Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BACK-RENT, n. Rent paid by a tenant after he has reaped the first crop of his own sowing.Bnff.² 1932:
The factor's deein awa wi' back-rent in a' the new lesses [leases], so Jeck'll hae to pey his first rent efter Mairtimas.Bwk. 1809 R. Kerr Gen. View Agric. of Bwk. 140:
The rent, for the first half year of occupancy, did not become due till Candlemas twelve month . . . twenty-one months . . . after [Whitsunday] entry. . . . Hence, upon expiry of the lease . . . the tenant still had three half years' rents to pay. . . . This mode of payment was technically called back-rent, as the rent was always considerably in arrear.