Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1817, 1889
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
CREE, v.2 To pound or crush, to husk (barley, etc.). Also in n.Eng. dial. Comb. creeing-trough, a stone-trough in which barley was pounded. Ppl.adj. creed, crushed, pounded, used as a n. in 1817 quot. = juice, sap.Ayr. 1817 D. McKillop Poems 32:
I saw them eat the cheese and bread! I saw them drink the barley creed! Rxb. 1889 Hist. Bwk. Nat. Club XII. 479:
The shepherd has an old "creeing-trough," for husking bear or barley.
[E.M.E. crey, id., from earlier creve, Fr. crever, to burst, split, Lat. crepare, to crackle.]
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Cree v.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 3 Mar 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/cree_v2>


