Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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CHASSAL, n. and v. Also †cheswell, chesswel; ‡chisell, chissel, chizzel. Sc. forms of Eng. chessel, cheese-mould. Known to Abd.², Lnk.³ 1939. [′tʃɛswəl, ′tʃɪzəl, tʃɪsl]

1. n. “A cheese-press” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). Also fig.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 141:
He is gone out of the Cheswell he was made in.Mry. 1708 E. D. Dunbar Social Life (1865) 209: 
A creamen dish and a chesswel.Mry. 1873 J. Brown Round Table Club 379:
His gudewife's sheerly made it [cheese] in a firlot, for there's nae a chassal in a' Banffshire wad haud it. wm.Sc. [1835–1837] Laird of Logan (1868) 171:
Ne'er Tammie forget the cheswell that you were staned in, my man.Dmf. c.1880 (per Fif.¹³):
I never like to see folk gaun ower far out o' the chissel they were staned in.

2. v. “To press in a cheese-vat” (w.Sc. 1825 Jam.², chisell, chizzel).Sc. 1820 Blackwood Mag. (July) 379:
Here's some ewe milk cheese, milked wi' my ain hand, . . . pressed and chiselled wi' my ain hand.