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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

SETTLE, n.² 1. As in Eng., now chiefly dial., a long wooden bench with arms and a high back and sometimes cupboards under the seat (Sc. 1825 Jam.; n.Sc., Kcb. 1970), freq. in comb. langsettle, see Lang, I. 6. (48).m.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan 79:
We had sat lang beside ane anither on the settle.Cai. 1869 M. McLennan Peasant Life xxv.:
Two or three wooden forms or “settles”.ne.Sc. 1874 W. Gregor Olden Time 17:
By the other side-wall stood the settle, with its table, fixed to the wall and folding down over it, in the centre.Dmf. 1894 J. Cunningham Broomieburn 115:
He threw himsel' doon on the settle.Bnff. 1902 Banffshire Jnl. (21 Jan.):
Right opposite the dresser was placed the settle or long seat.

Combs.: (1) settle-bed, a kind of bed-settee, a wooden bed that can be folded up to form a bench or seat during the day (Slg., w.Lth., wm. and sm.Sc., Uls. 1970); (2) settle-stane, a stone seat behind or on each side of a hearth (Dmf. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 283). See also 2. (1).(1) Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xix.:
His eyes involuntarily rested upon the little settle-bed.Wgt. 1878 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 197:
A settle-bed for the lasses.

2. A ledge or raised platform, specif.: (1) the raised stone platform in a byre on which the cattle stand, the floor of a cow's stall (Ags. 1970); occas. the gutter behind this. Comb. settle-stane, one of the large stones which form the kerb of the stall. Also in n.Eng. dial.Kcb. 1815 J. Gerrond Works 81:
Whilst Jean the kye, With straw, saft on the settle-stane, Maks brock to lie.Peb. 1870 Trans. Highl. Soc. 115:
The “settles” or places where the cattle stand, are partly floored with bricks and partly with a composition of furnace ashes and lime.Ayr. 1899 Trans. Highl. Soc. 69:
The stones that are placed at the foot of the bed in a paved floor, and which form one edge of the “grip”, are called the “settle” stones. They require, of course, to be big and heavy.

(2) in comb. settle-board, in Mining: one of the boards or metal sheets at the top of a pit-shaft forming a platform or landing place for men and hutches from the cage, a Shut (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 59). Also in n.Eng. mining usage; the platform from which the sheaves are fed into a threshing-mill (Lth. 1970).