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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

FRAM, adv., adj. Also fraam.

I. adv. †1. Forward; away, off (on a journey). Rare.Sh. 1888 Edmondston and Saxby Home of a Naturalist 184:
I wiz for fram we da Oy's ferdemate.

2. Specif.: out to sea, seawards (Sh. 1953). Now obsol. and slightly jocular. Hence by fram (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.), framwards, id. Phr. to lay fram, to lay fishing-lines to seaward.Sh. 1822 S. Hibbert Descr. Sh. 512:
We set aff, and we row'd oot upon him, till we sank a' da laigh land, and dan we began and laid fram.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 132:
Pobie's brow . . . peers framwards like a sentinel of Night.Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 99:
Wi' idder boats doo took dy staand, . . . Else baetin' fram, or ta da laand.Sh.⁴ 1934:
We bör fram an aest.

II. adj. Seaward, far out at sea, deep-sea; far off (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.). Mostly in n.combs.: ¶fram boat, a deep-sea fishing boat; †fram bord, the boat farthest to seaward on a fishing ground (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.); fram haaf, the deep or open sea far from land, esp. in regard to the fishing grounds there (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)); fram raiths, deep-sea fishing grounds; fram seats, id.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 238:
I rowed in a fram boat my first year wi' aald Maa-ns o' Buddabrake.Ib. 131:
Outside the inshore fishing grounds, some five or six miles from land, were the fram seats or raiths.Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 87:
I doot afore a' is düne, doo'll fin 'at doo's fram eneugh?Sh. 1937 J. Nicolson Yarns 72:
The Shetland fishers whose daily task was an endeavour to wrest a living from the “fraam haaf.”