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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

DOOCOT, Dooket, -it, n. Also obs. forms dow-cot, -cat(e), dou(c)ket, -cat, -cote, ducat, -ket. Gen.Sc. [′dukət]

1.  Sc. forms of Eng. dovecot. Also used fig.  Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxii.:
They lie as thick as doos in a dooket.Sc. 2001 Herald 29 Nov 18:
A new solicitor-general who's a fortysomething serving procurator fiscal and mother of two young sons rather than a high-profile QC will certainly cause a flurry in that status-conscious doocot, the Faculty of Advocates. Sc. 2004 Press and Journal 1 Jun 4:
The property is of architectural significance with a distinctive Dutch gabled facade with two doocot eyes in the head of the gable for pigeonsMry. 1704 in W. Cramond Grant Court Bk. (1897) 19:
25th Oct. Allan Grant in Auchnagatt for killing the ducat dowes of Patrick Grant of Dewey is fined £50.Abd. 1932 D. Campbell Bamboozled 7:
A wad seener believe Maister Baldwin stoppit the pipe nir see you enter a lawyer's dookit.Abd. 1994 David Toulmin in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 71:
"An affa big dookit for juist twa doos!" That was the wye that the folk outby spoke aboot the Dookit Fairm.Fif. 1985 Christopher Rush A Twelvemonth and a Day 140:
The doocot was rather like a miniature broch, a fifteen foot round-tower with a wide base, tapering to a small grassy top, on which two or three adventurers might stand, as if on a bastion, and take a survey of the land and sea.Slg. 1719 in Trans. Slg. Nat. Hist. and Arch. Soc. (1926) 45:
Those that shoot the doves belonging to our dowcat to be punished.w.Lth. 2000 Davie Kerr A Puckle Poems 19:
Drookit miners at lowsin, whan hame fae the mine,...gaed doun ti thir doo-cots, ti let oot the doos,...Edb. 1801 J. Thomson Poems 85:
Stands frae my nest a little by, The dow-cot o' a laird.Gsw. 1933 F. Niven Mrs Barry 22:
He had reason to be happy, for he owned six pigeons. . . . They lived in pigeon-houses or dovecots (pronounced locally doocot but snappily, thus dooc't).Lnk. c.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 141:
He . . . gar'd me mak a fool o' mysel whan the laird's duket was bigget.Ayr. 1824 A. Crawford Tales of my Grandmother (1825) I. 152:
They'll be here that had a better claim than you to the dowcate an' the dow.

Comb.: doocot hole, a pigeon-hole (Bnff.⁴, Bnff.⁷ 1927).Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail c.:
Gang into the desk-head, and ye'll fin' a bonny sewt pocket-book in the doocot hole next the window.

2. A room, e.g. a bedroom or kitchen, which is too small (Bnff., Arg., Ayr. 2000s).Edb. 1993:
That means that the bairns'll get a room each an you'll hae tae sleep in the doocot. [boxroom]Arg. 1992:
This is a wile doocot o a place [referring to his scullery].Gsw. 1988 Scotsman 16 Dec 13:
The venue was the Usher Hall in Edinburgh ... Unfortunately none of the small staff there - which does not include a manager, only box-office employees and a handyman - felt able to work overtime on the dates in question. Roger Jones...had only one solution. He turned up in person, opened the hall, and took up residence in the handyman's doocot.

3. A pigeonhole or other small compartment, e.g. in a desk (Bnff., Abd., Fif., Arg., Gsw., Ayr., Dmf., Rxb. 2000s).Edb. 1996:
Aw the offices hae doocots wi their titles on them.Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 21:
doocot or dooket A dovecote. Also used to mean a pigeonhole or compartment in a desk: 'I was sure I put that letter in one of these dookets.'Dmf. 1997 Nell Thomson Spit the First Sook 7:
It was kept in a dookit in the byre wall, along with something for the cows' teats should they get hacked.