▪ I. rawn Sc. and north. dial.
(rɔːn)
Also 8 raan, 9 raun, (roan), ran.
[Of Scand. origin, = Da. ravn roe; the relationship of this to Da. rogn, ON. hrogn (see roe) is obscure.]
The roe of a fish; a female fish. rawn-fleuk, the turbot.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 301/1 Rawne of a fysche, lectis. 1584 Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1882) 343 The heiring to be callour slayne..having heid and taill with melt and rawne. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 78 Evin so of rawnis do mightie fishes breid. 1785 Hutton Bran New Wark 85 An unshot codfish hes maar raans in its belly than thare be people on the face of the earth. 1810 Neill List of Fishes 12 (Jam.) Turbot... This species is here commonly denominated the rawn-fleuk, from its being thought best for the table when in rawn or roe. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet let. vi, The water being in..rare trim for the saumon raun. 1877 Holderness Gloss. s.v., ‘Melts an rauns’, male and female fish. |
Hence rawned a., full of roe (Jam.); ˈrawner, a female salmon, spec. one which has not spawned at the proper time.
| 1808–25 Jamieson. 1901 Dundee Adv. 26 Feb. 6 The fish was found to be unspawned, or what is known on the Tay as a ‘rawner’, and deemed an illegal fish to take. |
▪ II. rawn
dial. variant of rowen.