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: 1446-1603
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Dere, Deir, n.2 Also: der, deire, deyr, deare. [ME. dere (c 1250), f. Dere v.] Hurt, harm, injury. Chiefly in verse and in phr. to do (one) dere.(1) c1460 Consail Wys Man 360.
Help all power at thi power, For Godis saik do thaim no dere c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace i. 206.
To the Scottis he did full mekill der c1475 Ib. x. 809.
Ȝon wood cattis sall do ws litill der a1447 Bower Chron. (1759) II. 232.
On fut suld be all Scottis weire, … That innymeis do thaim na deire a1500 Golagros and Gawane 497.
May nane do thame na deir with vndoyng 1513 Doug. ii. vii. 105.
For than thai alls that fled … war … come now to do ws deir 1513 Ib. ix. xii. 43.
The dynt dyd no deir 1535 Stewart 3872.
Quhairby tha mycht … Suffer vneis and do thame litill deir 1535 Ib. 6634.
Walking and cald did thame sa mekle deir c1550 Lynd. Meldrum 750.
Sum with halbert, and sum with speir, Bot hakbuttis did the greitest deir 1567 Gude and Godlie Ballatis 141.
It dois thame gude to do vs deir a1578 Pitsc. II. 303/33.
Thinking … that nathir God nor man micht do thame deir a1570-86 Maitland Folio MS clxxix. 84.
Countre men quhilk in ane band Conspyris still to do thé deir 1603 Philotus lxxiii.
Ȝow mon first to me sweir That ȝe to me sall do na deir 1587-99 Hume Epistle 354.
When of strife and great mischance I heare, … they doo me little deare(2) c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace iv. 561.
Wallace persauit his men tuk mekill deyr a1500 Golagros and Gawane 808.
Gif I de doughtely, the les is my dere a1500 Ib. 1266.
I dout for na deir 1535 Stewart 8413.
Ostorius … In all that tyme dreidand for na deir, In Londoun la in na beleif of weir 1559 Maitland Maitland Folio MS xviii. 6.
That we may leif in peax with outtin deir a1585 Arbuthnot Maitland Quarto MS xxxv. 31.
Ane simpill thing, sueit & bening, For deir nocht to be dred
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"Dere n.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/dere_n_2>
