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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.

COOTER, COUTER, Coutar, Coutter, Coolter, Koolter, Coother, Culter, n. The Eng. form coulter is illustrated only in Sc. compounds. [′kutər Sc.; ′kultər I.Sc., Uls. + ′kuθər]

1. The coulter of a plough. Also fig. Gen.Sc.Bnff.(D) [1847] A. Cumming Tales of the North (1896) 98:
The hireman is aff for a sharp to his couter, An' maybe a crack i' the smiddy forbye.Ags. 1776 C. Keith Farmer's Ha' xlii.:
The couter o' the pleugh gaed wrang.m.Lth. 1793 G. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Midlothian 43:
The chain by which it [the plough] is drawn, fixed nearly as far back as the culter, serves merely to strengthen the beam.Ayr. 1889 H. Johnston Chron. of Glenbuckie 17:
Man, when the coutar o' your pleugh takes a stane . . . are ye no better to gie a bit damn and be dune wi't?s.Sc. 1916 T. Wilkie in Bwk. Naturalists' Club 61:
Hell's e'en shimmert on ye in the moon's latter fa', And ruin's fell cooter will herrie ye a'.sm.Sc. 1988 W. A. D. and D. Riach A Galloway Glossary :
cooter the iron blade of a plough

Hence coulter-nibbit, having a long, sharp nose.Slk. 1822 Hogg Perils of Man II. 350:
“Hear to the coulter-nibbit piper,” said one.

2. (1) A ludicrous name for the nose (Cai.⁷, Abd.¹⁶, Ags.¹ 1937).Abd. 1852 A. Robb Poems 45:
I'm wae I twin'd your coutar.Abd. 1993:
Hae a cooter o a snoot.Bnff.² 1937:
If I get ony mair o' yir jaw, I'll gee ye a bleedy cooter.Ags. 1874 C. Sievwright Love Lilts 18:
His teeth are a' out, an' his couter Is ready to faicht wi' his chin.Ant. 1931 “Another Bangorian” in North. Whig (9 Dec.) 11/1:
Come on an' ah'll knock the coother off ye.

(2)  A bird's beak.Ayr. 1826 John Galt Last of the Lairds xxxviii:
I wad have left him to gang snoitering away wi his coulter.

3. Used adjectivally, = sharp.Rxb. 1824 J. Telfer Border Ballads 60:
Her coutter phiz it cluve the aire.

4. Combs.: (1) coolter neb, c(o)ulter-, koolter-, (a) the puffin, Fratercula arctica (Uls. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn., coulter-); (b) the razor-bill, Alca torda (Ork. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ VII. 546, culter-; 1929 Marw., koolter-), also koolter-back (Marw.), cf. Baakie. Also contracted to cootrie (Cai. 1905 E.D.D. Suppl.); †(2) coutterthirl, “the vacuity between the coulter and the ploughshare” (Sc. 1808 Jam.).(1) (a) Edb. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife and Kinross (1803) 112:
Anas Arctica Clusii, haunts much this Firth, it is called the Culter-neb, it is less than the House-Duck.(b) Ork.(D) 1904 Dennison Orcad. Sk. 12:
That's an auld coolter neb.