower, violate (a woman).(a) 1531 Bell. Boece I. 121 (his two dochteris deflorit). 1533 Id. Livy I. 17/17 (deflorit of hir virginitie). c1552 Lynd. Mon. 1905 (uirginis and matronis ar deflorit). 1572 Satirical Poems xxxviii. 260 (to se Frenchemen deflorand our wyfis). 1622-6 Bisset II. 167/19 (quhais dochter he had deflored).(b) c1550 Rolland Court of Venus iii. 905 (not … diminute nor defloir … virginitie). c1615 Chron. Kings 32 (heaffing defloiritt ane dochter … ). c1650 Spalding II. 407 (sum wemen … to defloir).
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"Deflore v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/deflore>
