Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†COTTERY, Cottary, Coterie, n.

1. A “cottar's” holding.Sc. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ IV. 401:
The decrease is attributed to . . . the abolishing of cotteries.Sc. 1812 J. Sinclair Systems Husb. Scot. II. 8:
The Duke of Montrose, in this view, has broken down a farm, on a remote part of his estate, into cottaries of two acres arable.Ork. 1775 J. Fea Present State (1884) 84, 125: 
The Country people subsist, many of them at least, by their more capital Farms: and those near the Sea, by the small Cotteries of the different Islands. . . . These Cottars should have at least seven or eight years rent free, after their possessing, or inhabiting their Cottaries.Per. 1835 J. Monteath Dunblane Traditions 44:
His usual residence was for many years at a little coterie, on the banks of the Endrick.

2. The provision of a small house by a landlord.Inv. 1808 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Inv. 349:
Let there be a house and garden provided for a Protestant Schoolmaster. If his duty is faithfully performed, there will arise under his tuition, a race of men and women . . . whose industry will amply repay the Laird for his meal and cottery, and the scholars for the expense of their education.