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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GULLET, n. Also gullot. Sc. usages:

‡1. A narrow, deep channel or rocky inlet of the sea (‡Ags., Gall. 1955). Now only local in Eng.Sc. 1773 Boswell Tour (1936) 71:
We walked round the house till stopped by a gullet into which the sea comes.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 415:
Gullets on wild rocky shores, scooped out by the hand of nature; when the tide flows into them in a storm, they make an awful rumbling noise.

Comb.: gullet hole, “a deep hole in a sand or mud bank dangerous to bathers” (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.).

2. A deep channel dug by water, a gully, a ravine (Ags., Per., Kcb., Dmf. 1955). Also in Eng. dial.Rxb. 1767 Caled. Mercury (10 Aug.):
They write from Hawick . . . the water of Slitrigg came down with unusual impetuosity. . . . Several gullets are dug in the streets.Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 37:
To make a passage o'er the gullet, Ilk on his shou'der flung his wallet, Wi' twa three stanes; An' made a brig.Sc. 1799 Trans. Highl. Soc. I. 190:
The elm, too, is a native of the country; growing in natural woods, and frequently in gullets, at a great elevation.Sc. 1865 Carlyle Fr. the Great V. 572:
There is a narrow gullet there, overhung with heights all round.

†3. A narrow channel in a river used for catching fish, or one artificially made for the same purpose.Sc. 1742 Help to Patience 7:
That a dear darling Friend it could not name, Was hurled down the Gullet of a Stream.Slk. 1820 Hogg Winter Ev. Tales I. 50:
Gin Sandy Jardine dinna wade as deep as ony chap in a' Airland, deil that he gang down the gullots like a flowy peat.Per. 1845 Stat. Acc.² X. 511:
The principal heritors have the right of catching fish with arks, nets, gullets, cruives, and other instruments, secured to them by their charters.

4. A narrow passage, an alley (Kcd. 1955). Also in Eng. dial.Edb. 1926 A. Muir Blue Bonnet 70:
I'll nip up this wee gullet.