A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1475-1605, 1664
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Quhittil(l, n. Also: quhit(t)ell, quhitle, whitle; thewtill. [Late ME and e.m.E. whyttell (1404), qwetyll (15th c.), whittle (a1586), var. of thwittle. Cf. Quhite v.2] A (? large) knife used as a tool or instrument. a1500 Bk. Chess 1379.
Suld he beire In his left hand a quhittill for to scher a1568 Jok & Jynny 29.
Ane rowsty quhittill to scheir the kaill 15.. Lord Fergus' Gaist 73. c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace (1570) i 218.
Ane Scottis quhittill [MS thewtill] vnder thy belt to beir 1578 Edinburgh Testaments VI 197.
Thrie dosane of slicht quhittillis & knyfis 1581 Brechin Testaments I 49b.
Twentie aucht quhitellis 1585 Glasgow Protocols Abstracts IX 151.
And thairefter he [sc. a cooper] cuist his wirking lang quhittill at me and … ettillit on me with ane drawin quhinger 1585 Ib. 152.
For casting of the steching quhittil at the complenar 1589 St. A. B. Ct. 29 Aug.
The dusoun off quhittillis … off kniffeis skailit with hairt horne 1595 Edinburgh Testaments XXVIII 47.
Quhittellis 1597 Crawford Mun. Invent. II 209 (12 Jan.) (see Quhingear).
Quhitle 1605 Edinburgh Testaments XL 226b.
Franche quhittillis 1664 Ib. LXXI 313b.
Tua gudges & tua whitles
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"Quhittil n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/quhittill>
