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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GREEN, v. Also grein, grien, †grean, †grene.

1. To desire ardently, long, yearn (ne.Sc. 1931; Ork., Cai., Ags., Fif. 1955). Absol. or with for or inf. Also vbl.n.   Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shepherd i. i.:
Tempest may cease to jaw the rowan Flood, Corbies and Tods to grein for Lambkins Blood.Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 41:
Then a' the house for sleep begin to grien, Their joints to slack frae industry a while.Sc. a.1776 D. Herd Sc. Songs II. 171:
The lasses had stench'd their greening With fouth of braw apples and beer.Ayr. 1795 Burns 2nd. Heron Election Ballad (Douglas 1877) ix.:
Wellwood, That griens for the fishes and loaves.Per. 1816 J. Duff Poems 87:
A tanner now they did provide, Wha lang had green'd for Tamey's hide.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 84:
Young first-time communicants, A' greenin', grainin', to be saunts.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin x.:
I was grienin' for a crack wi' her.Sh. 1897 Shetland News (19 June):
Meggie wis juist sain da day it shü wis greanin' for a bane o' fresh fish.Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 95:
For blude-red lips I daurna grene, I mauna touch that jimpy waist.Abd. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 43:
An' grien for the sin-bricht hichts an' howes O' the lichtsome simmer days. Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 9:
I wis weill contentit
til ae day the chiel cam by
wi yon sleekit look an stertit
speirin if I wisnae lickit, warslin
awa on my ain, an had I nivir
griened for anither pair o haunds? m.Sc. 1991 Tom Scott in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 42:
O let ance the stevin
o her hert's howl for me wi greinin fill me

2. Specif. of a pregnant woman: to have an abnormal craving for a certain kind of food (Ant. 1892 Ballymena Obs. (E.D.D.); Ork. 1929 Marw.; Mry., Kcb. 1955).Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Æneis:
A greening wife, i.e. a woman with child that hath an extreme longing for some kind of meat, which, if it be denied her, will (as they say), do harm to her or the child.Sc. 1729 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) IV. 93:
[The midwife] asked the mother if she greened for anything when with him.Sc. 1737 Ramsay Proverbs (1776) 28:
Greening wives are ay greedy.Edb. 1811 H. Macneill Bygane Times 7–8:
As for our ance good, cheap lamb-legs At Eight pence price, our wives, ifegs! Had best no green at lambtime killing.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 280:
Some prime recates which he brocht from the Refectory, . . . how to mix a posset for a greening wife.Fif. 1912 D. Rorie Mining Folk 394:
If a woman while pregnant has been “greenin'” (longing for) any article of diet which has been denied to her, the child when born will keep shooting out its tongue until its lips have been touched with the article in question.Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Benachie 31:
If ye are greenin' efter my butter, an' divna get a bit o't, yer bairnie's tongue wid maybe aye be hingin' oot.