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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.

GARSE, Gars, n., v.2 Obs. Sc. forms of Eng. grass. Cf. Girse.

I. n. Also adj.comb. gars-green.Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 231:
L—d, sen' us aye garse an' meat, Till ance thou skin an' bury us.
Sc. 1802 Katharine Jaffray in Child Ballads No. 221 C. xi.:
He's taen her by the milk-white hand, And by the gars-green sleeve.
Sc. 1827 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 362:
Wi' a' the roots o' garse like mouses' nests.
Ayr. 1839 H. McCann Poet. Trifles 7:
Wi' dams o' gars an' gravel made.

Hence gars(e)y, adj., grassy.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 195:
I'll bang ye, for guid garsey laund, For ony kind o' cattle.
Gsw. 1868 J. Young Poems 26:
And led me on at canny pace To this lowne, garsy, bonnie place.

II. v. In phr. to send (someone) a garsing, to send (someone) packing, to turn (someone) out. Cf. slang Eng. to be sent to grass, to be rusticated, and trade slang grass, to discharge from work for a time.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lv.:
But since that time he's been neither to bind nor to haud, threatening to send me, his mother, a garsing.

[O.Sc. has gars, n., from 1556, garssie, 1596; O.E. has gærs as well as græs and Mid.Du. has gars as well as gras.]

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"Garse n., v.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/garse_n_v2>

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