Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†VISITING COUGH, n.phr. An epidemic of coughs or colds amongst the inhabitants of St Kilda, caused by lack of resistance to infection from visitors landing on the island. See boat-cold s.v. Boat, n.², 2.Hebr. 1946 Scots Mag. (Dec. 1946) 205:
That strange phenomenon which is known variously as the “visiting cough,” the “boat-cold,” the “Harris cold,” or the “stranger's cold” (in Gaelic, cnatan nan gall).