Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1900, 1992
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HANGMAN, n. Sc. usages:
1. A kind of cheese made by hanging the curds up to dry in a cloth exposed to the sun instead of putting them in a press (Abd.4 1931, Abd. 1956). Also comb. hangman cheese, id. (Abd.27 1920–56).Abd. 1992 David Toulmin Collected Short Stories 107:
Whiles she'd let the milk curdle and make a hangman cheese, hanging it outside on a nail in the wall for nearly a week or it dried and hardened.
2. The seventh groove from the point of a spinning top, into which a thong of the lash was fitted.Abd. c.1900:
The names of the grooves ran according to the following rhyme: — "Laird, Lord, Lily, Leaf, Piper, Drummer, Hangman, Thief."
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"Hangman n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/hangman>
