(also 4 ȝerd(e, 4, 8–9 yerd, 5 yherde, 6 ȝird). Sc. and north. f. EARTH sb., and v. (to bury).
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 681. Ihesu,… þat in þis ȝerd com fra hewine.
1433. Deeds rel. Orkney, vi. Aisiamentis … as weill under yherde as boufe yherde.
1550. Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1880), II. 74. All … pertenens quhatsumeuir … als weill vnder the ȝird as abouf.
1562. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., XI. 214. To David Ellis for ȝerding of Johnne Gordoune … xx s.
a. 1670. Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (Bannatyne Club), II. 221. They find yirdit in the yaird of Drum ane trunk full of silver plait.
1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars, Recit. i. When lyart leaves bestrew the yird.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., s.v. Yird-fasts, The cauld yird, the grave.
1825. Jamieson, s.v., ‘Fairly yirdit,’ dead and buried.
1851. Cumbld. Gloss., Yerd, a fox-earth.
1882. Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, IX. No. 3. 511. The ‘Yirding of a live Cock’ to cure epilepsy.
1894. Crockett, Raiders, xxiv. To afford yirds and secret caves for our Solway smugglers.
b. Comb.: esp. in yirdfast = EARTHFAST (cf. ON. jarðfastr). See also YERD-HUNGER.
1545. Aberd. Reg., XIX. (Jam.). Tuelf pennis Scottis of yerd-siluer.
1785. Poems in Buchan Dial., 6. Whare now thy groans in dowy dens The yerd-fast stanes do thirle.
1808. Jamieson, Yirdin, thunder [see EARTH-DIN].
1820. Blackw. Mag., VI. 568. A penetrating and even suffocating yird-drift.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., Yird-fasts, large stones sticking in the yird, or earth, that the plough cannot move.
1825. Jamieson, Yird-drift, snow, not in the act of falling, but lifted up from the ground, and driven by the wind, after it has lain for some time.
