gowan Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈgaʊən)
Also 7 gouan.
[app. a dial. variant of golland.]
1. A general name for various yellow or white field flowers. When used without defining word, now always denoting the Common Daisy (Bellis perennis).
| 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xv. 5 Ȝe greinis, grow gray; ȝe gowanis, dune. a 1605 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xli. 10 The feildis ouerflouis With gouans that grouis. 1701 J. Brand Orkney (1703) 31 We saw the pleasantest mixture of Gowans..or Daisies white and yellow..that ever we had occasion to see. 1785 Burns Death & Dr. Hornbook xxiii, His braw calf-ward whare gowans grew, Sae white and bonie. 1802 Wordsw. Farewell 22 Thou, like the morning in thy saffron coat, Bright gowan, and marsh-marigold, farewell. 1812 J. Wilson Agric. Renfrewsh. 136 (Jam.) Some of the prevailing weeds of the meadows and grass lands are..ox-eye, or large white gowan, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum [etc.]. 1856 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 284 The hearts of these two old women are as fresh as gowans. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss Hags i. 1 The dales and holms were pranked out with white hawthorn and broad gowans. |
2. With qualifications, as ewe gowan, may gowan, the Common Daisy; gule gowan, the Corn Marigold; horse gowan (see horse 28 c); lucken gowan, the Marsh Marigold; open gowan, the Globe-flower; witch gowan, the Globe flower, also the Dandelion; yellow gowan, any species of Ranunculus, also applied generically to all the yellow flowers mentioned above. (See Britten and Holland Plant-n. 1878–86.)
| 1721 Ramsay Richy & Sandy 35 While on burn banks the Yellow Gowan grows. 1724 ― Yng. Laird & Katy, We'll pou the daisies on the green The lucken gowans frae the bog. 1810 Cromek Rem. Nithsdale Song 110 note, Witch⁓gowan flowers, are large yellow gowans, with a stalk filled with pernicious sap. 1842 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. x. 14 In Lanarkshire..the phrase, yellow gowans, yet flourishes as the common name of the creeping meadow crowfoot (Ranunculus repens). Ibid. 19 note, Ye'll get round again, if ye had your fit (foot) on the May gowan. |
Hence ˈgowaned ppl. a., full of gowans; covered with gowans; ˈgowany a. = gowaned.
| 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. ii, O Peggy!.. Sweeter than gowany glens or new mawn hay. a 1774 Fergusson King's Birthday Poems (1845) 4 Doggies play and lambies sport, On gowany braes. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 80 On yon gowan'd lawn she was seen. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xlv, The green was even, gowany, and fair. 1841 Fraser's Mag. XXIV. 351 They sat on the gowany bank. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 265 Clear is Allan's siller stream, An' sweet her gowan'd lea. |