Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

AWN, v. To own.

1. To possess.Sh.(D) 1918 T. Manson Humours Peat Comm. I. 159:
An wha awns dis twa boanie peerie bairns?Knr. 1891 “H. Haliburton” Ochil Idylls 26:
George, son of lairds that awn'd the laund, Sin' Scotland was a nation.Lnk. 1922 T. S. Cairncross The Scot at Hame 56:
But I think he awned the toun.

2. To acknowledge (as one's own; as an acquaintance; as right or approved).Sc.(E) 1925 “H. M'Diarmid” Sangschaw 28:
Nae God 'ud awn me i' this rig.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. (1876) 35:
He never awn'd me . . . he never seemed to know me.

3. To admit, confess.Sc. c.1730 Ramsay Fable xix. (1877) 347:
I shall first begin, And awn whate'er my conscience ca's a sin.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 45:
For last we fed, as ye maun awn, On a sma' troot and pease-meal scone.