▪ I. buist, n.1 Obs. exc. Sc.
Also 4 buiste, 5 buyste.
[a variant of buste, boist, box, etc.; the phonetic history is obscure.]
A box, a casket = boist1; a chest.
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 247 To open a buist she him badde. Ibid. III. 292 A strong poison..Within a buist. 1451 Act Jas. II (1597) §33 Quhill the Wardane haue..put it [the money] in his buist. 1483 Cath. Angl. 49 Buyste [v.r. Bust], alabastrum. 1801 R. Gill Tint Quey in Chambers Hum. Sc. Poems 173 And frae the willow buist did scatter A tate o' meal upo' the water [note, Willow buist, a rustic basket, in which meal is usually held]. |
▪ II. buist, n.2 Sc.
(b{obar}st)
Also bust, boost.
[perhaps from buist n.1: Jamieson has ‘tar-buist, the box in which the tar is kept with which sheep are marked’.]
A mark of ownership made with tar or paint upon sheep or cattle; also fig.
| 1802 Sibbald Scott. Poetry Gloss., Bust, Boost, tar mark upon sheep, commonly the initials of the proprietor's name. 1807 J. Ruickbie Way-side Cott. 112 (Jam.) I'll..catch them in a net or girn Till I find out the boost or birn. 1820 Scott Monast. xxiv, He is not of the brotherhood of Saint Mary's—at least he has not the buist of these black cattle. |
▪ III. † buist, v.1 Sc. Obs.
[f. buist n.1]
To put in a box, or as in a box; to box, shut up.
| c 1600 Montgomerie Sonnet R. Hudsone, This barme and blaidry buists up all my bees. |
▪ IV. buist, v.2 Sc. dial.
[f. buist n.2]
trans. ‘To mark cattle or sheep with the proprietor's distinctive mark’ (Jam.). Hence buisting-iron, buisting-mark.
| 1829 Hogg Sheph. Cal. I. 39 Adamson..with the buisting-iron which he held in his hand struck a dog. 1853 Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 94 The sheep around recall it by their ‘beesting’ mark. 1864 Jeffrey Hist. Roxburghsh. IV. viii. 261 Tar for buisting sheep. |