▪ I. ˈcavel, n.1 north. dial.
Forms: 4–8 cavil, cavel, 5 kevelle, Sc. pl. caflis, 6 Sc. cauill, -yll, -eill, 7 cavell, Sc. kavil, ? 8 Sc. kevel, kevil, 8 Sc. kavel, 9 north. dial. kyeval, -el, etc.
[Identical with Du. kavel lot, parcel (kavelen to cast lots, parcel out by lot), MDu. cāvele lot, MLG. and MG. kavele ‘little stick (inscribed with runes) for casting lots’ Franck. Usually identified with ON. kafli piece cut off, piece, bit, kefli cylinder, stick, piece of wood; but the connexion is not fully traced.]
1. A lot (that is cast). Now applied in the Northumberland collieries to the lots which are cast from time to time to determine in which ‘bord’ each miner shall hew till the next cavelling.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18907, Þan kest þai cauel [Gött. caueles; Fairf. lottis; Trin. lottes] þam emell. Ibid. 21157 Als þe cauel on him fell. a 1400 Sir Perc. 142 Sone kevelles did thay caste. 1513 Douglas æneis i. viii. 27 Be cut or cavil that pleid sone partid was. 1533 Gau Richt Way (1887) 41 And thay suld cast cauels apone his kot [= coat]. a 1783 Gil Brenton xlviii. in Child Ballads i. 69/1 The cavil it did on me fa. 1852 Mining Gloss. 123, Kavels, lots cast by the men at stated periods for the different working places. |
b. The response of an oracle [transl. Lat. sors].
| 1513 Douglas æneis iv. vii. 31 The kavillis of Licia. |
c. fig. One's lot in life or in marriage. dial.
| 1768 Ross Helenore 128 (Jam.), I should be right content For the kind cavel that to me was lent. 1826 T. Wilson Pitman's Pay. i. xlviii, To please ma dowly cavel. Ibid. iii. lxvi, When Sall was for ma kyeval drawn. |
† 2. Lot or share, in any joint privilege, liability, or the like. Obs. or ? Sc.
| c 1400 tr. Leges Quatuor Burgorum xiii, He sall not have lot nor cavill equallie with burgessis dwelland within the burgh. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. Table 82 Lot, cut, and cavill, hes place in ane half dacker of hides. |
3. A division or share of property made by lot; an allotment of land.
| 1652 in Stonehouse Axholme (1839) 93 Part of the cavells of 91 acres under Epworth. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1792) I. 230/1 (Jam.) 40 chalders of victual and silver rent out of the bishops kavil. 1700 De la Pryme Diary (1869) 316 A larg map having every field, ing, close, mested, croft, cavel, intack, etc., in the whole parish in it. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 62 The first deviation from run-rig was by dividing the farms into kavels or kenches, by which every field..was split down into as many lots as there were tenants. 1805 State, Leslie of Powis, etc. 17 (Jam.) The Town and Bishop feued out this fishing in shares, six of them called the King's cavil, and the other six the Bishop's cavil. 1856 Best's Farm. Bks. 128 note. |
▪ II. † ˈcavel, n.2 Obs. Chiefly Sc.
Also 5 kevell.
[Of uncertain derivation: Jamieson suggests that it is the ON. kefli (the same word as in prec.) used first in the literal sense of ‘stick, piece of wood’, and then applied contemptuously to a man, ‘as the vulgar call a raw-boned fellow a lang rung, a stiff old man an auld stock’.]
1. Perhaps, a stick or stout staff.
(But it may be in sense 2.)
| a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. vii, The kensy cleikit to the cavell, But, lord, than how thay luggit. |
2. ‘A low fellow’ (Jamieson).
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 152 A kevell, corpulent of stature. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 2217 Ye, wilte thou, hangman? I say, thou cavell. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 2863 Ane cavell quhilk was never at the scule. 1706–11 in Watson Coll. Sc. Poems iii. 50 (Jam.) The Bride about the Ring she skipped, Till out starts Carle and Cavel. |
▪ III. † ˈcavel, v. Obs. exc. dial.
[f. cavel n.1]
a. intr. To cast lots. b. trans. To allot, apportion. Hence ˈcavelling vbl. n.
| c 1375 Barbour St. Georgis 101 Quhene þe maste party Of þe folk distroyt war vtrely Be sic cuttis and cawelynge. 1652 in Stonehouse Axholme (1839) 91 Lands lying in the Isle of Axholme..which..were cavelled out, and allotted to every Participant. 1805 State, Leslie of Powis, etc. 123 (Jam.) After the cavelling of the water in April. 1850 N. & Q. Ser. i. I. 473/2. 1887 R. O. Heslop in letter 2 Aug., Each collier draws his cavel, and the number on his ticket is the number of the ‘bord’ at which he must hew for a stated period, till another cavelling, takes place. |
▪ IV. cavel, -ell
obs. forms of cavil.
▪ V. cavel, cavil
var. of kevel (in a ship).