dinmont Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈdɪnmənt)
Forms: 5 dymmond, 6 dilmond, dynmonthe, 9 dinman, dinment, dimment, dinmond, dynmont, 6– dinmont.
[Etymology obscure: the second syllable looks like ‘month’ as in towmont twelvemonth, but the first is unexplained.]
The name given in Scotland, and the Border counties of England, to a wether between the first and second shearing.
| 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) 4 (Jam.) Item, Gymmer, Dyn⁓mont, or Gaitis, ilk ane to xiid. 1494 Act. Dom. Conc. 353 (Jam.) Vijxx of gymmeris and dymmondis. 1542 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 119, I yeue vnto saynt cuthb'te guild a dynmonthe or ellis the price. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 66 The laif of ther fat flokkis follouit..gylmyrs and dil⁓mondis. 1584 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 18 Item at Shaudforthe a weather, a yowe, a dinmont, and ij lams. 1791–2 Statist. Acc. Berw. III. 155 (Jam.) When they are 18 months old, after the first fleece is taken off..they are called dimmotts. 1814 Scott Wav. xi, Killancureit talked..of top-dressing and bottom-dressing, and year-olds, and gimmers, and din⁓monts. 1892 Northumbld. Gloss. 236 A lamb is called a hog in autumn, and after the first shearing of the new year, a dinmont if it be a male sheep, and a gimmer if an ewe. |