Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 4 quin, 6 Sc. quhin, quhyn(e, 6, 9 whun, 8 whyn(n, 8– whin, (9 whinn, Sc. whunn, fin). [Origin obscure.] obscure.] = WHINSTONE.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7531. He tok fiue stans rond o quin, And put þam in his scrip wit-in.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. vii. 8. Of ane cald hard quhyn, The clekkit that horrible mont, Caucasus hait.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), I. 56. Greit cragis of qubin.
1599. Alex. Hume, Hymnes, iii. 133. The blew paymented whun [rhyme sun].
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 12. If a Whin (which is the hardest sort of Stone…) lye in the way.
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 310. Carbonated wood is frequently found under trap, whin, or basalt.
1864. A. Miller, Rise & Progr. Coatbridge, ii. 8. Where the Ironstone comes into conjunction with whin it is invariably very much impregnated with pyrites.
b. attrib. and Comb., as whin boulder, -dike (DIKE sb. 9 b), -float (FLOAT sb. 20 a), gravel; whin-rock, whinstone; whin-sill, a sill or layer of whinstone; also as a name for whinstone.
1873. Geikie, Gt. Ice Age, xi. 152. Gravel and stones with large *‘whin’ boulders.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 29. Dykes of basaltes, or other hard stone, which are commonly called *whin dykes.
1825. E. Mackenzie, View Northumbld. (ed. 2), I. 81. The Whin dikes are filled with basalt, which has apparently issued hot from the interior parts of the earth.
1845. J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop., VI. 619/1. A few faults in the magnesian limestone range of Durham and Yorkshire, as along the line of the great whindyke.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, *Whin-float, a kind of greenstone, basalt, or trap, occurring in coal measures.
1799. Trans. Soc. Arts, XVII. 246. Clayey loams, limestone gravel, *whin gravel.
1683. G. Sinclair, Nat. Philos., 277. An impregnable *Whin-Rock, or Flinty Stone.
1785. Burns, Death & Dr. Hornbook, xviii. I might as weel hae try’d a quarry O’ hard whin rock.
1806. Forsyth, Beauties Scot., IV. 58. All the hills are whin-rock.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 748. In Cumberland the metalliferous limestone includes a bed of trap, designated under the name of *whinsill.
1845. J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop., VI. 756/1. The origin of the whin-sill.
1869. Phillips, Vesuv., iv. 123. The toadstone in Derbyshire, or the whinsill in Teesdale.
