Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 2005 (SND, online supplement).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BOWF, v., n., adj.  Also bowff, bouf
I. v. In ppl.adj. bowfin, bouf(f)in, bouwfin, smelly, stinking; foul-tasting; bad, unpleasant, horrible. Also in reduced form bowff.wm.Sc. 1995 Alan Warner Morvern Callar 16:
She woke in the morning with him gone and this bouwfing smell so she sat up and she was covered in it, cause he must have got down on his hunkers and done one right there on her stomach then put the toilet paper he used in her purse.wm.Sc. 1998 Ciara MacLaverty in Donny O'Rourke and Kathleen Jamie New Writing Scotland 16: The Glory Signs 108:
'Yeah,' she says, 'like that stink you get down the pier.'
'Yeah, rotten old fisherman smell,' I say.
'Mingin' old cod,' she says.
'Bouffin battered haddock.'Gsw. 1999 Paul Foy in Moira Burgess and Donny O'Rourke New Writing Scotland 17: Friends and Kangaroos 49:
It's a big table wu'rr sittin at wi big candelabras an stuff an A'm pretty glad that he's chosen tae sit up the other end fae me cuz it his be said that his breath is a bit oan the bowfin side.Sc. 1999 Daily Record 19 Feb 28:
Bowffin — foul smelling or tasting.
Example "Hey baurman, yer lager's bowffin!"Sc. 2004 Scotland on Sunday 7 Mar 5:
Calderwood had described his team's form in Maryhill as "boggin." Boggin, mingin, guffin, bowffin or indeed any other Scottish colloquialism for awful ...

II. n. An offensive smell, stink.Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 12:
A bowf is an offensive smell and a honkin bowf is an extreme example.

III. adj. Bad, awful (Edb., Ayr. 2000s) Edb. 1994:
Baywatch [a television programme] I never watch it — because it's bowf.Sc. 2002 Edinburgh Evening News 23 Jan 13:
"When you are wine-tasting, you never say 'I don't like that'. You must say why, otherwise we don't know and can't improve," explained Alistair.
"I don't like it 'cos it tastes bowff," I explained.Sc. 2004 Aberdeen Evening Express 16 Jul 18:
Today's youth are bowff dancers. Haven't a clue. Just stand there giving the occasional jiggle of their nappers, a touchy bend of the knees and a slight movement of the feet. Might just as well be standing still.