▪ I. nowt Sc. and north. dial.
(naʊt)
Forms: α. 3 Orm. nowwt, 5 nowyt, 6 nowit, nowlt, 5, 8–9 nowte, 5– nowt; 2, 5, 7 noute (3 neute), 6, 8–9 nout (9 knout). β. 5 naute, noyt, 6 noote, note.
[a. ON. naut (Norw. naut, Sw. nöt, Da. nöd-), = OE. néat neat n. See also nolt.]
1. pl. Cattle, oxen.
| α c 1200 Ormin 15558 He fand i þe temmple þær Well fele menn þatt saldenn Þærinne baþe nowwt & shep. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 1121 Of nowt, schepe, hors and ky. a 1400–50 Alexander 3823 Camels and mules, And out of nounbre of nowte. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1059 Bestiall, as hors and nowt. 1533 Acc. Ld. H. Treas. Scot. VI. 139 To deliver certane nowit and hors agane. 1565 Wills & Invent. N.C. (Surtees, 1835) 237 To Isabell Lysle my nece foure kye and foure yownge nowlt. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. Prol. 7 Grene bankes,..quhilkes are verie conuenient to feid horse or nout. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. i, Nine braw nowt were smoor'd. 1786 Burns Inventory 37 Wee Davock hauds the nowt in fother. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 109 Tossin' our heads..Like Hannibal's fire-puttin' nowt. 1881 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 521 He rode to market to drive hard bargains over his ‘nowt’. |
| β c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints l. (Catherine) 37 Þe raryng & þe bere of noyt & schepe. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) xxxiii, Hors and naute, shepe and sqwyne, A-way thay drafe and bare. 1525 State P. Hen. VIII, IV. 371 The said Erle hath also wonne thirty score noote,..and many good horses. 1544 Ld. Hertford's Raid (1798) 14 A great nomber of cattel, bothe note and shepe. |
2. a. sing. An ox, a bullock.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4744 Vmquile he noys as a nowte, as a nox quen he lawes. 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.) 71 Mugio, to rowt like a nowt. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 27 A horse, an hundred horse; a noute, ten noute. 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownsh. 137 Every day in the year a Galloway nowt was killed. 1883 J. Martin Old Haddington 103 He blew through a ‘nout's’ horn. |
b. transf. A stupid, coarse, or clumsy person.
| 1806 Black Falls of Clyde 195 You ugly nowt! Swithe! frae my sight, ye filthy ragged cowt! 1898 Crockett Standard Bearer x, A great, strong, kindly, hard-driving ‘nowt’ of a man. |
3. a. attrib. and Comb., as nowt-foot, nowt-head, nowt-horn; nowt-doctor, nowt-man; nowt-beast, nowt-market, etc.
For further illustration see the Eng. Dial. Dict.
| 1657 in Holmes Pontefract Bk. Entries (1882) 54 Burroughe of Pontefract..Nautmarkett. a 1685 Sempill Blythsome Wedding vii, Callour nout-feet in a plate. 17.. Humble Beggar in Herd Sc. Songs (1776) II. 29 A meikle nowt-horn to rout on had he. 1790 Grose Prov. Gloss. Suppl., Nowt-foot oil. 1808 Jamieson s.v., It is used in composition for an individual of the kind, as a nowt-beast. 1824 Mactaggart Encycl. s.v. Caumshell, It is reduced by nowt doctors to a fine powder, and blown through the hollows of quills into cattles' eyes. 1862 Luck of Ladysmede I. 194 Out upon thee, nowt-head! hast no more sense than to leave the poor brutes out in a wild night like this? 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb (1873) 120 He had first visited the ‘nowt market’ at the top of the brae, and cheapened several stirks. 1883 Longman's Mag. Apr. 646 The cattle or ‘nowt’ man..receives about twelve or thirteen shillings per week. |
b. nowt-geld, a rent-payment in cattle, or a tax levied on cattle, formerly in use in the north of England. Cf. cornage.
| a 1180 in Victoria Hist. Cumbld. (1902) I. 316 note, Noverit paternitas vestra me dedisse..Deo..vi. vaccas in perpetuam elemosinam reddendas anno omni quo meum Noutegeld debuerit fieri. 1200 Rotul. Chart. (1837) 50/1 Danegeld, & neutegeld & horngeld. 1688 Hickes Dict. Island. s.v. Gelld, Nowt-gelt, tributum pro pecore solutum. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Nout-geld, Neat-geld, cornage rent, originally paid in cattle—horn tax. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 134 Nowt-geld or Cornage appears both as an obligation and as a tenure. |
c. nowt-gowan, (a) the Horse-gowan or Ox-eye Daisy; (b) the Corn-Marigold. Sc.
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 943 The great white ox-eye, or nowt-gowan,..and the yellow nowt-gowan. |
▪ II. nowt(h
dial. and obs. forms of nought.