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.
Quotation dates: 1431-1578, 1630-1652
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Mid(d)il(l)-ward(e, n. Also: myd(d)il(l)-, -yll-, mid(d)le- and -waird, -vard, -wart. [Late ME. medylwarde (Morte Arth.), myddelwarde (c 1420), e.m.E. middle-ward (Holinshed): cf. Midwart n., Ward n. and -ward as in Rereward n. rearguard.]
1. Into the middilwart, in the middle. c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 1957.
As his brand into the middilwart brast
2. The centre of an army; also, the middle section of a company of people.(1) c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 931.
He ordant that gret middill ward to be In his cott armour tua lordis or thre c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ix. 573.
The mydillward 1531 Bell. Boece II. 146. 1533 Boece x. viii. 365.
The myddilwarde of Pichtis knawing thame denwde of ane wyng 1535 Stewart 23674. a1578 Pitsc. II. 96/17.
The midill waird(2) c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 1304.
Sembill ȝour douzepeiris in ȝour middillwarde c1460 Ib. 1331.
The king was ordand in the middill warde to be c1460 Ib. 3432. 1531 Bell. Boece I. 237. 1533 Boece viii. vi. 260 b.
In the myddil warde … Scottis dolflie resistit Britouns 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 40. a1652 Dickson Psalms (1653) II. iii.
[Amongst them] in the middle-ward [the damosels playing with timbrels]
3. The middle division of a territory, etc.; the middle region of the sky.See further Ward n.(1) 1431 Reg. Great S. 43/2.
Serjand … wythin the myddyll ward of Edynburgh 1431 Ib.
The sayd mydilward c 1630 Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II. 188.
The Largki and the hoo is one pairt [of the island], the midlevard and the Harie is another(2) 1513 Doug. viii. iii. 2.
The fyry son be this ascendit evin The myddill ward and regioun of the hevyn
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"Midil-ward n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/middill_warde>
