Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SEEP, v., n. Also seap. See also Sype. [sip]

I. v. 1. intr. To drip, ooze, trickle, percolate, leak (Sc. 1825 Jam., 1886 J. Bannerman Mining Terms 59). Gen.Sc. and in U.S. Also fig. Hence seepin, of rain: soaking, penetrative (ne.Sc. 1969); seepage, leakage, ooze (Uls. 1904 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc. Comb. ¶seep-sabbin, the noise of trickling water. The word has now become St.Eng.Rnf. c.1790 A. Wilson Poems (1876) II. 88:
Where tinkler wives, and beggars lie, An' rain seeps through the thack.Rnf. 1825 Earl Richard in Child Ballads (1956) II. 148:
“Lye thou there, earl Richard,” she says, “Till the blood seep from thy bane”.Dmf. 1874 R. Wanlock Moorland Rhymes 238:
The laich seep-sabbin' o' the burn doon by.e.Lth. 1885 S. Mucklebackit Rhymes 91:
Oot through the stooks the dreepin' rain Seeps, seepin' — rottin' corn an' strae.m.Sc. 1898 J. Buchan John Burnet i. vii.:
Drizzlin', dreepin', seepin' weather.Kcb. 1900 Crockett Anna Mark x.:
The bluish rotted places where the wet had seeped in.Fif. 1909 Colville 122:
To suck the sweet sap that seapt out on the sunny side. . . . An Aberdeen professor of the old school used to tell a slow student to keep a “gleg” ear, and just let his prelections “seap” in.Dmf. 1915 J. L. Waugh Betty Grier 93:
Back smoke . . . it seeps doon through your thrapple into your lungs, an' there's nae hoastin' o' it up.Sc. 1926 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 97:
It began to seep into the glimmer o' intelligence that was left to him.Ags. 1930 A. Kennedy Orra Boughs xxi.:
Before her “Can I come in?” had seeped through the door's crevices.Kcd. 1932 L. G. Gibbon Sunset Song 44:
The hill springs about a shepherd's herd would dry up or seep away all in an hour.

2. tr. To drain moisture from.Gall. 1822 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 419:
Over this fire was suspended a large potful of newly “seiped” potatoes, sprinkled over thickly with salt.

3. tr. To soak, wet through. Ppl.adj. seepit, soaked, drenched. Gen.Sc.Lnk. 1844 J. Lemon St. Mungo 48:
Wi' the weet We're seepit to the skin.Sc. 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah lviii. 11:
Like a weel-seepit yaird.ne.Sc. 1921 Swatches o' Hamespun 17:
Torn pyocks . . . seepit wi' paraffin.

4. To absorb, to suck or draw in (moisture). Used fig. in quot. Rare.Edb. 1897 W. Beatty Secretar xiv.:
A young lad's mind, whilk had seeped in, for many a day, the rain of adversity.

II. n. 1. Leakage, dripping; moisture that oozes or trickles out; “an almost imperceptible run of water” (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 58). Deriv. seeple, a wet sopping mess, a mire.Uls. 1834 Brit. Husbandry I. 414:
The seep or gooding, as he terms it, of his stable-manure.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 45:
The ne'er a seep cam' Paddy's bonnet thro'.Sc. 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms Pref. 1:
The saft seep o' the cluds an' the dour chirt o' the cranreuch.Ayr. 1901 G. Douglas Green Shutters viii.:
He heard the seep of the water through the mare's lips.Sc. 1956 Bulletin (30 June):
This road is winding and twisting. It has a bad surface, and in rain it is a seeple of mud.

2. A small spring or well of water (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 424).

3. A small drink of liquor, a sip.Slg. 1870 R. Buchanan Poems (1901) 157:
Anither bit seep, wi' her han' below the glass in case o' ony scaling.