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: 1529-1579
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Cavel(l, Cawel(l, n.1 [Variant of Kavell and Kevell.] A kind of hammer for use in quarrying or breaking stone. Also attrib. with hammer. 1529 Master of Works Accounts I. 23 b.
For steill & laying of the forsaid cawel, togidder with the layng ande stelyng of the auld cawel 1530 Ib. 44.
A gavillok for the quarel, ane cavel, & certane crukis to the new durris; … for steill & steling of the said cavel & pikkis 1555–6 Edinb. Old Acc. I. 196.
Wrocht on ane cawell twa pund of wrocht irne 1579 Edinburgh Testaments VII. 70.
He … leuis his haill warklumes to his said prenteis (except ane cavell hammer)
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"Cavel n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/cavell_n_1>
