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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BOOL, n.3 “A contemptuous term for a man, especially if advanced in years. It is often conjoined with an epithet; as ‘an auld bool,' an old fellow” (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Bnff.2 1935).Ags. 1893 “F. Mackenzie” Cruisie Sketches xiii.:
“Ye're a lang-heided, auld bool, Geordie,” the blacksmith affirmed with admiration.
Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh 116:
The auld bool is maybe as rich as a Nabob.
Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 203:
Some said, he was a camsheugh bool, Nae yarn nor rapes cou'd haud him, Whan he got on his fleesome cowl, But may-be they misca'd him.

[Jam. would connect this word with bole, bool, trunk of a tree; cf. extension of body in Sc. and Eng. to a person, and stock in n.Sc., as peer aul' stock; cf. O.N. bolr, bulr, trunk of a tree, of a person. It may, however, be merely an extension of Bool, n.1, a ball, etc., to indicate a person of rotund figure.]

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"Bool n.3". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 May 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/bool_n3>

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