Obs. exc. dial. (w. midl.) Also 4 wythone, withiene, 5, 9 wythen, 6 withyn, 7–8 within, 9 wythin, withing. [prob. orig. adj., f. WITHE sb. or WITHY sb. + -EN4, after aspen, beechen, etc. The west-midland place-name Withington is app. f. this word.] A withy or willow. Also attrib. or adj.
For other uses see Eng. Dial. Dict.
c. 1230. Ancr. R., MS. C.C.C.C. lf. 22 b. He is as þe wiðin þe spruteð ut þe betere þet me hine croppeð ofte. [Cf. quot. a. 1225 s.v. WITHY sb. 1.]
a. 1360. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 246. Gayneth me no garlond of greene Bot hit ben of wythones [printed wythoues] ywroght.
1382. Wyclif, Job xl. 17. Withiene trees [Vulg. salices] of the strem.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 174/13. He come by a wythen-tre, and made þerof a goode ȝerde.
1569. Brasonose Coll. Muniments (MS.). A diche quicksetted with thornes and Withyns.
1602. in Lancs. Q. Sess. Rec. (Chetham Soc.), I. 145. [John Sorocolde entered a close … and cut and took thence] withins.
1635. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), I. 172. I observed most part of the ground … planted with withens.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 295/2. The Hoop Twigs are Withen Twigs Cloven.
1788. Trans. Soc. Arts, VI. 162. That I should attempt making of Paper from the Bark of Withins.
1788. Ann. Reg., Projects, 96. The bark or peel of within twigs.
1886. Cheshire Gloss., Withen or Withy, a willow.
