Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BENT SILVER, n. in phr. bent silver plays. (See quot.)Sc. c.1750 H. G. Graham Soc. Life Scot. 18th Cent. (1899) II. 165:
One penny from each scholar on the first Mondays of May, June, and July, which were holidays called “bent silver plays,” the money being nominally to buy the “bent” or rushes which grew in the marshy, undrained land to cover the earthen floor of the schoolroom, but really devoted to buying clothes for the master's ragged family.Sc. 1910 Alexander D. Cumming Old Times in Scotland 128:
'Bleyvis sylver' and 'bent sylver' formed part of the revenue of the schoolmaster in many places as recently as 1840.