A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1500-1626
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Bab, n. [Northern ME. bab (15th c.), var. of Babe n.] A babe or baby. c1500-c1512 Dunb. iv. 27.
That … tyrand Takis on the moderis breist sowkand The bab, full of benignite 1513 Doug. viii. v: 24.
A bab in creddill 1513 Ib. x. ii. 20.
Gyf we … till ane bab commyt the batellis charge a1568 Scott xv. 23.
Kissing … my bab, my tendir bird 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 55/32; 1560 Ib. 56/1; etc.
Besyde this bab, quhilk in the creddill lay 1567 Satirical Poems iv. 183.
I leif … My bab and childe vnder the Counsallis cuire 1596 Dalr. I. 344/18.
Spairing nather women or babs 1606 Edinburgh Testaments XLII. 65 b.
For the weall of Johnne Levingstoun, his oy and bab 1626 Garden Worthies 159.
New born babs they brain'd
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"Bab n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 23 Apr 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/bab>
