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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.

SPLAIRGE, v., n. Also splerge, splarge; splairg, splerg (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). Pa.p. splairgit. [splerdʒ; Bwk., s.Sc. splerg]

I. v. 1. tr. To bespatter, besprinkle, bedaub (Fif., Slk., Cld. 1825 Jam.; Rxb.1923 Watson W.-B.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein, Rxb. 1942 Zai, splairg; m. and s.Sc. 1971). Also ppl.adj. splairgit. Also fig., to discredit, slander, besmirch.m.Lth. 1788 J. Macaulay Poems 193:
For naething can be to your charge Sae laid, as may your good name splarge.Gsw. 1863 J. Young Ingle Nook 109:
The dasks were aye splairg't wi' great blotches o' ink.Bwk. 1876 W. Brockie Leaderside Legends 42:
Splairgit, ramsheucht, disjaskit, dookit, Wi, a' the stairch out o' him drookit.Per. 1895 R. Ford Tayside Songs 143:
They splairg'd his bit duddies a' ower wi' coal tar.Edb. 1915 T. W. Paterson Auld Saws 109:
To splairge some neibour's character Ahint his back.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 56:
To splairge quaite fowk wi' glaur.em.Sc. 1999 James Robertson The Day O Judgement 21:
"Since ye sae vauntie luved tae lowe,
On a bed o fire I'll hae ye lie;
An in the scaudin heat ye'll rowe
In yer splairgit sheets for aye. ... "

2. tr. To scatter, sprinkle, splash, gen. of a liquid (em.Sc. (a), wm., sm.Sc. 1971). Also fig. Vbl.n. splairgin, a large spot or blotch (Mry. 1925).Edb. 1916 T. W. Paterson Wyse-Sayin's xix. 26:
A callan that splairges an ugsome slaiger on his ain name.Abd. 1932 D. Campbell Bamboozled 28:
Splairgin' owre muckle stairch amon' the water.Sc. 1935 B. Marshall Uncertain Glory 436:
Red and white bills splarged across the windows of his shop.

3. absol. To fly or splash in all directions, to scatter itself (Wgt., Rxb. 1971); transf. to sprawl, to spreadeagle oneself.Edb. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 40:
Now glass an' guts [of his watch] did spark an splarge, Like hailstones round his nuckles.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss-Hags xxiii.:
They scattered like a flock o' wild deuks when a chairge o' shot splairges amang them.m.Lth. 1912 W. Cuthbertson Dykeside Folk 63:
Me splairged oot on the tap o' ma bed.

4. intr. (1) To splash, make a splashing of water, mud, etc. (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); to move clumsily through water, mud, etc. with much floundering and splashing (Ags., Per. 1971); (2) fig. to run wild, squander one's resources or talents in a heedless flighty manner (Kcd., Per. 1971); to make a vain or extravagant show (Abd. 1971). Hence splairger, one who causes trouble and confusion, makes a mess of his affairs.(1) Clc. 1852 G. P. Boyd Misc. Poems 18:
He gangs splergin' through the dubs.(2) Sc. 1896 Stevenson W. Hermiston iii.:
You're splairging; you're running at lairge in life like a wild nowt. . . . There's no room for splairgers under the fower quarters of John Calvin.Arg. 1912 N. Munro Fancy Farm 38:
“I'm a splairger,” he would say. It stands for the dauber dilettante.

II. n. 1. A splash, sprinkling, splodge of something liquid, mud, rain, etc. (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Lth., wm., sm., s.Sc. 1971). Phr. to play splarge, to go with a splash.Edb. 1826 M. & M. Corbett Odd Volume 161:
A part of the het parritch played splarge aff the wa' on his coat.Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 248:
And diel the breast o' Bauldy Scott Wi' ugsome splairges draible.Fif. 1862 St Andrews Gaz. (10 Oct.):
Great splarges o' half dried up bluid on the floor.Sc. 1888 Northern N. & Q. I. 174:
The windows, and in some cases the doors, of all the leading ‘loomshops' in Paisley were bespattered with whitening, which was allowed to dry. The rising generation will view the white ‘splarges' with wonder.Hdg. 1908 J. Lumsden Th' Loudons 168:
A dot's a splairge o' dirty tar.Lnk. 1929 D. Allan The Deans vi.:
Thank the Lord for that splarge of rouge.Sc. 1983 John McDonald in Joy Hendry Chapman 37 46:
Here,
at the crossgates o Aprile,
and eternity it cam owre'm as a splairge
o licht cams owre the watter - skimmerin
wi life - (and him a sodger tae).

2. An ostentatious display (Slg. 1971).