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: 1533-1628
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Pansive, -ife, a. Also: -iwe, -iffe, -yfe. [Sc. var. of Pensive a.] Thoughtful, meditative; melancholy, sorrowful, gloomy.(1) 1533 Boece ii. xiiii. 89 b.
Be pansyfe displesure throw affectioun to Cadall he incurrit ane hevy maladye 1533 Ib. iv. vi. 155 b.
Domyciane … was pansife and anoyit in mynde. How beit he dissimulit ane plesand vult 1533 Ib. xii. xvi. 485.
Henry … trist and pansife wore the dule habit 1567 Satirical Poems iv. 53.
Sum tyme in spirit pansiue and fatigat c1590 Fowler I. 79/55. c1590 Ib. 53/150.
Ransakking all thair pansiwe thoughts c1590 J. Stewart 115/1. c1590 Ib. 54/55.
Perturbit is my pansiwe spreit 1598 James VI Basil. Doron 168/7.
It is nauayes cumlie to … be pansiue at meate 1628 Mure Doomesday 441.
Pansiue pilgrime, sore distrest(2) a1586 Lindsay MS. 62.
The squyar demandit of him quhairof he wes so pansiffe(3) a1578 Pitsc. I. 115/11.
And so the King was werrie pansiwe in his mynd quhat was best to be done in defence contrair the Erle of Douglas
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"Pansive adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/pansive>
