ait
nounEtymology From Scots ait, ate, from Middle English ate, from Old English āte. More at oat.
1
Scotland An oat.
- Let husky wheat the haughs adorn, An' aits set up their awnie horn,1785, Robbie Burns, Scotch Drink:
ait
noun/eɪt/
Etymology From Middle English eyt, eit, from Old English īġeoþ, īgoþ, iggaþ, iggoþ (“ait, eyot, islet, small island”), diminutive of īġ, ēġ, īeġ (“island”). More at eyot.
1
An island in a river, especially the River Thames in England.
- The ait where the osiers grew.1649, R. Hodges, unknown title:
- ‘[H]e the said seigneur, in quality of Lord Paramount, is to all intents and purposes invested with the sole right and property of the river running through his fief, together with […] all the islands and aits within it.’1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 148:
2 more examples
- 1833, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Autobiography: Truth and Fiction Relating to My Life trans. John Oxenford, book 9, Striking richness of vegetation which follows in the windings of the Rhine, marks its banks, islands, and aits.
- Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
- Synonyms
- eyot