A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1420, 1513, 1600-1616, 1671
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Sprewland(e, -ing, pres. ppl. Also: spreuland, -eing, spreauling, sprauling. [ME and e.m.E. sprewland (c1450), sprawlyn (Prompt. Parv.), OE spreawlian to sprawl.] Sprawling, lying unable to stand. c1420 Wynt. viii 1833.
Off hyr syde A barne he saw fall owt, sprewland [C. sprewlande] Besyd that woman slayne lyand c1420 Wynt. viii 3779.
He gert fele fall down till his fete Sprewland, as thai chyknys ware 1513 Doug. v viii 115.
Down duschit the beist … Sprewland [Ruddim. spreuland] and flekkyrand in the ded thrawys 1600-1610 Melvill 252.
An infant … spreauling in the awin excrements c1614 Mure Dido & Æneas iii 393.
Her dams attending see their mistris fall On piercing sword, with armes abroad owthrow'ne, Sprauling in paine, with blood begoared all 1616 Criminal Trials III 384.
Thair spaldis and legis wer strukin away fra thame in maist barbarous maner, and war sa left spreuleing in thair deid-thrawis 1671 Wodrow MSS 4to XXXVII No. 7.
They billed and hoched about sextine cows … and left them lying sprewling one the grund
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"Sprewland pres. p.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sprewlande>
