Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

RATCHELL, n. Also rachel(l); ratchel; ¶rahill. A hard stony crust under the soil, a gravelly pan or till (Sc. 1808 Jam.), applied locally to rock of various types (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 149). Dial. or tech. in Eng. Deriv. rachelly, gravelly. [Sh. ′retʃəl]Fif. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ IX. 217:
The soil in general is thin and sharp, but very productive, lies on a gravel, or what is called here a rachelly bottom, except in some places where it is tilly.Sc. 1807 J. Headrick View Arran 250:
Wacken porphyry. Glomellaria. Scottish: Ratchell.Fif. 1837 Trans. Highl. Soc. 275:
It was very difficult to work, and at last was cut off altogether by a ratchell dyke. . . . Ratchell, a miner's provincial term for all sorts of trap which may be softer than whinstone.Fif. 1844 P. Chalmers Dunfermline 22:
They become a rich caking cubical coal, until they approach the trap hills, when they lose their bituminous quality altogether, and are changed into a blind anthracite, or glance-coal. . . . This coal is termed by the workmen in Fife, Rotten ratchell, or Foul rahill, and is used in furnaces.Sc. 1882 Francisque-Michel Lang. 387:
Ratchal. A hard rocky crust below the soil.

Comb. rachel-saut, coarse-grained salt, rock-salt.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (30 July):
A'm seen butter comin' ta da shops 'at wis half foo o' kirn mylk an' rachel saut.Sh. 1899 Ib. (8 April):
Shu brozd a coarn o' rachel saut an' held apo' da blade o' a table knife ta Meggy.