A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1513-1596
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Oratry(e, -rie, Oratorie, -é, n. [L. (ars) ōrātōria, e.m.E. oratory, -ie (Sidney, Shakesp.).]
1. The art of the orator or of public speaking; also freq., eloquence, rhetoric, more widely. 1513 Doug. i. Prol. 308.
Na lusty cast of oratry Virgill wantis c1552 Lynd. Mon. 572.
Oratrie c1552 Ib. 964.
Uirgill in tyll his poetrye, Nor Cicero in tyll oratrye, War neuer half so eloquent 1553 Grant Burgh Schools 50.
That rewlis of oratrie ar changeable eftyr the iugment of weill imbutit eiris 1561 Q. Kennedy Compendious Ressonyng (ed.) 153/16.
Preissand ȝour wit & ingyne to circumveyn me with sophistrie, logik or oratrie 1567 Satirical Poems iii. 55.
He [Darnley] … the facund phrase did vse of oratrie 1596 Dalr. II. 14/3. 1596 Ib. 44/31.
This diminiset … his prais, that his language was nocht mair illustir, conforme to the Romane oratrie
b. Rhetoric as a subject of formal study. 1531 Bell. Boece II. 483.
He was expert in gramer, oratry and poetry 1576 Reg. Privy C. II. 528.
Thre scolis, ane thairof for the bairnis in grammar, and uther for thame that leirnis poetre and oratore [v.r. -ie]
2. The exercise of eloquence, oratory, (? eloquent) public speaking. 1596 Dalr. I. 291/25.
The king with his oratrie mitigatis thame, and cheiris thame vp
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"Oratry n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/oratrye>
