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: 1793-1928
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BIRSE, BIRS, BIRZ(E), Brize, n.2, v.2 [bɪ̢̈rz, bʌrz]
1. n.
(1) A bruise.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie III. xxxiv.:
My brother has met wi' a severe birz and contusion, and he's in a roving fever.
(2) Pressure, esp. that of a crowd; a struggle, implying resistance to some pressure; a push.Sc. 1825 Jam.2:
Birse, brize. The act of pressing; often used to denote the pressure made by a crowd; as, "We had an awfu' birse."Abd. 1895 G. Williams Sk. of Scarbraes 48–49:
I'm nae able to follow a pu'pit prayer. Gie's a wordie o' guid rough hameowre wark, for I'll hae a geyan rough birs afore I get warslet thro'.Bch. 1925 (per Abd.15):
It wis a gey birze, shivvin against the win'.Ags. 1881 T. Blyth in Edwards Mod. Sc. Poets II. 98:
The sairest birse I'd warsal throu'.Ags.(D) 1922 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden xvii.:
He gae his hat a birz on.
(3) In dim. form birzie, a lump of faeces, a turd (Ags. 1961), a child's word.
2. v.
(1) To bruise.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie v.:
Look at my lug whar the brute struck me — it's birzed black and blue.
ppl.adj. birsed, birset, birzed, bruised.Sc. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) III. 16:
Like a heap o' bashed and birzed paddocks walloped intil the ditch.Sc.(E) 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms li. 17:
A birset heart an' a tholin breast, O God, ye will ne'er leuk by.Abd. 1890 G. Williams in Mod. Sc. Poets XIII. 91:
Syne leeshed awa', an' left him there, Bumbaized an' birsed an' bleedin sair Wi' dirds and dunts he got.
(2) To push; press; squeeze.Sc. 1793 "Tam Thrum" Look before ye Loup 27:
If they birze forward into stations that they canna fill they'll be despised.Sh.(D) 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 147:
I birz'd da tabakka doon i' me pipe.Mry. 1913 R. Cairns Gatherings of Moraysh. Dial. in Kenilworth Mag. II. iii. 55:
An old farmer's advice to his son who was going out into the world was "Aye birse yont," and no doubt he did push ahead.Bnff.(D) 1918 J. Mitchell Bydand 23:
Ca'in' up the kirn, Or birsin' doon the chassel [cheese press] fin ye've got the milk tae yirn.Hdg. 1819 R. Gall Poems 32:
He heard a boo ahint a hedge, While Meg birsed through wi' speed, tho' thorny.wm.Sc. [1835] Laird of Logan (1868) 307:
Do you ken that you woud birze my balloon sleeves out of a' shape.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 149:
He . . . birzed them doon wi' the heel o' his contempt. vbl.n. birsing.Lnk. 1928 W. C. Fraser Yelpin' Stane 17:
No one could be blamed for this birsing yont the encircling hills.
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"Birse n.2, v.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/birse_n2_v2>
