A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1466, 1551-1552, 1637
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(Under-wattir,) Under-wat(t)er, n. [17th c. Eng. vnder-water (1627); Wat(t)ir n.] a. Water that has accumulated in the foundation of a house. Also in the later dial. b. fig. and in fig. context. —a. 1466 Dundee B. Ct. I 163b (5 Sept.).
The quhilk personis ar obillist at our lady hous sal tak na vnder watter throw thaym 1551–2 Dundee B. Ct. II 141 (15 March).
The complaint of James Reid … allegeand that the said Robertis biging suld put in the vnderwatter in his said twfall —b. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 401.
I see many leaky vessels fair before the wind … and they go on securely, and see not the under-water till a storm sink them —fig. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 172.
False under-water, not seen in the ground of an enlightened conscience, is dangerous
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"Under-wattir n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/under_wattir>
