Dictionary of the Scots Language
Dictionar o the Scots Leid

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

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(Paisant,) Pays-, Pesant, n. [e.m.E. paissaunte (1475), peysant, peasant, etc., AF. paisant, OF. païsent, païsant, paysant.] A country-dweller, rustic. — Bot a paysant that vthir tymis had sene hir wesche hir [etc.]; Loutfut MS. 23 a.
To heis on hicht pure pesantis … From base estait to throne imperiall; 1570 Sat. P. xxii. 10.