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).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TRAWL, n., v.

I. n. As in Eng., but in Sc. applied also to a seine- or ring-net, used esp. in herring-fishing. Also attrib. as in trawl-men, -net.Arg. 1855 Zoologist XIII. 4670:
The trawl-nets in Loch Fyne.Sc. 1864 Gsw. Daily Herald (24 Sept.):
I think the trawl men might be content if they were allowed to use their trawl nets inshore without taking them into deep water.Sc. 1877 E. W. H. Holdsworth Fisheries 20, 180:
In many parts of Scotland, however, the sean, used particularly for catching herrings, and thrown out or “shot” in a semicircle, is also called a “trawl”. . . . About the year 1838, the sean or circle net, known in Scotland as the “trawl”, was introduced as likely to be as useful for catching herrings in Scotland.

II. v. To fish with a seine-net, by encircling shoals of herring. Hence trawler, a seine-net fisherman or his boat.Sc. 1864 Gsw. Daily Herald (24 Sept.):
Trawling went on in this loch without much objection till the trawlers went into the narrow waters above Otter Spit. If trawling was to be allowed inshore they would trawl out. The trawlers have damaged my nets, and stolen some of them too.Sc. 1883 E. W. H. Holdsworth Apparatus for Fishing 44:
Seine-fishing in general is spoken of as “trawling.”