A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1533-1680
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Barnelie, Bairnly, a. Also: barnlie, bairnlie, bairnely, bernlie. [Barne n.] Childish; child-like. 1533 Bell. Livy I. 123/26.
Thare insolent and barnelie contencioun c1550 Rolland Court of Venus i. 339.
Thy barnelie insolence a1570-86 Arbuthnot Maitland Folio MS xxx. 29.
Treuth is jugeit barnelie [Q. bairnlie] simplicitie 1581 Burne Disput. 47.
Ane bairnlie exposition 1584 P. Gray Lett. 33.
This Counsell here is not so bairnely, but [etc.] 1603 Philotus xv.
A bairnlie lasse lyke me 1603 Ib. xc.
The las bot bairnlie is and ȝoung 1600-1610 Melvill 19.
I was giffen to a bernlie evill … use of pyking 1600-1610 Ib. 236.
I said, that it was a bairnly taill 1613 Calderwood VII. 184.
The rest of my faults … are but bairnlie 1638 Adamson Muses Thren. 116.
Thinking the play of fortune bairnely sport a1680 Blair Autob. 3.
I used my bairnly endeavouring to be in the grave before him
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"Barnelie adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/barnelie_adj>
