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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WASTER, adj., adv., n. Also waaster, wastre. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. wester. [′wɑstər]

I. adj. Lying towards the west, western, freq. in place-names, sometimes in post-position, to indicate the westermost of two localities with the same name (Cld. 1880 Jam.; Fif. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 274). Gen.Sc. Cf. Easter.Slg. 1702 Burgh Rec. Slg. (1889) 97:
Appointes the dean of gild and conveiner to visite Mrs. McNairs wester gable and trye the sufficiencie or insufficiencie theirof.Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife 130:
It had the churches of Rind, and Anstruther-Wester and many lands.Gsw. 1713 Records Trades Ho. (Lumsden 1934) 2:
John Clark of wester musset.Mry. 1735 W. Cramond Ch. Alves (1900) 80:
From the wester foot-gang to the wester door.Per. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XV. 594:
The parish and estate receive frequently the additional title of Wester, to distinguish them from the parish and estate of Foulis Easter, also in Perthshire, but on the confines of the county of Angus.s.Sc. 1873 D.S.C.S. 168:
Easter and Wester, are used in distinguishing hamlets or farms of the same name, as Easter Essenside, Wester Middle, Wester-kirk.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (3 Sept.):
Whin da sin is ower da waaster planticrub.w.Lth. 1910 J. White Eppie Gray 5:
Ivy bields the waster wa'.Fif. 1953:
The easter-tooners and waster-tooners in St. Monance used to have recognisably different ways of speaking.

II. adv. 1. Westward (Cld. 1880 Jam.).

2. Upstream. Cf. Wast, adv., 1.Bnff. 1960 V. Gaffney Lordship Strathavon (S.C.) 35:
The words are a Gaelic idiom carried over into the English, “wester” denoting “upstream”, and “easter” “downstream” in Banffshire.

III. n. The western part of a district (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.).