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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCUDDIE, adj., n. Also scuddy, skuddy and in reduced form scud. [′skʌdi]

I. adj. 1. Naked, bare, without clothes, or with one garment only (Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 352; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ayr. 1928, scud; m. and s.Sc. 1969), also in combs. scud(die)-nakit, bare scuddie, id. (Watson; Per., wm. Sc. 1964); of a fledgling: without feathers (Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 352).Sc. 1829 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) II. 267:
Some skuddy-naked, some clothed in duds, and some gorgeously apparelled.Sc. 1831 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) III. 286:
Strip a kintra lass, o' laigh degree, perfectly skuddy, and set her aside a toun belle o' noble bluid, equally naked.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 115:
An' tho' thou'rt noo sae scuddie bare, Thou'lt soon be clad wi' feathers rare.Lnk. 1891 W. Wingate Poems (1919) 53:
Rinnin' scuddy to the gate, Aft they welcomed Paper Kate.wm.Sc. 1907 N. Munro Daft Days xviii.:
Scuddy little dolls.Ayr. 1927 J. Carruthers Man Beset ii. v.:
I'll strip him scuddy and lounder him till he skirls for mercy.Slg. 1935 W. D. Cocker Further Poems 77:
Wi' twa-three scuddy savages dumfoonert on the shore.Gsw. 1985 Anna Blair Tea at Miss Cranston's 70:
... there were paid stair-wash ladies like poor Woodbine Annie who roamed the Pollockshields closes forty years ago with her bucket and was said to be skuddy-naked under the long coat she wore to her ankles. wm.Sc. 1988 Robin Jenkins Just Duffy 66:
Suppose she found a bundle of magazines with pictures of scuddy women with huge boobs fingering their twats it wouldn't really be a secret for most boys had at least one or two. em.Sc. 1992 Ian Rankin Strip Jack (1993) 154:
'Think I'd give Glenlivet to the ba'-heids I get in here? I'm a businessman, not the Samaritans. They look at the bottle, think they know what they're getting, and they're impressed. Image again, like the scuddy pics on the wall. ... '

2. Mean, scrubby, scruffy, having a shabby broken-down appearance, in want or straitened circumstances (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 151, Bnff. 1920).Abd. 1936 D. Bruce Cried on Sunday 14:
Ye're better wintin' thon scuddy howfin.Gsw. 1947 H. W. Pryde First Bk. McFlannels 60:
If you think I would stoop to touch your scuddy wee mat —.

3. Stingy, niggardly, penurious (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 151; Bnff., Abd. 1969); insufficient, in short supply, too small (Id.); short or in want (of).Gregor:
I'll be gey scuddy o' neeps this year.Abd. 1904 E.D.D.:
What kind o' scuddie weicht's that?Abd.¹ 1929:
Awfu' scuddy wi' the servan's, she'd hardly gie them eneugh tae aet.

II. n. 1. A naked person, esp. a child.Rnf. 1815 W. Finlayson Rhymes 92:
Wad ye hae them to rin like scuddies, Without a rag?wm.Sc. 1880 Jam.:
Wee scuddy, wee naked scuddy, a term applied to an infant when stript to the shirt.

2. The bare skin, a state of nudity (Cld. 1880 Jam.; Abd., Kcd., Per., wm.Sc. 1969). Comb. bare scud, id. (m.Sc. 1970; Sh., Bnff., Ags., Fif., Edb., Arg., Gsw., Ayr. 2000s). Also in the scud (Bnff., Fif., Ayr.); in the scuddie (Bnff., Ags., Edb., Gsw., Ayr., Dmf., Rxb.).   Abd.²⁷ 1951:
Doon tae scuddie — i.e. to the bare skin. wm.Sc. 1984 Christine Marion Fraser Return To Rhanna (1990) 97:
' ... I saw her auld face peeping out the window o' the Post Office and knowing her she'll soon have it about that I as much as stripped to the skuddy in the middle o' the village street.' Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 61:
scud ... In the scud or in the scuddy means naked, in the nude. Shock value is heightened by inserting the word 'bare' as in 'They were lyin on the beach in the bare scud!' wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 31:
If you were barescud-nakit, aye and geared
Up guid and proaper, staunin' hoat for houghmagandie
I could lukk and lukk ett you, and no get randy. m.Sc. 1991 William Neill in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 51:
I'm tellt the auncient Celts focht in bare scud...
Man, yon's a mark o unco determination.
Ye've shairly got tae ken whit ye're fechting fur
tae tak the haill Roman Empire on in yer buff. Sc. 1991 Guardian 24 Aug :
Wearing waders he traverses Binghams pond for the boats that get into trouble. 'There can be major collisions with these boats. I've been known to go into the water in the bare scud in November to get boats out.' Arg. 1993:
I'm tryin tae get this wee yin dressed - she runs aboot in the scuddie. Sc. 1994 Daily Record 26 Sep 17:
Now when I go into the newsagent's, I have to avert my eyes from the feminist porn-mags with their covers showing bare-scud blokes and couples working their way through the Kama Sutra. Sc. 1999 Herald 15 Dec 15:
... Tony Roper had slipped out of his jester's costume and was resplendent in bare scud, boxers, and wellies ... Sc. 2000 Herald 3 Mar 21:
The image (which we are not printing because it doesn't look good in black and white) is of one of the Compagnie Thor chaps bare naked. Aficionados will know that performing in the bare scud is not a rare occurrence in dance. Edb. 2003:
It's too cauld tae go scamperin aboot barescud-naked.

3. A nestling, a young unfledged bird (Rnf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 148; Lnk. 1969, scud(die)).Lnk. 1865 J. Hamilton Poems 52:
An' keekin in the mavis' nest O' naked scuddies fu'.Rnf. 1873 J. Nicholson Wee Tibbie 67:
They'll jist be like scuddies Asleep in their warm fuggie nest.Lnk. 1936 R. MacLellan Toom Byres (1947) 66:
It's as soft as a scuddie.