A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1491-1628, 1697
[0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1]
Singing, vbl. n. Also: singynge, synging, -yng, singin, syngyn(e, senggyn. [ME and e.m.E. singing (Cursor M.), syngyng (Piers Plowman), syngyn (1484); Sing v.1] The action of singing, in various senses of Sing v.1
1. The singing of (mainly, secular) songs as a pastime; an instance of this.(1) a1400 Legends of the Saints ii 819.
And of the syngyne … cuth he mar Thane all the me[n]stralis a1500 Tale of the Colkelbie Sow Prol. 11.
Quhen riallest … Ar assemblit … With namit folkis of he nobilite Thair talk … Is oft singing and sawis of solace a1500 Peblis to Play 3.
At Beltane quhen ilk bodie bownis To Peblis to the play To heir the singin and the soundis 1533 Boece 152b.
The multitude … vsing in thare maner singing, plesand noyis and soundis a1570-86 Maitland Maitland Folio MS 37/4.
Quhair is the blythnes that hes bein … Daunsing singing game and play a1578 Pitsc. I 163/7.
He delyttit … in singing and playing wpoun instrumentis [etc.] 1590 Burel Pilgr. i 307.
Sick singing and springing, Is irksum to the eir 1697 Renfrewshire Witches 84.
That she distinctly remembered her miscarriages, and, in special, her singing and dancing(2) 1491 Treasurer's Accounts I 184.
For the singyn of a ballat to the kingproverb. a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 1647.
Weale never a girdle be the ringing, nor a widow be her singing
b. The art of singing, as a subject taught in school. 1593 Edinb. B. Rec. V 106.
Mr. Jhonn Chalmer … to hald ane schole of reiding, writting, singing and playing upoun instruments 1593 Edinb. B. Rec. V 106.
For onelie singing ten schillings … for playing onelie but singing twenty schillings [etc.]
2. specif. The singing of sacred music, the mass, etc., in the pre-Reformation church; an instance of this. See also Plain adj.1 8 c for further examples. b. Prikit singing: See Prikkit ppl. adj. c. 1512 Treasurer's Accounts IV 377.
At the first mes singing in the Kingis litill bark callit Gabriell 1537 Lynd. Depl. Magd. 172.
Sic Chapell Royall, with sic instrumentis, And craftie musick, singing frome the splene, In this countre was neuer hard nor sene 1537 Reg. Episc. Aberd. I 413.
Sex bernis … sall syng the said anteme … in plaine singynge one ilk feriall day 1539 Glasgow Protocols Abstracts IV 118.
The said maister and bairnis, efter the syngyng of ane gloriosa nychtlie [etc.] 1553–4 Edinb. B. Rec. II 348.
To thre preists for singing of the Passioun on Palme Sonday 1570 Reg. Privy S. VI 179/2.
[Lands … formerly pertaining … to the chantry priests of Dunkeld] now vakand be ressoun the singing of the saidis preistis ceassis 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. ii 27b.
Lands given and disponed for singing, or for licht in the kirk [etc.]b. c1500 Coll. St. Salvator 159 (see Prikkit ppl. adj. c).
Senggyn
3. The twittering or warbling of birds. a1500 Buke of the Sevyne Sagis 2642.
He of augur has cunnyng In birdis voce and thair syngyng c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 520.
The sueit savour of the sward, [and] singing of foulis
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Singing vbl. n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/singing>
