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

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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Maister-, Masterles, a. Also: -less(e, maistir-, mesterles. [ME. maistur- (c 1400), mastyrles (c 1420).] Masterless, in various senses of Maister n.1 a. Of things or animals: Without an owner or master. b. Of a country: Without a ruler. c. Of persons: Without a lord or an employer; unattached, unemployed, vagrant.a. c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 3131.
Mony ane knycht dede lyand … And mony ane speir and wapin maisterles
1628 Dundonald Par. Rec. 242.
Jhone Cunyghame … ordeinit to be summond … for taking in ane masterles horse … vpon the Saboth
b. 1572-5 Diurn. Occurr. 157.
This realme, … being as it war heidles and maisterles in this tyme
c. c1575 Balfour Pract. 532.
A masterles man
1589 Edinb. B. Rec. V. 381.
That na persouns havand land … sett thair houssis … to … idill or maisterles wemen
1593 Acts IV. 40/1. 1602 Elgin Rec. II. 100.
All idill maistirles men and strainger beggaris
1602 Inverness Rec. II. 2.
Gif he beis fundin maisterles
1610 Edinb. B. Rec. VI. 345. 1616 Crim. Trials III. 398. c 1630 Antiq. Aberd. & B. III. 503. 1635 Grant Chart. 341. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1891) 244.
Such an outcast as I am, a masterless body
1640 Maister George Blacke His Masterlesse Men. 1640 Kirkcudbr. Min. Bk. 90. 1653 Edinb. B. Rec. VIII. 326.
Many mesterles and disaffected persones

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"Masterles adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/masterles>

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