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

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

Tow, n.² Also: towe, tou. [ME and e.m.E. towe (1358-9), tow (Chaucer), toow (1440), ON tó.]

1. Flax or hemp fibre for spinning. Also attrib. c1420 Wynt. v 5049.
The Emprys … sayd scho gyff wald till hym fe Till Constantinopyll, gyff … he Wald … gywe hyr wemen tow [C. towe] to spyn 15.. Wyf Awcht. 61 (B).
Hame he ran to ane rok of tow And he satt doun to say the spynning 1595 Edinb. Test. XXVIII 58b.
I dispone & leiffis to the said Margaret the haill lynt, tow & ȝairne quhilk I haue in my possessioun 1605-6 Welsh Forty-eight Serm. 451.
Thou that hast this meikle … like the smoking flax or reiking tow 1612 Kirkcudbr. B. Rec. II 107.
xv s. for lint … xvj s. for a blew bonnat and xxiiij s. for Flanderis tow thai bocht 1628 M. Works Acc. (ed.) II 216.
For spyssing the wooll tow iiii s. 1661 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. I 648.
[She] was desyrit be the said Elizabeth to come to her house to get a pound tow and a pek beirattrib. 1619 Edinb. Test. L 250b.
Tua dosone of tow cairdis pryce of baytht aucht pundis 1643 Edinb. Test. LX 280a.
Ane pair of tow cairdis pryce thairof iiij s. 1661 Edinb. Test. LXX 113.
Twa dozen of single tow cardes estimat all to aughtene schilling sterling 1694 Inchmahome Pr. 164.
4 pair of tow cards, tuo pair of wooll cards

b. fig. To put a tow upon (a person's) rok, to delegate a matter to someone; to have other tow on (one's) rok, to have other matters to see to. See Rok n.¹ 1 c for further examples. 1597 Melvill 426.
This tow hes put upon our rok, And brought our fredom under boundage yok 1684–5 K. Parker My Ladie Dundie (1928) 147.
Your sister salutes you kindly, and complains you have forgot her, which I think unjust seeing that you have other tou on your rock [pr. ton on your rod]

2. Used as material for a torch. Also attrib. with weik, a candle wick made of tow. 1535 Stewart 10483.
Sa mony bleises into the tyme hes brint Of pik and tar, of brintstone and of lynt, Of wax and rosat, of tauche and sindrie tow, Quhilk kest greit licht thairattrib. 1627 Dumbarton B. Rec. 22.
The candill be sauld for four sh. the pund wecht of tow weik, and xl d. the rag weik 1697 Edinb. Test. LXXX 254a.
l^c weight of tow weiks worth xviij lib. Scotts