▪ I. linn1 Chiefly Sc.
(lɪn)
Forms: 1 hlynn, 6 lyn(n, 6–8 lin, 8– linn.
[Two words seem to have been confused: OE. hlynn str. fem., torrent (? related to hlynn masc., ‘clangor’, hlynnan, hlynian to resound), and Gaelic linne = Irish linn, earlier lind, Welsh llyn, Cornish lin, Breton lenn.]
1. A torrent running over rocks; a cascade, waterfall.
| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. John xviii. 1 Se hælend eode..ofer þah hlynne þe mon Cedron nemneþ. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. vii. 9 The ryveris..Brystand on skelleis our thir demmyt lynnis. 1536 [see leap v. 2 d]. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 118 Watter [that] fast rinnis ouer ane lin, Dois not returne againe to the awin place. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii, Between twa birks out o'er a little lin The water fa's. 1785 Burns Halloween xxv, Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays. a 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 99 The roar of the linn On the night breeze is swelling. 1884 Queen Victoria More Leaves 311 A linn falling from a height to which foot⁓paths had been made. 1892 Standard 8 Jan. 5/2 In Wales and Scotland there are linns which could render Manchester and Dundee independent of the pitmen of the Black Countries. |
2. A pool, esp. one into which a cataract falls.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron., Descr. Scot. xii. 18/1 A loch, lin, or poole there. a 1584 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 80, I saw an river rin Out ouir ane craggie rok of stane, Syne lichtit in ane lin. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. v. 118 Toothy, tripping downe from Verwin's rushie Lin [marg. note, A Poole or watry Moore]. 1790 A. Wilson Suicide Poet. Wks. (1846) 130 Driven by mad despair..To poison, dagger, or the engulphing linn. a 1802 Earl Richard xxii. in Child Ballads II. 153/1 The deepest pot in a' the linn They fand Erl Richard in. 1865 Kingsley Herew. I. Prel. 3 He..sees nixes in the dark linns as he fishes by night. |
3. A precipice, a ravine with precipitous sides.
| 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 356 It is found at the bottom of a deep and narrow ravine, or linn. 1808 Scott Marm. i. Introd. 3 Gazing down the steepy linn, That hems our little garden in. 1818 ― Hrt. Midl. l, If you come here again, I'll pitch you down the linn like a foot-ball. 1856 Bryant Count of Greiers v, They dance through wood and meadow, they dance across the linn. |
▪ II. linn2 Now dial. and U.S.
Also 5 lyn, 8 lin, 8–9 lynn.
[Altered form of lind n., the vowel being shortened as is usual in the first element of a compound.]
The linden or lime; also, the wood of this tree; attrib., in linn-bark, linn-board, linn-tree.
| c 1475 Cath. Angl. 217/2 (Addit. MS.) A Lyn tre, tilia. 1674 Grew Veget. Trunks vii. §4 Some Woods are soft, but not fast; others are both, as Linn. 1787 W. Sargent in Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. IX. 158 Lynn,..a light white wood very proper for finishing the inside of dwelling houses. 1796 in Morse Amer. Geog. I. 577 The more useful trees are, maple,..lynn tree. 1796 Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) II. 331 Lin; tilia europæa, the lime or linden tree. 1799 J. Smith Acc. Remark. Occurr. (1870) 30 A cover was made of lynn bark which will run even in the winter season. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) i. App. 54 The banks of the Mississippi are still bordered by the pines of the different species, except a few small bottoms of elm, lynn and maple. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 104 The timber is not such as is usually found in swamps, but fine oak, ash, olive, linn, beech, and poplar of enormous growth. 1819 E. Dana Geogr. Sk. Western Country 84 Sugar maple, black and white walnut,..lynn, sycamore, cotton wood. 1819 E. Evans Pedestrious Tour 299 Here are the lynn tree, gum tree, [etc.]. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 56 Linn Boards, or White Boards for Shoemakers. 1839 in Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. (1855) VI. 263 The table lands are mostly timbered with the varieties of oak, beech, maple, lynn, hickory. 1847 Halliwell, Linn-tree, a lime-tree. Derb. 1849 E. Chamberlain Indiana Gazetteer (ed. 3) 170 The other forest trees..are ash, walnut,..lynn, [etc.]. 1860 M. Curtis Woody Plants N. Carolina 79 Southern Linn. (T[ilia] pubescens, Ait.)—This is confined to the Lower Districts of the Southern States. 1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 514 A good deal of black cherry, lin, and locust. 1886 Harper's Mag. June 58/2 Ropes are made of lynn bark. |