adv. (sb.) Sc. [Properly two words: see LONG adv. and SYNE adv.] Long since, long ago. Also sb. esp. in auld lang syne. (Somewhat common in English use with allusion to Burns’s song.)
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxiv. 34. I had bene deid langsyne, dowtless.
1570. Satir. Poems Reform., xvii. 3. In eirth lang syne yair had been nothing than, Saif only vice.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Poems (1807), 309. Hame-o’er langsyne you hae been blithe to pack.
1788. Burns, Auld Lang Syne. For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.
1820. Scott, Monast., iv. Like what I hae seen langsyne, when we dwelt at Avenel.
1841. Lytton, Nt. & Morn., II. vii. A friend … of the happy lang syne.
1870. H. Smart, Race for Wife, ii. In days lang syne.
