piet, pyet, pyot Chiefly (now only) Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈpaɪət)
Forms: 3, 6–7 piot, 5–9 pyot, (6 -ott), 6–9 pyet, pyat, (9 -att), (8 peyet), 9 piet, (piat).
[In ME. piot, f. pie n.1 + -ot1, in later use written with better known suffix -et1: cf. F. piette the dipper, dim. of pie magpie.]
1. The magpie: = pie n.1 1.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 88 Ane kikelot [MS. C. piot] þet cakeleð hire al þat heo isihð, oðer ihereð. c 1450 Holland Howlat 176 Thar was Pyotis and Partrikis and Pluwaris. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxii. 16 The pyet..Fenȝeis to sing the nychtingalis not. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 89 The piottis and nicht-crawis faucht with the ravinnis. a 1600 Montgomerie Sonn. v, The pratling pyet matchis with the Musis. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 301 The Piot ordinarily brings forth nine Piannets. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxii, Here cometh the worthy prelate, as pert as a pyet. 1829 Cunningham Magic Bridle in Anniversary 138 Words specked and spotted like a pyat. |
b. The dipper or water-ouzel. Also water-piet.
| 1839 Jardine Brit. Birds II. 67 The common Water Crow, or Pyet, as it is familiarly termed in Scotland. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 30 Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus)... The white breast and blackish upper plumage have caused it to be called Piet... Water piet (Scotland). |
2. A piebald horse.
| 1756 M. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 27 The Duke of Marlborough had a sett of peyets, very prettily marked. |
3. fig. (from 1). Applied to a talkative or saucy person. Cf. tale-piet, tattler, tell-tale. (Sc.)
| 1574 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 372 Archie Crosar callit the Pyott. 1814 Chalmers Let. in Hanna Mem. I. 340 From the great officers of State at St. James's,..down to the little female piets who were taught to squall what they did not understand, ‘No fanatics!’ 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘A pawky young pyet’, a saucy young person. |
4. attrib. a. Resembling a magpie in appearance; pied, piebald.
| 1508 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 114 Ane pyot hors giffin to the King. c 1843 Carlyle Hist. Sk. (1898) 256 Thirteen score of volunteer guards-royal..all in..beautiful pyet plumage. |
b. Like a magpie; chattering.
| 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xlii. 82 Quhen ȝe ȝourselfis ar daft and ȝoung, And hes nocht but ane Pyat toung. |
Hence ˈpiety, ˈpiotie, ˈpyoty a. Sc., piebald.
| 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Surv. Ayrs. 462 (Jam.) The butter will acquire a freckled or cloudy appearance, or in the language of the district, become pyotty. 1825 Jamieson, Pyat, Pyatie, Pyotie, Pyotty.., variegated like a magpie,..as, ‘a pyatie horse’, one whose skin has large spots of white, completely separated from those of black, brown, etc. |