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: 1500-1686
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Pace, Pas(e, Pais, v. Also: pass(e, pays, paec(e, paesse. [e.m.E. pace (1570), pase (1571), paze (1587), f. Pace n.1 See also Pac(e)ing vbl. n. (and cf. also Passing vbl. n. 2).]
1. intr. To walk with a measured pace; to stride or march along steadily. Also b. tr. To traverse (a room) in this manner.(1) 1513 Doug. xii. Prol. 161.
The pantyt povn pasand [v.r. paysand] with plomys gym Kest vp his taill 1528 Lynd. Dreme 113.
Pensyue in hart, passing full soberlie, Ontothe see fordwart I fure anone 1587-99 Hume 19/82.
The feit ar swift … And spedilie will pace and run quhair sa man likis best 1680 Sempill P. 54/83.
We twa gaid pacing there our laines(2) 1600-1610 Melvill 35.
Paecing up and down a whyll 1600-1610 Ib. 81.
In stappes Schipper Lindsay and paesses upe and down in the circuit with a grait gravetieb. 15.. Clariodus iii. 1551.
He paisit then the chalmer up and doun, Melancolike
2. Of a horse: To move with the gait (between a walk and a trot) called a ‘pace’; to amble. Also transf. c1620 Boyd Zion's Fl. 137.
Men for a space pace in prosperity, But at the last trot hard in misery 1686 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. XIII. 67.
Ane [horse] with … ane whyt hind foot, and cannot pase
3. tr. To measure the distance or length of, by pacing it out. 1646 J. Hope Diary (1958) 169.
We … viewed the … citiedaille … which I passed to bee, the courtine 200, the flanke 50 … of my feet
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"Pace v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/pace_v>
