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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SEAL, n.¹, v. Also †seall; seel. Sc. usages:

I. n. As in Eng. 1. Phrs. (1) seal of cause, a charter granted by a town council to a body of craftsmen, forming them into an Incorporation, q.v., with specified rights, privileges, and powers of self-government and conferring a monopoly in the exercise of their craft within the burgh; (2) to pass (by, through, under) the seal(s), freq. with the name of the seal specified (Great, Quarter, Privy, Signet), of a document making a gift, granting a warrant, etc.: to be approved and authenticated by being sealed with the appropriate seal with the authority of the Chancery of Scotland or of the Court of Session.(1) Fif. 1723 E. Henderson Annals Dunfermline (1879) 409:
The magistrates and Counsell granted the incorporation of Tailors a new gift or Seall of Cause.Sc. 1798 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1914) 90:
The Society of Sedan Chairmen within the city of Glasgow, established by a seal of cause from the magistrates.Sc. 1830 W. Chambers Bk. Scotland 66:
Each [Incorporation] is possessed of a distinct charter, called “the seal of cause,” conveying the sole right to members of working at their professions within the burgh, and of prohibiting unincorporated persons from exercising their trades within the bounds of the royalty.Sc. 1904 Sc. Hist. Review. I. 133:
The craftsmen class were also growing in wealth, intelligence and influence, . . . forming themselves into separate crafts, and obtaining, chiefly from the magistrates, what was known as ‘Seals of Cause' officially sanctioning their special organisations.Sc. 1928 D. Robertson & M. Wood Castle and Town 64–5:
Between the middle of the fifteenth and the end of the sixteenth century, the Town Council granted Charters, called Seals of Cause, to fourteen Incorporations in Edinburgh. . . . These Incorporations still continue to exist.(2) Edb. 1707 Burgh Rec. Edb. (1967) 363:
To passing the said gift through the sealls . . . .£14 10s. 0d.Sc. 1722 W. Forbes Institutes I. iv. 188:
The Privy Seal is appended to all Precepts for Charters to be expede under the Great Seal, and to Writs which pass no other Seals.Sc. 1773 Erskine Institute ii. v. § 83:
Signatures, according to their different subjects, pass either by the great seal only, or by the privy seal only, or both by the great and privy seals, or both by the great and quarter seals; which, however, is not to be so understood as if the same individual writing passed under different seals, but that after one part of the right has passed by one of the seals, another passes by another. Every signature must specially mention through what seal or seals it is to pass.Sc. 1838 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 889:
Where the lands hold of the Crown, these gifts pass the Great Seal.Sc. 1927 Encycl. Laws Scot. III. 199:
The commissions of the Lord Advocate and Solicitor-General, the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and other commissions passing the Great Seal.

¶2. Deriv. sealfu, firm, binding, solemn, as if ratified by a seal, as of a vow or oath; severe, emphatic. Adv. sealfully. Only in Dennison and appar. due to a misuse of seelfu s.v. Seil.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 98, 107, 127:
Co' Rob, an' gae her seelfu blows . . . Th'u sweur maist sealfully tae me . . . Tae br'ak their ain maist sealfu' voo . . . Geud tak' a sealfu' grip o' me.

3. Communion, a partaking of the Sacrament. See II. 1. Sc. 1712 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) II. 115:
[He] went streight doun to the Table and took the seal, though to that day he had been ane absolute stranger to beliving!

II. v. As in Eng. 1. Ppl.adj. sealing in phr. sealing ordinance(s), the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as ordained by Luke xxii. 19 and 1 Cor. xi. 23–26, “wherein Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers” (Shorter Catechism § 92).Sc. 1709 Records Old Abd. (S.C.) II. 121:
Such who have already married that way [i.e. with papists] to be intercommun'd and debarred from sealling ordinances.Sc. 1733 Caled. Mercury (14 May):
Such of the Parishioners of Kinross as could not receive Sealing Ordinances at the hand of Mr. Stark to have the same elsewhere.Sc. 1756 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 464:
The session agreed to declare him under scandal, to debar him from sealing ordinances, till the offence be purged.Sc. 1957 Scotsman (25 May) 6:
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper a visible presentation of the Gospel message, confirming the Word, a “sealing” ordinance.

2. In jocular use: to drink or toast good luck to a new article of dress, to Handsel by a mild celebration (see 1836 quot.).Sc. 1701 Foulis Acct. Bk. (S.H.S.) 292:
With James Nicolson, Sir James Justice, Robert Cunningham at sealling my capitation suit, hat and piriwig . . . . .£3 14s. 0d.Per. 1836 G. Penny Traditions 29:
On the occasion of getting a new article of dress, it was customary for the drouthy cronies to exact a certain donum — on the payment of which the owner was exempt from farther annoyance: the articles were then said to be sealed.