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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.

How, n.¹ Also: howe, hou. [Var. of Holl n.¹ Common in later use in sense 2.]

1. A hole in anything. 1375 Barb. xi. 153.
Or thai cum all to thair entent Howis [H. holles] in haill claith sall be rent 1545–6 Treas. Acc. VIII. 443.
For clenging of ane gutter how a1605 Montg. Flyt. 68 (T).
Mony ȝeld ȝow thow cald fra ane know, And hid thame in ane how 1590 Crail B. Ct. 6 Oct.
To cast ony delphis or howis in the hie streitis 1587-99 Hume iii. 20.
They hy away baith maist and least Them selues in houis to hide

2. A depression, esp. in the ground; a low-lying area of some extent. Also, a deep place, the deepest part. 1531 Lamont Papers 40.
The how of Ardlawmont a1605 Montg. Flyt. 395 (H).
Fra the how to the heicht, some hobles, some hitches Id. Misc. P. xxxii. 33.
Dreigh riuer marks, with hights and hidden houis, Ar perrilous 1595 Bamff Chart. 144.
Ascendand up and west be ane how to the marcat gait Ib.
Passand south west be ane how to ane auld wattergang 1581-1623 James VI Poems II. 40/17.
Oure hiddeouse hillis & houis thay fledd full fast Ib. 86/20. c 1625 Lett. & State P. Jas. VI 381.
Thay haueing tint sight of thir horsemen, throw occasioun of a little howe in the way a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 1593.
There was never a heicht, bot it had a how besyde a 1700 Sempill P. 68/25.
Francie That wins in the how of the hill - 1697 Cramond Kirk S. IV. 17 Oct.
The webb was laide out ... at the backe of thair house in the how of the quarrel

b. To cast or ding in the howes, to cast out, suppress, or reject completely. 1644 Baillie II. 228.
All was dung in the howes, and that matter clean laid by 1644 Ib. 242.
The Independents brought us so doubtfull a disputation, that we were in very great fear all should be cast in the howes 1675 Sel. Biog. II. 195.
The great law business for which I came south ... was at once casten in the hows by those whose names I had borrowed to the pursuit, they discharging it

c. To be in the howes, ? to be overthrown, cast down, or ? to be depressed, in the 'dumps' (as in the mod. dial.). ? 1660-90 J. Welwood in P. Gillespie Rulers Sins (1718) 18.
Both Glasgow and Edinburgh shall be in the howes ere all the play be played