Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1803-1956
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BAIT, BATE, Bayt, v.2, n.2 Also beat, bet (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)). As in St.Eng. [bet]
1. v.
(1) To feed, to pasture; in Eng. gen. of horses only and on a journey.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
To bayt. 1. To feed, to pasture. . . . 2. In an active sense, to give food to.Bch.(D) 1924 J. Will in Bch. Field Club XIII. 39:
The confoonit vratch 'is been baitin' er coo wi' the girse oot o' my stank.
(2) To rest or halt for food.Sc. 1818 S. Ferrier Marriage II. x.:
We are not inclined to bait there yet a while.
2. n. (See quots.) According to N.E.D. now obs. in St.Eng. but still dialectal.Sc. 1887 Jam.6:
Bait, the supply of food for a horse, a feed; also, the time or place for feeding.Sh. 1956 U. Venables Life in Sh. ii.:
Beats we call them [bits of grazing]. Say you drew a four - then you got every fourth beat all around the township.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
Bait, pasture, feeding. "There's a guid b[ait] oot there yet for the kye."Fif. 1870 R. Chambers Rhymes 150:
A fine bait amang the corn — what for no? A lippie or a peck, a firlot or a bow [boll].
3. ppl.adjs. (1) baiting, feeding; resting; (2) batet, well-fed, thriving.(1) Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 9:
At a good inn upon the confines of that extensive moor . . . they made their first baiting halt.Wgt. 1803 R. Couper Tourifications of Malachi Meldrum II. 188:
My baiting place must thus have been uncommon and uncomfortable.(2) Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs (3rd ed.) 67:
Broken bread maks batet bairns.
4. Combs.: (1) bait-pick, see Pick; (2) bait-pot, a pot in which food is prepared for horses; (3) bait-trough (see quot.); (4) bait-yaud, see Yaud.(2) ne.Sc. 1874 W. Gregor Echo of Olden Time 20:
Over the fire hung a large iron pot, heaped high with turnips and shillicks. It was the bait-pot, and its contents formed part of the food of the farm-horses.(3) Abd.9 1932:
As I knew it the bait-trough was used to carry the bait from the bait-boiler or bait-pot to the stable.
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"Bait v.2, n.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 8 Feb 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/bait_v2_n2>
