a. Obs. Sc. (a rare archaism in mod. poet.) Also burd-alane, bird-. [Origin of burd obscure; perh. = BIRD, ‘like a sparrow alone upon the house tops,’ Ps. cii. 7. Jamieson says the word ‘is used to denote one who is the only child left in a family,’ but the examples show a much more general sense.] As a solitary person or being; entirely alone, ‘all alone.’
1572. Lament. Lady Scotl., in Scot. Poems 16th C., II. 251. Tak ȝe ane, We must not leif the vther bird alane.
a. 1600. Auld Maitland, Introd. in Scott, Minstr. Sc. B. Burd-allane, his only son and air.
17[?]. Gallant Grahams, ibid. And Newton Gordon, burd-alone, And Dalgatie both stout and keen.
1717. Ramsay, Lucky Wood, in Poems (1800), I. 228. She’s dead and gane, Left us and Willie burd alane, To bleer and greet.
c. 1800. Sir Roland, x. in Chambers, Sc. Ballads (1829), 259. He was riding burd-alane.
a. 1800. King Henrie, in Scott, Minstr. Sc. B. And this was seen o’ King Henrie For he lay burd alane.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 32. When thou a maiden burd-alone, Hadst eighteen summers!
