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: 1475, 1549-1596
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Multiplie, -ply, -plé, n. Also ? irregular or erroneous form: multipill.[OF. multepli, moltepli, vbl. n. f. multiplier, moltepleier, Multiply v.] Multitude, (a) (large) number or quantity. c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ix. 1707.
‘Dicson,’ he said, ‘wait thow thair multiple?’ ‘Iij thowsand men thair power mycht nocht be;’ c1475 Ib. xi. 13.
The sotheroun fled fra him on athir sid To Burdeous in gret multiplye [: se] 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 15/25.
That battellis consistis vndir the gouernance of fortune ande nocht in the ingyne of men nor in the multiplie of pepil 1549 Ib. 23/26.
Ande my een to be cum obscure throucht the multiplie of salt teyris 1549 Ib. 79/30. 1551 Acts II. 483/2.
The multiplie [v.r. greit multiply] of wynis daylie cummand within this realme 1577–95 Skene Celtic Scotl. III. 437.
In all the small burnis of this ile are multipill of salmond and other fisches 1596 Dalr. I. 7/33.
In sum places is funde multiplie of tinne 1596 Ib. 41/17.1596 Ib. II. 224/22.
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"Multiplie n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/multiplie>
