An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language / in which the words are explained in their different senses, authorized by the names of the writers by whom they are used, or the titles of the works in which they occur, and deduced from their originals

by John Jamieson

MAIL, MALE, s. A spot in cloth, especially what is caused by iron, S.

A. S. mal, Teut. mael, macula.

To Mail, Male, v. a. To stain, S.

MAIL, MEIL, MEEL, s. A weight equivalent to about 7½ stones Dutch, Orkn.
Statist. Acc.

Su. G. maal, a measure.

MAIL, s.
1. Tribute; pl. malis.
Bellend.
2. Rent paid, in whatever way, for a farm, S.
Erskine.
3. Rent paid for a house, garden, &c. S.
Acts Sed.

Hence house-mail, stable-mail, horse-mail, grass-mail, S.

A. S. male, Isl. mala, Ir. mal, tributum.

4. To pay the mail, to atone for a crime by suffering, S.
Hogg.

Black-mail, s. A tax paid by heritors or tenants, for the security of their property, to those freebooters who were wont to make inroads on estates.
Acts Ja. VI.