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 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

THRAWART, adj., adv. Also thraward (Edb. 1796 H. MacNeill Waes o' War 21); throughart; and I.Sc. forms tra(a)ward, -wird. [′θrɑwərt; I.Sc. ′trɑwərd]

I. adj. 1. Perverse, refractory, contrary (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 270; I.Sc. 1972); of fortune; adverse, unfavourable. Hence thrawart-like, with a cross-grained or reluctant mien, thrawartlie, perversely (s.Sc. 1857 H. S. Riddell Psalms v. 10), thrawartness, perverseness (Sc. 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ iii. l.), thrawart-tongued, sharp-tongued, shrewish, vituperative.Sc. 1718 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 81:
They gat sic thrawart Cowps.Sc. 1736 Ramsay Proverbs (1776) 16:
A thrawn question shou'd ha'e a thrawart answer.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 37, 51:
An' very thrawart like I yeed in by. ‘A young man look so blate!' he says, ‘O fy!. . . We maun beneath our thrawart fortune bow.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 89:
He'll tak thir tidings to your thrawart dame.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xii.:
Mony a thrawart job I hae had wi' her first and last.Slk. 1820 Hogg Bridal of Polmood vii.:
I airghit at keuillyng withe hirr in that thraward paughty moode.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin iii.:
A thrawart an' wanrestfu' generation.ne.Sc. 1874 D. Macgregor The Scald 12:
Ye thrawart-tongued, ugly-gapin gloid, fit only for Beelzebub's saep suds.Sc. 1897 W. Beatty Secretar xxv.:
Nature gangs at times a thrawart gate.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (20 May):
Dat trawird auld deevil.Kcb. 1912 W. Burnie Poems 125:
[Nature] saves nae thrawart craitur Frae wretchedness and woe.ne.Sc. 1928 J. Wilson Hamespun 66:
An' threap that brunstane has connection Wi' thrawart steppin'.Ork. 1929 Old-Lore Misc. IX. ii. 79:
Tae mak' a traaward horse tae geong is lee-some is a ald coo.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 48:
A derf man he wis, my mither's faither,
thrawart as winter trees that bend
but winna brak.

2. Twisted, crooked, off the straight.Kcb. 1814 W. Nicholson Poems 118:
Yon todlin' burn Still presses owre ilk thrawart turn.Bnff. 1869 W. Knight Auld Yule 3:
He through the neuket thrawart street. Where eddie winds in brulzie meet.Ags. 1894 A. Reid Sangs 72:
His chin an' his nosie . . . Werena sae rosie, Sae hookit and thrawart, in days lang awa'.

II. adv. In a muddled topsy-turvy manner. A nonce usage, prob. due to partial confusion with Throuither.Sc. 1924 Scots Mag. (June) 203:
Wi' lealest love — expresst but throughart.

III. n. Only in adv. phr. head(s) and thrawart(s), head and tail alternately, facing in different directions, higgledy-piggledy. Cf. heids and thraws s.v. Thraw, n., 1. Phrs. (2).Sc. 1832 Quarterly Jnl. Agric. III. 1081:
The scythe-hook is apt to cut down the stalks before the hand of the reaper can reach them, and that the grain is in consequence harled heads and thrawarts into the band like a pease-wisp?Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 33:
For head an' thrawart, back an' face, We sat promiscouslie, man.s.Sc. 1898 E. Hamilton Mawkin xviii.:
The rest of you can streik yourselves doun on the floor, heads and thrawarts, or just anyhow you will.