dittay Sc. Law.
(ˈdɪteɪ, ˈdɪtɪ)
Also 5 dyttay; cf. also ditty 5.
[a. OF. dité, ditté, and thus the same word as ditty, but prob. of later introduction in Sc., and in consequence preserving later the Fr. pronunciation, represented by final -ay.]
The matter of charge or ground of indictment against a person for a criminal offence; also, the formulated indictment. to take up dittay, to obtain ‘information and presentments of crime in order to trial’ (Bell Dict. Law Scot.).
| c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 274 A gret dyttay for Scottis thai ordand than. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 192 Befoir the air ane dittay for to tak In euirilk schyre. 1571 Satir. Poems Reform. xxviii. 182 The Justice Clerk my dittay red perqueir. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 77 Thy dittay was death: thou dare not deny it. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 6. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 431 As many sentences as I uttered, as many points of dittay shall there be, when the Lord shall plead with the world. 1743 J. Chamberlayne's St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. v. 412 The method of taking up offenders by dittay..abolished. 1753 W. Stewart in Scots Mag. Mar. 135/2 This letter..is brought as a point of dittay against the pannel. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xii, Here's the dittay against puir Effie: Whereas [etc.]. |
| fig. 1831 Westminster Rev. XIV. 50 All that he says under this head of dittay, consisting of a string of niaiseries unworthy of a schoolboy. |