Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡BLACK-NEB, n.¹ Also black nib. One viewed as disaffected to the government, esp. about the time of the French Revolution and for some time afterwards. See Neb.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary (1818) vi.:
Take care, Monkbarns; we shall set you down among the black-nebs by and bye.Sc. 1874 A. Hislop Sc. Anecd. 67:
I was sae uncommonly fashed wi' Robin Tamson, and some ither heritors, anent being what they ca'd a blackneb; and frae less tae mair, they cam' the length o' quarrellin' wi' my sermons.Ags. 1859 A. Smart in Montrose Standard (29 April) 7/3:
For he was a postman bold, And a man of letters was he — A blackneb sly in the days of old.Ags. 1888 Barrie Auld Licht Idylls 198:
In the stormy days of his youth the old man had been a "Black Nib."Edb. 1843 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie's Wallet iv.:
He was, and had always been, a most inveterate black-neb (Anglice, democrat).Gall. 1900 R. Muir Mystery of Muncraig iv.:
Me a Tory. Ye a' ken my grandfather was a black-neb.

Hence black-nebbed, -nebbit, “applied to those who are viewed as democratically inclined, or inimical to the present government” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²).