Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
‡PEER, v.2, n.2 Also pere.
I. v. To pour in a small stream, trickle. Also in Eng. dial. Freq. form peerie, -y, id. (Rnf. 1788 E. Picken Poems Gl.). Hence peerie(-weerie), a slow-running stream (Ayr. 1825 Jam., Ayr. 1965).Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis:
Pour and pere, . . . differ in this, that we commonly use pour, when greater quantities issue forth; and pere, when the liquor trickles down by drops, or as it were, small threeds, when there is little remaining in the vessel.Sc. 1834 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1864) IV. 38:
The water peeryin out amang the lowse stanes.
II. n. In dim. form peerie: a very small quantity, a little, in phr. a wee peery (Ayr. 1903 E.D.D.).
[O.Sc. peir, tr., to pour, 1513. Used orig. = to allow melted fat or oil to fall in drops. Orig. doubtful. But cf. Norw. dial. pira, to trickle, purl.]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Peer v.2, n.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 2 May 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/peer_v2_n2>
