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 2005 (SND, online supplement).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLECK, adj. also blek, blaik. Sc. forms of Eng. black.Sc. 1983 John McDonald in Joy Hendry Chapman 37 44:
Intae a bleck hole
oot frae a white
aa's naethin bit a whirligig
o thirlit licht.Slk. 1985 Walter Elliot Clash-ma-clavers 42:
Tho ye say blek when Ah say white
An Ah say dull when ye say bright,
Some day Ah'll gar ye see the light
Ye contramashous bletherskite.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 33:
See him rax oot
frae tasht bleck sleeve
an airm for support;
it's a sair fecht
bidan upricht here.Dundee 1994 Matthew Fitt in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 174:
The grund wus rimy an ther wus a snell wund blawin bit aa he had oan unnir his lang blek coat wus a whyte t-shirt, a perr o jeans, an mawkit gutties oan his feet.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 15:
Granny disna pit naethin on her face bit soapy watter an hir eyebroos rin thegither like a hairy oubit, aa blaik an jobby.Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall in Neil R. MacCallum Lallans 51 15:
Efter a lang, lang time, somebody pit out the lichts in the lift an aathing gaed blaik, except for the kebbuck o cheese an a green an blue foushty baa hingin in space, like a rotten tangy.

Add Deriv.: bleckie, Add variant blekkie. A blackbird.m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 90:
The bleckie's cleed is blecker nor the craw's.
He maks his nest gey near yir gairden raws
an maks himsel at hame aboot the place.Sc. 1995 David Purves Hert's Bluid 53:
For fullie a week the gorblin blekkie
wi the mittilt weing cokkit its heid
at our houss door and keikit up
at me wi pit-mirk sheinin een.