Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LEEP, v., n. Also lepe (Jam.); leap. [lip]

I. v. 1. tr. To heat partially, to parboil, to cook on the outside, to half-roast, to scald, often of shell-fish used as bait (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Mry. 1813 W. Leslie Agric. Mry. 460; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 151; Ork. 1929 Marw., leap; I. and n.Sc., Gall. 1960); to chafe, gall by friction. Also fig. and in n.Eng. dial. Ppl.adjs. leepan, of weather: hot and moist (Cai. 1902 E.D.D.), leepit, -id, -et, -ed, warmed up, parboiled, scalded, as of milk, soup, etc. (Sc. 1880 Jam.); of peats: partially dried; vbl.n. leepin, a period of hot moist weather (Sh. 1960). Comb. leaped gibbo, hot buttermilk mixed with oatmeal (Ork. 1929 Marw.). For gibbo, see Gebbie.Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis:
We say that a thing is leeped, that is heated a little, or put into boyling water or such like for a little time.ne.Sc. 1790 Sc. Mus. Museum III. 223:
Next down their breakfast it was set, It leiped them it was sae het.Sc. 1806 R. Jamieson Ballads II. 239:
Syne put the burn untill the gleed, And leepit the een out o' his head.Rxb. 1825 Jam.:
Lepit peats, peats dug out of the solid moss without being baked.Bwk. 1876 W. Brockie Confessional 185:
The haggis burstit i' the leepin.Sh. 1888 Edmonston & Saxby Naturalist 301:
Piltacks are also fished with bait — “leepit” limpets being the only bait ever used. “Leepit” means scalded with boiling water till the flesh leaves the shell quite readily.Fif. 1899 J. Allan Cracks wi' Flutorm 37:
The sheelins o' the groat were leep't, Made sowen kale for weeks.Ork. 1913 Old-Lore Misc. VI. i. 22:
The wazzie or straw collar was the result. With a collar of this kind there was no danger of leeped shoulders.Abd. 1920 A. Robb MS. iv.:
The beasts got … sometimes leepit caff — that wis caff stobbins, steepit wi' het water.Cai.⁹ 1939:
To leep: to scald milk-dishes, etc., to pour boiling water over a slaughtered pig in order to remove the bristles.

2. intr. To become warm, to start to boil. Also fig. of human beings (Ork. 1902 E.D.D.; Sh., Ork. 1960).Cai. 1902 E.D.D.:
I wiz lek to leep.

3. To sit lazily over the fire, to be fond of warmth, to snuggle up in some warm place. Hence ppl.adj. leepit, fond of warmth, given to sitting by the fire and to coddling oneself, pampered, not hardy (Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems Gl.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; n.Sc. 1960); used as a n. in dim. form leepedie, a soft, coddled creature.Sc. 1706 Short Survey Married Life 14:
[An] Idle, Lazie, Loubert, Leeped, Sweer, . . . Tatter-tail'd Baggage.Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 28:
The leethfu' leepit sleeth o' a coach-man.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 28:
Ye wad a been married on a lownlike leepet lazy lump.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 103:
He's a lazy flail o' cheel, for he diz naething bit leep our the fire, an' shawm wee's feet i' the ais.Mry. 1919 T.S.D.C.:
We used to throw aside our boots and stockings in those days at the first of May, and be it fair be it foul, we did not put them on again till after the “haist play” — Sundays excepted, of course. Any boy who dared to come to school on a cold or wet day with boots on, was greeted with derisive shouts of “leepit scaignie!, leepit scaignie!”Abd. 1928 Abd. Wkly. Jnl. (13 Dec.) 6:
Aw kenna fat wye ye can sit an' leep ower a fire like that in sic a fine nicht.Cai.⁹ 1939:
A leepedie is nae geed for 'e storm.

4. Fig.: to cheat in bargaining, to “ roast”, “ sting” (Mry. 1813 W. Leslie Agric. Mry. 460).

II. n. A period of warm weather, a hot atmosphere (Sh. 1960); a warming or exposure to heat, a parboiling, a sitting by the fire (Bnff. 1880 Jam.); a state of great heat, a swelter (Ork., Cai. 1960). Also in deriv. leaper, id.Ags. 1825 J. Ross Sermon 27:
For ye'll nae mair get synd or seap Frae her wha's gi'en you [a shirt] mony a leap.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 103:
Gee yir linnen a leep, or ye pit it on.Sh. 1900 Shetland News (2 June):
Dat's a day o' leep for you, folk.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
He was in a leap (or leaper) o' heat … in a leap o' sweat.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 140:
Dat's bune a leep o' haet i' da moarnin.