Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1926, 1990-1994
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NESH, adj. Also neshe, na(i)sh (Jam.). Soft, tender, as a healing wound, fragile, delicate in health, sensitive (Sc. 1887 Jam.; Mry.1 1925, nash; ‡Sh., Ags., Per., wm.Sc. 1964). Now only dial. in Eng. [neʃ]Sc.(E) 1926 H. M'Diarmid Drunk Man 22:
Till clear and chitterin' and nesh Move a' the miseries o' his flesh.Sc. 1990 Robert Crawford in Hamish Whyte and Janice Galloway New Writing Scotland 8: The Day I Met the Queen Mother 5:
Rooky ur-stanes, nesh
Wi deid weans' haunprents, sclimmin
Salvatour's tooir. ... Misty stones of the beginning, delicate with handprints of dead children, climbing Salvator's tower. Dundee 1994 Matthew Fitt in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 180:
The grund wus nesh an sleekit. It reeshilt unnir the young lad's gutties as he taikit owre atween the tinkers' vans, no waantin tae wauken thair mukkil dugs.
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"Nesh adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 4 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/nesh>
