† dustyfoot Sc. Obs.
In 6 dustifit, 7 dustifut(e.
[A transl. of med.L. pede pulverosus ‘dusty of foot’ = vagans wandering, travelling, in AF. piépoudreux: see piepowder.]
A wayfarer, traveller; spec. a travelling pedlar or merchant. (In quot. 1570 applied to Death personified.) Obs. exc. Hist.
| a 1400 Leg. Quat. Burg. Scot. xxix, (Stat. Scot. I. 361) Vagans, qui vocatur piepowdrous, hoc est Anglice Dustiefute. [tr. Beand vagabund in þe contre þe quhilk is callit pipouderus.] 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxii. 56 At thy last funerall, Quhen Dustifit to dance sall furth the call. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Burrow Lawes 134 Burgesses, Merchands, and Dustifutes (Cremars) quhen they passe forth of the foure Portes of their burghs. 1861 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v., According to Lord Kames, courts of Pie-Powder are so called, because fairs are generally composed of pedlars or wayfaring persons, who in France bear the name of Pied Poudreux, and in Scotland of Dusty-Foot. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 131 The Negotiatores, the chapmen and dustyfeet of our old laws. |