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

BEIN, s. Bone, Ang.

One is said to be aw frae the bein, all from the bone, when proud, elevated, or highly pleased; in allusion, as would seem, to the fleshy parts rising from the bone, when the body is swollen.

BEIN, BEYNE, adj. Beinlier.
V. [Bene].

BEIR, BERE, BIR, BIRR, s.
1. Noise, cry, roar.
Douglas.
The word is used in this sense by R. Glouc.
2. Force, impetuosity; often as denoting the violence of the wind, S. Vir, virr, Aberd.
Douglas.

O. E. bire, byre, birre. The term, especially as used in the second sense, seems nearly allied to Isl. byre (tempestas), Su. G. boer, the wind; which seem to acknowledge byr-ia, boer-ia, surgere, as their root.

To BEIR, BERE, v. s. To roar, to make a noise.
Wallace.

Teut. baeren, beren, is expl. by Kilian; Fremere, sublatè et ferociter clamare more ursorum. The learned writer seems thus to view it as a derivative from baere, bere, a bear.

BEIRD, s. A bard, a minstrel.
V. [Baird].
Douglas.

BEYRD, pret. Laid on a bere.
Maitland Poems.

From A. S. baer, baere, feretrum.