Orkney and Shetl. [= Swed. troll: see TROLL sb.2] = TROLL sb.2
1640. Orkney Witch Trial, in Abbotsford Cl. Misc., I. 167. Ȝe ansuered hir againe, that it was but the Trow that haid gripped her. Ibid. (1643), 173. Knoweing that the said Thomas was lying seik in his hous, ȝe said that it was the sea trow or spirit that was lying vpoun him.
1701. Brand. Descr. Orkney, etc. (1703), 115. They tell us that several such Creatures do appear to Fishers at Sea, particularly such as they call Sea-Trowes.
1822. Scott, Pirate, v. Other [magicians] dealt with spirits of a different and less odious class—the ancient dwarfs, called, in Zetland, Trows, or Drows, the modern fairies, and so forth.
1868. D. Gorrie, Summ. & Wint. Orkneys, v. 168. The trows, or drows, successors of the Northern duergar, resembled the daoine shith of the Highlanders, in the malevolent feelings which they generally entertained towards mankind.
1883. R. M. Fergusson, Rambling Sk. Far North, xvii. 121. It was an unlucky moment when a fisherman cast his eyes on a sea-trow; panic and fear seized him, and his boat was instantly steered for shore.
