Chiefly Sc. Forms: 1 hlynn, 6 lyn(n, 6–8 lin, 8– linn. [Two words seem to have been confused: OE. hlynn str. fem., torrent (? related to hlynn masc., ‘clangor,’ hlynnan, hlynian to resound), and Gaelic linne = Irish linn, earlier lind, Welsh llyn, Cornish lin, Breton lenn.]
1. A torrent running over rocks; a cascade, waterfall.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., John xviii. 1. Se hælend eode … ofer þah hlynne þe mon Cedron nemneþ.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. vii. 9. The ryveris … Brystand on skelleis our thir demmyt lynnis.
1536. [see LEAP v. 2 d].
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 118. Watter [that] fast rinnis ouer ane lin, Dois not returne againe to the awin place.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. Between twa birks out o’er a little lin The water fa’s.
1785. Burns, Halloween, xxv. Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays.
a. 1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 99. The roar of the linn On the night breeze is swelling.
1884. Q. Victoria, More Leaves, 314. A linn falling from a height to which footpaths had been made.
1892. Standard, 8 Jan., 5/2. In Wales and Scotland there are linns which could render Manchester and Dundee independent of the pitmen of the Black Countries.
2. A pool, esp. one into which a cataract falls.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., Descr. Scot., xii. 18/1. A loch, lin, or poole there.
a. 1584. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 80. I saw an river rin Out ouir ane craggie rok of stane, Syne lichtit in ane lin.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., v. 118. Toothy, tripping downe from Verwin’s rushie Lin [marg. note, A Poole or watry Moore].
1790. A. Wilson, Suicide, Poet. Wks. (1846), 130. Driven by mad despair … To poison, dagger, or the engulphing linn.
a. 1802. Earl Richard, xxii. in Child, Ballads, II. 153/1. The deepest pot in a’ the linn They fand Erl Richard in.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., I. Prel. 3. He … sees nixes in the dark linns as he fishes by night.
3. A precipice, a ravine with precipitous sides.
1799. Med. Jrnl., II. 356. It is found at the bottom of a deep and narrow ravine, or linn.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. Introd. 3. Gazing down the steepy linn, That hems our little garden in. Ibid. (1818), Hrt. Midl., l. If you come here again, I’ll pitch you down the linn like a foot-ball.
1856. Bryant, Count of Greiers, v. They dance through wood and meadow, they dance across the linn.
