Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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

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About this entry:
First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Jest(e, n.² [ME. (1413–14). Cf. Gest n.² and Jeist n.] a. A joist. b. A large timber beam. 1501 Treas. Acc. II. 84.
Payit to Noroway men for tymir, … for v jestis, ilk pece viij s. 1503 Ib. 272.
Bocht fra Eb. Neilson, skippar, lxxxxij gret sparris jestis 1517 Ib. V. 121.
To xxi pinoris … hesand and upputtand the ij gret jestis in the myd chamir 1528 Acta Conc. MS. XXXVIII. 168.
lxxx jestis for aparaling to defend the gunnaris 1556 Edinb. B. Rec. II. 364.
Coft vij jestis to be ane tirleis to the deid banis at the south kirk dur a1646 Wedderb. Vocab. 12.
Tignus, a jest 1661 Soc. Ant. XXIII. 246.
The divill … carried [her] up from The earth … hir head being among the jestes of the house 1693 Melrose Reg. Rec. III. 115.
To cutt … als many couples and jests as would serve ane house 1695 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. App. viii. 49.
His legs were a litle squised, … with the fall of the jests 1706 Foulis Acc. Bk. 432.
To David Ross for … sloping the walls for the jests 1721 Glasgow B. Rec. IV. 106.
Some new jests [for the church lofts]