▪ I. wadset, n. Sc. Now obsolescent.
(ˈwɒdsɛt)
Forms: 5–7 wedset(t, 6–8 wodset(t, 7 waddset, 8 wadsett, 6– wadset.
[f. wadset v.]
1. Sc. Law. ‘The conveyance of land in pledge for, or in satisfaction of, a debt or obligation, with a reserved power to the debtor to recover his lands, on payment or performance’ (Bell). Phr. (to have, lie) in wadset. Cf. mortgage n.
There are two kinds of wadset, proper and improper (see quot. 1768).
| 1449 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 35/2 Quha sa has tane or takis landes in wedsett. 1520 Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1869) I. 196 That the aucht over buthis of thair Tolbuith on the north syde be laid in wodsett vpoun the soume of ix{supc} and iijxx frankis vnder ane reuersion. 1527–8 Ibid. 233 The commoun buithis quhilk he hes in wedsett of the guid toun. 1536 Abstr. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897) IV. 90 The lowsing and rademyng of his place that lyis in wedset to Jhon Gybson of the xl pwnd of monye. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. Table 104 b, The saidis profits, and frutes..sall be payed zeirly to him, quha hes the wadset. 1644 Sc. Acts Chas. I (1819) VI. 143/2 The Lands, Anual-rents, Wodsets, and others holden by them of the saids forfeited persons. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. vi. 521 The Scottish Wadsets and Reversions answer to the English Mortgages and Defeazances. a 1768 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. viii. §26 A proper wadset is truly of the nature of a redeemable right of property, and not barely of pledge; by which it is covenanted, that the use of the lands possessed by the wadsetter shall, during the not redemption, go for the use or interest of the money lent by him to the reverser... An improper wadset is nothing more than a pignus, or right of security; in which the wadsetter is accountable to the reverser for the neat yearly sums which he hath, or might have, received out of the wadset-lands. 1814 Scott Wav. xlii, There was little time to get the wadset made out. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. lvii. V. 193 The poor man asked leave to raise money by ‘wadset’ or mortgage of his estates. |
2. A thing pledged.
| 1796 Burns ‘Wha will buy my troggin?’ Here's a little wadset, Buittle's scrap o' truth, Pawn'd in a gin-shop Quenching holy drouth. a 1800 in Cromek Rem. Nithsdale Song (1810) 90 Our guidwife coft a snip white coat,..But it's a wadset i' the town. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| 1630 in Inchaffray Reg. (Bannatyne Club) 106 Christiane Murray..wodsett haver of the landis under written. 1665 Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Club) I. 62 Free of any such wadsett ryt. a 1728 J. Spottiswoode Hope's Minor Practicks (1734) 241 This, for many Years, was the common and ordinary Reason of Reduction of Wadset-rights. a 1768 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. viii. §19 This instrument..subjects the wadsetter to account for the rent of the wadsetlands, from the time the order was used. Ibid. §28 A back⁓tack of them [the lands] to the reverser..is made to continue during the not redemption of the wadset, for payment of the interest of the wadset-sum. |
▪ II. ˈwadset, v. Chiefly Sc. ? Obs.
Pa. tense and pple. wadset, -setted. Forms: 4, 5 wed(de)sette, 4–7 wedset(t, 6, 7 wodset(t, 6–8 wadset.
[Sc. form (with wad Sc. var. of wed n.) of ME. wedset, f. wed n. + set v.1; prob. developed from an OE. phrase *tó wedde settan ‘to set to pledge’, to pawn, mortgage. (The recorded OE. phrases are tó wedde lecgan, sellan; cf. ‘Mi lond ich wulle sette to wedde’, Layamon 25172. OE. and ME. had also wed settan, to sette wed = to deposit a pledge.)]
trans. To put (land, clothes, etc.) in pledge; to pawn, mortgage.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11796 Al my lond schal y wed-sette ffor gold & seluer. a 1400 Burgh Laws lxxix. (Sc. Stat. I), Of lande þat is wedset wythin burgh. c 1440 York Myst. xxxii. 346 A place here beside, lorde, wolde I wedde-sette. 1506 Reg. Privy Seal Scot. I. 176 A Lettre of Licence..to analy or wedset to quhatsumever person or persons he ples ony xii merkis worth of land. 1508 Kennedy Flyting w. Dunbar 443 Thou drank thy thrift, sald and wedsett thy clais. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxii. 54 All our gay garmentis..We thame wedset, our bodyis to sustene. 1646 Z. Boyd in Zion's Flowers (1855) App. 31/1 The said Laird wodset sold and disponed to us..the lands. 1678 [see wadsetter 2]. 1775 L. Shaw Hist. Moray 33 These, and some other possessions, are now wadsetted by William Gordon. 1859 Bk. Thanes of Cawdor (Spalding Club) 420 There follows..a list of the wadsets, from which we learn that Budgate was wadset to Mr. William Dallas for 10,000 marks. |
| fig. 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 366 Blood, and the blood of God shed, cannot wadset ancient loue. |
Hence † ˈwadsetting vbl. n.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 520/1 Wedsettynge, impignoracio. 1509 Reg. Priv. Seal Scot. I. 295/2 The quhilk alienatioun or wedsetting the [King] willis..sal be na hurt..to the biaris. 1654 Lamont Diary (Maitl. Club) 72 No money lent, or bargaine in sailling or wedsetting of land..was to be allowed. |