Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: <1700, 1700-1721, 1773-1917
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HAILSOME, adj. Also hal(e)some; healsom(e); †helsom; halesom; haelsome; hilsome (Abd. 1880 W. Robbie Glendornie xviii.). Wholesome, sound, healthful (Sc. 1825 Jam.); useful. Gen.Sc. Also used fig.Abd. c.1692 A. Pitcairn Assembly (1722) 40:
That's a helsom Disease to be troubled in Spirit.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 25:
Roun'd in his Lug, That there was a Poor Country Kate, As halesom as the Well of Spaw, But unka blate.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (1925) 27:
What makes Auld Reikie's dames sae fair, It canna be the halesome air, But caller burn beyond compare.Ayr. 1786 Burns Cotter's Sat. Night xi.:
The healsome Porritch, chief of Scotia's food.Sc. 1826 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1863) I. 223:
Pigeon-pies . . . being the maist hailsome o' a' bird-pies whatsomever.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb v.:
Hoot, min, dinna spull the gweed clean, halesome water — skowff't oot!Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake 200:
An' weel the world's tinsel shows his halesome muse withstuid.Uls. 1900 A. McIlroy Craig-Linnie Burn 23:
If ye wud agree tae stap the tay a' thegither, an' tak' what's halesome.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 26:
At halesome fauts they lift their han'.
Hence healsomeness, wholesomeness.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian ix.:
He . . . thinks as muckle about the form of the bicker as he does about the healsomeness of the food.
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"Hailsome adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/hailsome>
