▪ I. slain, n. north. dial.
(sleɪn)
Also slane, sleean.
[f. slain ppl. a. 3.]
Smut in grain; also concr., smutty grains.
| 1703 Thoresby Lett. Ray (E.D.S.) 103/1 Leyse, to pick the slain and trucks out of wheat. 1788 W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 358 Sleean (that is, slain), the smut of corn. 1829– in northern glossaries. |
▪ II. slain, ppl. a.
(sleɪn)
[See slay v.1]
1. That has been slain; killed, slaughtered.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 199 As te keiser stod bimong þat sunful slaht of þat islein ahte deouele to lake [etc.]. c 1225 Ancr. R. 118 So schulen eft acwikien hire isleiene briddes. 1382 Wyclif Lev. vii. 8 The preest that offreth the slawn offryng of brent sacrifice. 1388 ― Ps. ci. 21 For to vnbynde the sones of slayn men. 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. xxii. 26 Dauid..offred burntofferynges & slaynofferynges. 1579 Lodge Def. Poetry 22 In all the Romaine conquest, hardest thou euer of a slayne Poete? 1628 in Foster Eng. Factories India (1909) III. 292 Our people, who wanted not will to have revenged the slaine mans cause. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 784 From the slain Victims pour the streaming Blood. 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad Introd. 151 note, Homer and Virgil's lists of slain warriors. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. vii, The slain game affording a plentiful supply for roasting or broiling. 1872 Ruskin Eagle's Nest §223 The wearing of the skins of slain animals. |
b. absol. Usually pl.
| c 1340 Hampole Psalter 522 Of the blode of slayne. 1382 Wyclif Numb. xxxv. 19 The nyȝ kynne of the slayn. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xxxii. 30 All the prynces of the north, with all the Sidonians, which are gone downe to the slayne. 1671 Milton Samson 439 Their God who hath deliver'd Thee Samson..into thir hands..who slew'st them many a slain. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 8 July 1685, The slaine were most of them Mendip-miners. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. v. vii, In hot frenzy of triumph, of grief and vengeance for its slain. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. vii. 231 For the slain, I give consent to burn them. |
2. letter(s) of slains, in older Scots Law, ‘letters subscribed by the relations of a person who had been slain, declaring that they had received an assythment, and concurring in an application to the Crown for a pardon to the offender’ (Bell). Now only Hist.
| 1473–4 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 4 Componit wytht Will Scot for a remissione for the slachter of Johnne Crossate, for the quhilk he schew a lettre of slanys of the partj. 1546 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 34 To gif ane plane letter of slains to the said Capitane for the slauchteris committit upoun him and his freindis. 1661 Ibid. Ser. iii. I. 10 The said Barbra Turner, her only dochter, who hes granted the foresaid letter of slayans and discharge. 1678 Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. ii. xxviii. §iv, If the party doth willingly grant a discharge of all grudge, or revenge in the Crime of Murder, this discharge is called a letter of Slanes. 1765–8 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. iv. iv. §105 In the case of slaughter, it behoved the wife or executors of the deceased..to subscribe letters of slains, acknowledging that they had received satisfaction. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, I. 301 By the letters of Slanes, the heirs and relations of a person who had been murdered, bound themselves..to forgive, pass over, and forever forget, and in oblivion interr all rancour, malice [etc.]. 1814 Scott Wav. xlviii, You are aware the blood-wit was made up..by assythment, and that I have since expedited letters of slains. |
3. dial. Of grain: Affected by smut or blight.
| 1641 H. Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 53 When your barley is infeckted with slaine corne yow must endeavour by all meanes possible to leade it dry. 1788 W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 353 An ear which is smutty is called a ‘slain ear’. 1800 Tuke Agric. N. Riding 111 In order to prevent wheat from being smutty or slain, brine..has been generally used. 1825– in northern glossaries. |