Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

(Narow,) Narou, Narrow, v. Also: nairow. [ME. narwe(n (a 1300), narewe(n, nerewe(n (Manning), late ME. narow (1429), OE. nearwian, f. nearw- Naro(w a.]

1. intr. To become narrower, to decrease in breadth. 1375 Barb. xvi. 381.
As ane schelde it narrowit ay c1515 Asl. MS. I. 156/27.
Than [the sea] narovs till the narownes of vj^c pas

2. tr. To make narrower, to reduce in breadth, to constrict. c1475 Wall. iii. 133.
A maner dyk … Narrowyt the way 1546 Lynd. Trag. Card. 419.
He wald repent that narrowit so his boundis Off ȝeirly rent thre score of thousand poundis 1580 Edinb. B. Rec. IV. 163.
The hie passages and kairt gaittis … ar pairtlie nairowet and stoppet be casting of gottes and fowsis 1582–3 Ib. 263. 1596 Aberd. B. Rec. II. 142.
The said stair narrowis the gett