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: 1786-1865, 1917
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GUMLIE, adj. Also gumly. Turbid, muddy (wm.Sc. 1955); fig. gloomy. Also used adv.Ayr. 1786 Burns To G. Hamilton 68–9:
O ye wha leave the springs o' Calvin, For gumlie dubs of your ain delvin!Bch. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 71:
Wae worth ye, wabster Tam, what's this That I see gaupin gumlie?Ayr. 1835 A. Crawford Tales of my Grandmother I. 159:
Ye may glour, Johnny Dow, but what are ye but a twenty pint cask o' gumlie yill, without either hope or faith?Rnf. 1836 R. Allan Evening Hours 191:
An owre the wood an' mountain's brow They [clouds] wore a deep an' gumly hue.w.Sc. 1865 R. Buchanan Inverburn (1882) 160:
And poor Jock Watt . . . follow'd in his shoes, Back'd by the sourest, gumliest of shrews.Lth. 1917 A. Dodds Lothian Land 69:
They fand him smoored up in a drift . . . Wi' his een stelled tae the gumlie lift.
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"Gumlie adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gumlie>
