▪ I. airt, n. Sc.
(ˈɛət, Sc. eːrt)
Forms: 5–6 art, arth, 6– airth, airt.
[app. a. Gael. aird, àrd, Irish ard, a height, top, point, also quarter of the compass. (Found only in Scottish writers from 15th c. to 18th c., but also used in some north. Eng. dialects, and recently by some Eng. writers.]
A quarter of the heaven or point of the compass; a direction.
| 1470 Harding Chron. lxxviii, And yf any met another at any arte [v.r. arcte]..he shuld his felowe tell His auentures. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 308 Our kyne are slayne..And othir worthi mony in that art. a 1500 Wisd. Solomon (R.R. 11) The sonne..cerclis the erd about all artis anis euery day [Eccles. i. 5]. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 298 In sindrie airthis baith be south and north. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 5600 Angellis sall passe in the four airtis. 1637 Rutherford Lett. No. 94 (1862) I. 244 Oh, if I c{supd} turn my sails to Christ's right airth! 1730 T. Boston Mem. App. 30 They can have little hope from that airth. 1788 Burns Wks. IV. 293 Of a' the airts the wind can blaw, I dearly like the west. 1839 De Quincey Recoll. Lakes Wks. 1862 II. 36 Suppose..a pole, 15 feet high..with two cross-spars to denote the airts (or points of the compass). 1863 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Airt or Airth, quarter or direction. ‘The wind blows from a cold easterly airt.’ 1866 Kingsley Herew. xxxiv. (1877) 425 He sent out spies to the four airts of heaven. 1876 Morris Sigurd iii. 170 The airts whence the wind shall blow. |
▪ II. airt, v. Sc.
(ɛət, Sc. eːrt)
[f. the n.]
To shew the direction or point out the way to any place; to direct, guide.
| 1787 Burns Wks. 74 Her kind stars hae airted till her A good chiel wi' a pickle siller. c 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 111 Ah! gentle lady, airt my way Across this langsome lonely moor. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xix (1829) 159 To keep sight of my ain duty, or to airt you to yours. |