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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HINE, n. Also hyne, hind, ‡hain. [həɪn, Ags. + heən]

1. A haven, (natural) harbour (Ags. 1825 Jam., Ags. 1957, hain; Fif. 1957, hyne, ‡hind), used locally in Ags. in place-name East Hain = Easthaven and in Fif. in ‡Buckhine = Buckhaven; a small creek or cove (Fif.¹⁴ 1957).Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 229:
My Lord in a mocking manner, made him burly-bailie of Bucky-hine.Fif. 1860 H. Farnie Fife Coast 104:
By dropping the “v” we get Buckha'en, and quite naturally after that the invariable pronunciation Buckhyne. Therefore we talk (on the spot) of the East and West Hyne.Fif. 1893 G. Setoun Barncraig 18:
The men saunter forth in a kind of Sabbath undress, and enjoy a pipe and a chat at the Hine or the Harbour Head.Fif. 1928 St Andrews Cit. (25 Feb.) 6:
I went out in a wee boat and penetrated up the Hinds.

2. Extended to mean a large pile or stack of anything, thought of as a kind of enclosure, from the notion of the mound or breakwater that commonly forms a haven.Mearns⁵ 1955:
We did not talk about a hine of sticks on one's back: that was a birn; but someone who had carried more birns than we had and had a larger stock of firewood laid by for the winter would of course be said to have a hine o' sticks hoddit awa' — with a connotation of envy disguised as contempt. Or again: “Ay, I gaed to see the minaister, and he was sittin' i' yon manse, brottin' awa' amon' a hine o' beuks.”