Obs. exc. Sc. and north. Also 4–5 stong(e. [f. STANG v.1]

1

  1.  A sting.

2

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 18115. To ded i said, ‘quar es þi stang?’ Ibid., 20960. Þe nedder … wit hir stang.

3

1382.  Wyclif, Exod. xxiii. 28. Stynggynge flies, that ben sprungun of deed bodies, hauynge the stonges enuenymd.

4

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xxxviii. 10. The crewall serpent with the mortall stang.

5

1556.  J. Heywood, Spider & F., lvi. 34. Should it not sting him like stang of an adder?

6

1567.  Gude & Godlie Ball., 108. Thow sall stampe on the edderis stang.

7

1851.  Cumberld. Gloss.

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  b.  The punctured wound caused by a sting.

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c. 1800.  Ye hae lien a’ wrang, in Burns’ Poems. But in herrying o’ a bee byke, I’m rad ye’ve got a stang.

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  c.  A sharp pain such as is caused by a sting.

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1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XI. ix. 18. The greif and ire dyd fast habound, Rasit wyth breithfull stangis full onsound.

12

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 260 b. Remember here also the sharpe stanges & panges that our lorde suffred for our synnes.

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1530.  Lyndesay, Test. Papyngo, 1140. It war to lang to mak narratioun Off sychis sore, with mony stang and stound.

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1789.  Burns, Addr. Toothache, 1. My curse upon thy venom’d stang, That shoots my tortur’d gums alang.

15

1822.  Galt, Provost, xxxvii. Such a stang as I got on entering the house, when I heard his mother wailing that he was dead.

16

1891.  R. Ford, Thistledown, xvi. 299. My conscience yet gies me sair stangs when I think aboot her.

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  2.  A name for certain fishes: a. The pipe-fish, Syngnathus acus; b. the lesser weever, Trachinus vipera.

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1803.  Sibbald’s Fife & Kinross, 127, note. Syngnathus acus, Shorter Pipe-fish; our fishers call it the Stang or Sting.

19

1880.  Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., I. 82. Little- or lesser-weever:… Stangster or Stang, Moray Firth.

20

  3.  An eel-spear. Also Comb. stong-gad.

21

1847.  Halliwell, Stang, an eel-spear. North.

22

1866.  Brogden, Prov. Lincs.

23

1888.  Fenn, Dick o’ the Fens, xii. 189. Mester Hickathrift has got the stong-gad to mend. One of the tines is off, and it wants a noo ash pole.

24

  4.  Sc. The awn or beard of grain.

25

1808.  Jamieson.

26

  5.  The tongue of a ‘trump’ or jews harp; also fig. (see quot. 1808).

27

1808.  Jamieson, Stang of the tramp, a proverbial phrase, used to denote one who is preferred to others viewed collectively; as the best member of a family.

28

1909.  C. Murray, Hamewith (ed. 2), 21. Trumps wi’ double stang.

29

  6.  Comb., as stang-fish (cf. sense 2 and STING-FISH).

30

1838.  Johnston, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, I. No. vi. 170. Lesser Weaver, Yarr. Stang-fish, Prov.

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