sb. Sc. and north. dial. Also 6 tronne, throne, troyne, 7, 9 troan. [ME. a. OF. trone (Godef.):—L. trutina, a. Gr. τρυτάνη balance, pair of scales.]
1. (Chiefly Sc.) A weighing machine; a pair of scales or other machine for weighing merchandise; a public weighing apparatus in a city or (burgh) town; also called ‘the king’s trone.’ Now Hist.
[c. 1290. Fleta, II. xii. § 15. Quod fideliter colligant … ulnas, tronas, stateras, et pondera cujuslibet generis, tam pro pane quam pro aliis rebus venalibus provisa et habita.
1365. Stat. David II., c. 39. in Acts Parlt. Scot. (1844), I. 139/1. Extitit ordinatum, quod sit trona ad lanas ponderandas in burgis Regiis, per singulos portus Regni.]
1477. in Charters &c. Edinb. (1871), 141. Sic like gudis that suld be weyit to be vsit at the Ouer Bow, and a trone set thare.
a. 1500. in Arnolde’s Chron. (1811), 101. The marchaunt may make his wolle to be weyen at the kyngis trone yf he will.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Stat. David II., 44 (see 1365 above). The Chalmerlane sall cause … mak ane Trone for weying of woll in all the Kings burghis.
1742. in J. Paterson, Hist. Regality Musselburgh (1857), 82. Repair the cross and the trone in the town of Musselburgh.
1824. G. Chalmers, Caledonia, III. VI. viii. 654. The trone for weighing goods being established at the bottom of the tower, the Church obtained the name of the Trone Church.
a. 1850. J. Gray, Arithm. (ed. 100), 12. The Tron Pound kept at Edinburgh is equal to 9622·67 Troy Grains; it varies, however, in different places and for different purposes.
1886. Masson, Edinb. Sk., 29. Markets … each having its own ‘tron’ or weighing apparatus.
b. The post of this was used as a pillory, or place of public exposure and punishment of offenders.
1449. Sc. Acts Jas. II., c. 9 (1814), II. 36/1. And fra þai [beggars] haf not to lefe aponne þat þar eris be nalyt to þe trone or to ane vthir tre and cuttit of and bannyst þe cuntre.
1515. Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1869), I. 156. He was adiugeit to be had to the trone and thair strikkin throw the hand and banist this towne.
1650. Acts Sederunt, 6 Feb. (1790), 69. They ordain the said John Rob to be sett upon the Trone with a paper upon his head, bearing thir words; (This John Rob is sett heir for being an false informer of witnesses), and ordaines his lugg to be nailed to the Trone be the spaice of ane hour.
1731. Gentl. Mag., March, 123/2. He shall have his Lugs tacked to the muckle Trone with a Nail of twal a Penny.
c. Contextually, The place where the tron was set up; a market-place, market; in quot. 1821 fig.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxii. 24. At your hie Croce, quhair gold and silk Sould be, thair is bot crudis and milk; And at ȝour Trone bot cokill and wilk.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 121. The Englismen seing no resistance, hurlled … cannounes up the calsay to the Butter-throne.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. I’ll … win the vogue at market, tron, or fair, For balesome, clean, cheap, and sufficient ware.
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxxvii. Irville … is an abundant trone for widows and other single women.
1891. H. Haliburton, Ochil Idylls, 65. At the very trons in touns It [snow]’s knee-deep lyin.
d. Short for tron weight: see 3.
1801. Ranken, Hist. France, I. I. v. 429. 1200 bundles of hay, of 4 pounds weight each … is … 327 stone Trone on the Scotch acre.
2. (pl.) north. dial. A weighing-machine; a pair of scales, a steelyard or spring balance.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Trones, a steel yard.
1863. Mrs. Toogood, Yorksh. Dial. (MS.). Go and borrow the trones to weigh the hay.
3. attrib. Tronman (trone-man): see quot. 1808–25; tron(e-pound, the pound of tron weight, varying locally from 21 to 28 ounces avoirdupois; so tron(e-stone (see quots.); tron(e weight, the standard of weight used at the tron.
1808–25. Jamieson, *Trone-men, the name given to those who carry off the soot sweeped from chimneys, because they had their station at the Trone, Edinburgh.
1895. Smeaton, Ramsay, vii. 182. Tronmen with their bags of soot.
1683. Repr. Advantages Manuf. Woollen-cloath, 4. Wooll (not worth 8 sh. Scots the *Trone-pound).
1565. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 375. Fourtie thowsand *troyne stane wecht.
1795. Hutton, Math. Dict., Trone-Stone, in Scotland, according to Sir John Skene, contains 191/2 pounds.
1882. Ogilvie (Annandale) s.v. Trone, The later tron stone … contained 16 tron pounds, the tron pound being equivalent to 1·3747 lbs. avoirdupois.
1593. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 815/1. Cum potestate crucem foralem cum lie trone et *trone-wechtis habendi.
1618. Sc. Acts Jas. VI. (1816), IV. 587/2. That Weght called of old the Trone weght to be allvtterlie abolisched.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 346. Cheese … sold by tron weight, having twenty-one ounces to the lb.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 58. 150 to 200 stone of hay, trone weight, is carried by each two-horse cart, to … Perth and Dundee.
Hence Tron (trone) v., trans. to weigh at the tron.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., I. 152. Tronars sould be challenged, that they keip not their office in troning … of wooll, bot they trone the samine to some men, and not to others.
1861. Riley, Liber Albus, 124. That no foreign merchant or other shall sell or buy any wares that ought to be weighed or troned, except by our own beam or tron.
