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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Spittin(g, Spittinge, vbl. n. Also: spetting. [ME and e.m.E. spitting (Cursor M.), spittyng (14th c.), spittynge (a1340), spyttynge (c1430); Spit v.]

1. Spittle, saliva ejected from the mouth. a1400 Leg. S. xiii 87.
Mark … with his spittinge & with ȝerde Mad hyme that hurt wes hale & ferd 1490 Irland Mir. I 163/3.
His haly body … had powere … to put away all seknes … for the spittin of His mouthe and His clais 1490 Irland Mir. III 12/3.
The mater conuenient to it [sc. baptism] is the watter naturale … In na vthir liquor may be ministerit this sacrament, nouthire … wyne aill beir ole vryn brv spittin suettin stellit watteris as rose watter or vtheris 1604-9 Grahame Anat. Hum. 31.
Their knotty phlegme and spetting on the walls and floore 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 418.
They use spitting as ane antitode against all that is poysonous and diabolical

2. The action of Spit v. in sense 1. a1499 Contempl. Sinn. 963 (Asl.).
Thai fylit his face with spitting in dispyte a1568 Bann. MS 31b/46.
Thair vyle spitting my panis gart all cras

3. Appar. only fig. and in fig. context: A sprinkle of light rain before a shower.fig. 1685-8 Renwick Serm. 109.
All that is now in fight is but like spittings of God's wrath before the shower come on

4. attrib. Spitting sheit, ? a cloth or napkin used for spitting on in bed. 1685 Soc. Ant. LVIII 359.
In the black trunk there is … 2 pair of lineing sheets 3 breided … 4 holland codwaires … 4 pair of spitting sheits, 2 peices of course round dornick [etc.]