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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.

DRUMLIE, DRUMLY, adj.Also drumley, drummlie, †drumbly.

1. (1) Of streams or water: turbid, clouded, muddy, esp. of a river in spate. Gen.Sc. Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1737 Ramsay Proverbs (1776) 28:
Good fishing in drumly waters.
Sc. 1802–03 Scott Minstrelsy ll. 142:
And wae betide ye, Annan Water! This night that ye are a drumlie river.
Sc. 1935 I. Bennet Fishermen viii.:
She gazed downwards fascinated by the furious tiny cascades which ended in drumly brown pools.
ne.Sc. 1884 D. Grant Lays (1908) 136:
Where Clyde, or silver Dee, Or drumly Don, or swirlin' Spey Winds towards the parent sea.
Ags. 1883 J. Kennedy Poems (1920) 125:
Lang had MacTavish wrought and tramp'd Owre mony a drumlie dub.
Ayr. 1792 Burns Highland Mary i.:
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers, Your waters never drumlie!
Gall. 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 132:
He . . . steer't up the cley an san' an dirt, an the drumlie water ran through the wee mill.

(2) Of liquor: full of lees or sediment.Sc. 1831 J. Wilson Noctes Amb. (1856) III. 294:
As lang's there's anither drap, however drumly, in the bottom o' the bottle, dinna despair.
Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 35:
At drumbly gear they take nae pet; Foul water slockens fire And drouth thir days.
Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems II. 60:
Come! whurl the drumlie dregs o't roun'!
Lnk. 1893 T. Stewart Miners 203:
For trade's sae dagont dull, That noo the best I ever taste 'S a drink o' drumlie yull.

2. Of the weather, etc.: dark, gloomy, sullen. Also fig.Sc. 1732 E. Erskine Works (1871) II. 15:
They are inquiring about the state and circumstances of God's Israel, in a dark and drumbly day like this.
ne.Sc. 1830 J. Grant Kcd. Trad. 46:
And she could fly through the drumlie sky On the stem o' the rag-weed green.
m.Sc. 1999 John Milligan Fifteen Scots Poems 6:
O stechie cloods an atmosphere
Aboon the drumlie hills
Knr. 1895 “H. Haliburton” Dunbar in Mod. Sc. 42:
In Winter's dull an' drumlie day, When Nature dons her dark array.
Edb. 1851 A. Maclagan Sk. from Nature 100:
As drumlie clouds o'er summer skies Let anger's shadows flit.
Lnk. 1881 D. Thomson Musings 9:
An' noo the drumlie drowsy sun, Quite wearied like does rise.
Ayr. 1793 Burns Logan Water i.:
But now thy flowery banks appear Like drumlie winter, dark and drear.
Wgt. 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables frae French 61:
He pored owre Almanacks; hoo wather fair Or drumly cam'; the airts the wun' was blawin'.
Kcb. 1828 W. Nicholson Poems 123:
His face did glare like the glow o' the west When the drumlie cloud has it half o'ercast.

3. Fig.

(1) Of persons: muddled, confused, thick-headed; giddy (Rxb. 1942 Zai); gloomy; clouded (of eyes).Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems II. 12:
Fatigu'd and drumbly from the Down he flies, With skinny Cheek, pale Lips and blood-run Eyes.
Sc. 1829 Scott Journal (1890) II. 233:
13 Feb.: I wrote for several hours . . . but was nervous and drumlie.
Sc. 1860 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. 74:
Na, na, he [preacher]'s no just deep, but he's drumly.
Abd. 1928 N. Shepherd Quarry Wood 115:
Yer mither's feelin' drumlie kind.
Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 48:
He's rackle-handed
and I feel still his brosie glasp hauddin ticht
my bairnlie fingers. He glowres, his broon een
drumlie, hachers, grumphs: "It's nae richt"
as the snortlin tractor stotters doon the dreels.
Per. 1979 Betsy Whyte The Yellow on the Broom 126:
I was tired and still drumly after my outburst of temper.
Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 165:
His chafts are clappit in, his drumlie e'en Are faur ben sunken.
Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 71:
. . . the Muse ne'er cares For siller, or sic guilefu' wares, Wi' whilk we drumly grow, and crabbit.
Ayr. c.1789 Burns To a Gentleman ll. 5–6:
To ken what French mischief was brewin; Or what the drumlie Dutch were doin.
Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 87:
Mair deep, tho' not so drumley then, I've aft been fash'd to haud my ain.
Slk. 1835 Hogg Wars Montrose III. 76:
He was a great drumbly drunken stump, and could tell him nothing.

Hence drumliness, dullness.Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) xxi.:
His eyes of a hollow drumliness, as if he got no refreshment from the slumbers of the night.

(2) Of things: muddled, obscure, dim. Lit. and fig.Sc. 1736 Ramsay in Scots Mag. (April, 1932) 18:
And by corroboration drumbly Have broke the Kirk-house order comely.
Lth. 1925 C. P. Slater Marget Pow 12:
You would never believe the drumlie, grey, dirty colour poor Lady Lindesay's napery is now!
Edb. 1822 R. Wilson Poems 54:
Nae doot it's but a drumly warl', Thro' which puir chields their clay maun harl.
Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle 159:
Throo the drumliest legal muddles, Like a high-paced naig he strade.
Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales, etc. (1837) I. 308:
We had neither air nor exercise; and the three months in the depth of winter passed over like a drumly confused dream.

[O.Sc. has drumly, -ie, drumblie, as above, from 1513, phs. a nasalised variant of earlier drublie, turbid, clouded, from c.1470, Mid.Eng. drubly. a.1340.]

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"Drumlie adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/drumlie>

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