Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1746-1845, 1952
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FATUOUS, adj., n. Sc. Law: in a state of imbecility and therefore incapable of managing one's own affairs (Sc. 1948 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 35). Sometimes used as a n. (Ib.). Cf. Furious. Hence n., fatuity, imbecility.Sc. 1746 Morison Decisions 6291:
To cognosce one an idiot he behoved to be fatuous or altogether incapable.Sc. 1773 Erskine Institute i vii. § 48:
Fatuous persons, called also idiots, . . . who are entirely deprived of the faculty of reason and have an uniform stupidity and inattention in their manner and childishness in their speech.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lvii.:
In the course of two or three minutes the foreman returned a verdict of fatuity.Sc. 1837 Session Cases 973:
As the present Duke was fatuous and incapable of making a settlement his whole succession must be left to the natural disposition of the law.n.Sc. 1840 D. Sage Memorabilia Domestica (1889) 241:
Deranged and fatuous persons were conveyed . . . to this muddy pool for cure.Cai. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 XV. 122:
Maniacs are very rare. Idiots and fatuous persons are remarkably common.Sc. 1952 National Wkly. (22 March):
The defective and the fatuous, who wandered about from parish to parish.
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"Fatuous adj., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 16 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/fatuous>
