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: 1558-1598, 1650
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Mussell, v.1 Also: musle, mussal, musall, muzill. [Late ME. (1426) and e.m.E. mosel(l, e.m.E. mussel(l, musle, muz(z)le, etc., F. museler.] a. tr. To muzzle (an animal). (In echoes of 1 Cor. ix. 9). b. To muzzle, hence, to prevent from speaking, silence (a person). Also, To musall up (the mouth of) (a person). —a. 1558-66 Knox II. 197.
The mouth of the lawboring oxe aucht not to be muzilled a1598 Ferg. Prov. No. 636.
Mussell not the oxens mouthb. 1563 Ferg. Answer 9.
Althogh the treuth appear unto you to be new doctrine (that so long hath bene mussaled [pr. nussaled] up in falshead) 1569 Reg. Privy C. I. 680.
Fra tyme it plesit the Almichtie to brydill and musall up the mouth of Sathan 1650 Fugitive Poetry II. xxiv. 8/15.
Poore people musled and misled That must a monster now adore
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"Mussell v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/mussell_v_1>
