Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Grece, n.¹ Also: greis, grese, greese. [ME. grece (a 1300), OF. grez, greis, pl. of gré Gre n.¹ taken as a collective singular.] a. sing. A flight of steps; a stairway. b. pl. Steps or stairs; stairways.a. c1400 Troy-bk. ii. 2493.
Thane gat he wp and saw a grece 1464 7th Rep. Hist. MSS. VII. App. 736/1.
Within the quer … next the wtmest grese quhar the lecteron standis c1475 Wall. vii. 67.
Wallace fra thaim [in] to the kyrk he ȝeid; … Syne to the grece he lenyt him sobyrly Ib. ix. 1645.
Douglace … Rane wp a grece, quhar at the capdane layb. pl. c1400 Troy-bk. i. 336.
Ascendande wp the greces gray c1420 Wynt. v. 2985 (C).
A hundyr grecis [R. greys] ewyn dippande doun Vndyr the erde a1500 Henr. Test. Cress. 425.
Quhair is thy garding with thir greissis [v.r. greces] gay? c1475 Wall. vi. 257.
Sum grecis lap, and sum stekit within Ib. viii. 605.
The Scottis about … On grecis [1570 Up greissis] ran and cessyt all the toun 1511–2 Reg. Privy S. I. 359/2.
To big … ane penteis under the greissis of his fore stare c 1670 Gordon's Aberd. 14.
Neither doth the arched roofe thereoff raise that pairt of the new church floor bot 3 steps or greeses higher than the rest of the floor