Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

SET, n.² Sc. usages of Eng. set, a number or group of persons or things: 1. specif., a corn-stack building team in harvest; the number of rigs reaped at one time by a band of reapers (em.Sc. (b), Rxb., Uls. 1970).Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 312:
Ending with a “set,” at shearing, cutting through from one side of the field to the other.Uls. 1866 H. M. Flecher Poems 67:
Each reaped his sett with a scythe, Then rested on the stubble.Lth. 1955 Edb. Ev. News (30 Aug.):
A set is the word we use for the team required to build a stack. It consists of five persons: the stacker himself, a cranner (usually a woman), who passes the sheaves across the stack to the stacker; two carters, and one forker.

2. In pl.: corn in small stacks (Lth. 1808 Jam.).