Origin and history of Rob Roy

Now mostly poetic or archaic; in "Rob Roy" (1818) a Highland chieftain was the head of a branch of a clan, a chief was the...

The word fell into obscurity by 17c., but it was revived by Scott ("The Lay of the Last Minstrel," 1805; "Rob Roy," 1818)...

Far cry itself seems to have been a Scottish phrase popularized by Scott ("Rob Roy," 1817), which notes that "The expression...

c. 1200, despoilen, "rob, plunder, ravage;" c. 1300, "strip off" (clothes, armor, etc.); from Old French despoillier "to...strip, rob, deprive of, steal; borrow" (12c., Modern French dépouiller), from Latin despoliare "to rob, despoil, plunder,..." from de- "entirely" (see de-) + spoliare "to strip of clothing, rob," from spolium "skin, hide; arms, armor; booty" (see...

Middle English bireven, from Old English bereafian "to deprive of, take away by violence, seize, rob," from be- + reafian..."rob, plunder," from Proto-Germanic *raubōjanan, from PIE *runp- "to break" (see corrupt (adj.))....A common Germanic formation; compare Old Frisian biravia "despoil, rob, deprive (someone of something)," Old Saxon biroban...

Middle English reven "to rob plunder," from Old English reafian "to rob (something from someone), plunder, pillage, take...away by force or stealth," from Proto-Germanic *raubōjanan "to rob, deprive of" (source also of Old Frisian ravia, Middle...

person ruling as representative of a sovereign, 1520s, from French vice-roy, from Old French vice- "deputy" (see vice-) +...

1560s, "a law or decree," from Latin sanctionem (nominative sanctio) "act of decreeing or ordaining," also "a decree, an ordinance, a law," noun of action from past-participle stem of sancire "to decree, confirm, ratify, make sacred" (see saint (n.)). Originally especially of ecc

late Old English agan, from earlier ongean (prep.) "toward; opposite, against, contrary to; in exchange for," as an adverb "in the opposite direction, back, to or toward a former place or position," from on "on" (see on (prep.) and compare a- (1)) + -gegn "against, toward." This

1570s, "to bend or crouch, especially with servility or fear," variant of crenge, crenche "to bend" (c. 1200), from causative of Old English cringan "yield, give way, fall (in battle); become bent," from Proto-Germanic *krank- "bend, curl up" (source also of Old Norse kringr, Dut