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, 1568
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Pestilential(l, -iale, a. Also: pestilenc-. [ME. and e.m.E. pestilencial (1398), -entialle (1597), med. L. pestilentialis. Cf. F. pestilentiel (1549 in Hatz.-Darm.).] Pestilential, in the usual senses, fig. and (chiefly) lit.a. Causing harm or death; pernicious. b. Infected with plague or pestilence. c. Of the nature of pestilence or plague.a. 1513 Doug. vii. viii. 65.
For the ilk Fury pestilenciall … dyd lowr To cast on thame slely hir feirfull rageb. 1568 Skeyne Descr. Pest 5.
Because it is difficil to knaw all thingis quhilkis makis ane man propense to becum pestilential 1568 Ib. 10.
Quhan the domesticall foulis becummis pestilentiale 1568 Ib. 14.
Pestilentiall personisc. 1568 Skeyne Descr. Pest 10.
Quhilkis ar melancholius infectit be pestilentiall corruptioun of air or vater 1568 Ib. 27.
As purgatioun in pestilenciall feueris aucht to be at begynning 1568 Ib. 45.
In this pestilenciall diseis euerie ane is mair blind nor the moudeuart in sic thingis as concernis thair awin helth
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"Pestilential adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/pestilentiall>
