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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

COORT, n. and v. Sc. form and usages of Eng. court. The Eng. form is entered only in a Sc. usage. [kurt]

1. n.

Sc. form of Eng. court.Abd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 15:
An syne aroon ma feet there lowped
A cripple-fittit cooshie, ... An, close ahin, a cock paid coort
Breist feathers grey and purpled.m.Sc. 1991 Tom Scott in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 43:
I sall gaird
ma faither's hoose
the wowfs agin,
the drouth agin,
the forers agin,
the coorts agin
I sall gaird
ma faither's hoose.em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 61:
'Their business wi the coorts is by wi, I think,' said Lauder. 'But I would like tae see the place. It's a curiosity.'

Sc. usages:

(1) A covered enclosure for cattle (Abd.¹⁹, Lnl.¹, Lnk.³ 1937). The sense “farmyard” is obs. in Eng.Hdg. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-head and Trotters 315:
In the coorts the nowt did wauble To the shed-mooths, ruminating.

Comb.: †court-lad, a youth employed about a farm yard. Bwk. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 44:
When the Laird lichtlies the Lady, sae do a' the Court-lads.

(2) “The place where farmyard manure is deposited” (Bnff.11 1929).

(3) “The lawn or grass plot about a house” (Sh., Ork. 1898 E.D.D., court).

2. v. To woo, make love to, as in Eng., but often constr. with wi' in Sc.Ork. 1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 1:
"For goad's seck, lass, mak' up thee mind whar's coortin' thee, for a'm seek o' seein' yin two fellas in here for supper night efter night, an' if thoo kinno pick wen a'll keek the both o' them oot." Bnff. 1917 A. C. in Bnffsh. Jnl. (9 Oct.) 5:
An' aften dis oor birkies try Tae coort wi' her at e'en.m.Sc. 1985 Stuart Hood A Storm from Paradise 108:
There's more to coortin' than dancin'. m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 90:
The phaisie is a pleisure an a joy;
aw happit in his tartans lik Rob Roy
he scarts aboot an swanks on drystane dykes
an gies lood scraichs when on his coortin ploy.

Comb.: ¶courting shot, appar. a shot fired by a wooer to indicate his arrival to ask formally for the girl's hand, as one of the ceremonies of the betrothal. Cf. the shooting at a wedding. Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 28:
And Maggie was in her prime, When Willie made courtship till her: Twa pistals charg'd beguess; To gie the courting shot.