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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PARE, v., n. Also pair (Bnff. 1847 A. Cumming Tales 3; Sh. 1899 Shetland News (1 April)); par, per (Jak.); pear-. Sc. forms and usages. [per; m. and s.Sc. ‡piər. See P.L.D. § 99.]

I. v. 1. As in Eng. Hence parins. pair(i)ns, pearins, n.pl., (1) a coarse meal or flour made from the husks of the grain (Sc. 1887 Jam.). Also pair(i)n-flour, -meal, id. (Ib.); (2) little fragments of pork pared off the bones in pork-curing stores (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.).Bwk.² 1948:
I'll show ye hoo tae pear yer aipple.(1) Sc. 1800 Edb. Advertiser (14 Jan.) 26:
A bread should be baked for the Poor, composed one third of the standard flour, and two thirds what is called in Scotland paring meal (which is in fact a part of the produce of the wheat, somewhat finer than bran, and coarser than flour).Edb. 1850 J. Smith Hum. Sc. Stories 8:
Makin scores o'mealy puddins, an' bakin' pairin'-meal scones, wi' currants an' raisins by the hunder thoosand.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (11 March):
“Hit canna be pairin' flooer shürely?” “No, hit's frae Amerikey.”(2) Mry. a.1900 D. Ogilvie Poems 6:
I've seen him watchin tally killin And frae his box the pearins stealin.

†2. As in Eng.: (1) to slice off the top layer of vegetation on a field before ploughing. Hence phr. to pare and burn, to burn the turf after doing this and use it as manure. Also in Eng. agric. practice in the 18th c.Sc. 1743 R. Maxwell Select. Trans. 17:
The whole Field may be fallowed, and plentifully limed; or else, which is better, pared and burnt; and a competent Quantity of Lime being added to the Ashes . . . it may be laid down with Grass-seeds.Sc. 1808 Lockhart Scott i.:
That fortunate vanity which alone could induce a man who has arms to pare and burn a muir, to submit to the yet more toilsome task of cultivating youth.Dmf. 1812 W. Singer Agric. Dmf. 222:
A great deal of rough and barren soils, very much requiring paring and burning.Sc. 1825 Jam.:
To pare and burn. To take off the sward of ground, esp. when it is moorish or heathery, with a turf-spade, or with what is called a Denshiring plough, and after these turfs are dried, to burn them on the soil for manure.

‡(2) to destroy grass by overpasturing or arable land by over-cropping (Sh. 1965); (3) to run the plough lightly between the rows in a field of young plants in order to cut down the weeds (Cai. 1903 E.D.D.), to shim.

3. intr. To pine away, to become very thin and emaciated (Sh. 1965).Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
He is perin op. Pard to de bens.

II. n. A grain; a tiny scrap, a trace; a paring, esp. of meat or flesh (Uls. 1965).Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
Der'r no a par upo de bens; der'r no a par upon him, he is quite emaciated.