Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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EXONER, v. To exonerate, to free from a burden or responsibility (Abd.²¹, wm.Sc.¹ 1950); “to dischargge of liability” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 34). [ɛg′zɔnər]Hdg. 1702 Rec. Sc. Cloth Manuf. (S.H.S.) 309:
Wee the said Manadgers in name and manner foresaid doe heirby alsoe exoner and discharge the said Henry Rankine.Per. 1753 A. Nicol Poems 107:
O Phoebus . . . Exoner me, and polish my engine!Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian iv.:
Porteous has become liable to . . . the gallows, simply because he did not fire when he was in office, but waited till the body was cut down, the execution whilk he had in charge to guard implemented, and he himself exonered of the public trust imposed on him.Ags. 1833 J. S. Sands Poems 193:
Great Murray, your faith will exoner, If you try, just, and swallow your aith.Abd. a.1850 Tifty's Annie in Greig and Keith Last Leaves (1925) 177:
My youthful heart was won by love, But death will me exoner.Sc. 1881 Daily Telegraph (16 Feb.):
Thereafter to exoner and discharge him of his office and management as judicial factor.

Hence exoneration, “the act of being legally disburdened of, or liberated from, the performance of a duty or obligation” (Sc. 1890 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 439).Sc. 1918 Scotsman (31 Aug.) 1/5:
The action of multiplepoinding and exoneration at the instance of the Trustees of the late James Crammond.