Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1721, 1813-1846, 1932-1989
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SHENT, ppl.adj. As in Eng., now arch.: put to shame, ruined, confounded, undone.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 159:
He that shames let him be shent. An old Scottish Proverb not now used, scarcely understood.Rnf. 1813 E. Picken Poems I. 4:
I'm redd that ye might weel be shent, For thriftless hours ye war hae spent.Dmf. 1820 J. Johnstone Poems (1857) 96:
Wae to see the lad sae shent.Ags. 1824 J. Bowick Montrose Char. (1880) I. 25:
Sorely torn, and shent about the knees.Sc. 1846 Ballads Ayr. (Paterson) I. 28:
Sorely shent wi' this rebuke.Ags. 1932 A. Gray Arrows 59:
My pleasure is shent.m.Sc. 1979 Donald Campbell in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 67:
Like a sexareen that's sailin
wi a keel that's shent and dune, Sc. 1989 Nicholas Fairbairn A Life is Too Short 134:
Not for the first time I was both skint and shent.
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"Shent ppl. adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/shent>
