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

WHIGGAMORE, n. Also -mor, whigamore. Sc. Hist.: a Presbyterian of the 17th c., a Covenanter, orig. one of the participants in the Whiggamore Raid of 1648, when Covenanters from the West marched on Edinburgh, dispersed the Royalist party and put the Marquis of Argyll in power; later extended to mean any Covenanter, a Whig, q.v. Also attrib. Now only liter. or hist. [′ʍɪgɑmor]Sc. 1724 G. Burnet Own Times I. 43:
The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them round the year; and the northern parts producing more than they need, those in the west come in the summer to buy at Lieth the stores that come from the north: and from the word Whiggam, used in driving their horses all that drove were called the Whiggamors, and shorter the Whiggs.Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality xvii.:
The whigamore bullets ken unco discretion.Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxv.:
It is na good for my health to come in the gate o' thae whigamore baillie bodies.Sc. 1873 J. H. Burton Hist. Scot. VI. 419:
Their feat was called “the Whigamores' Raid”; and this is the first use appearing in history of a word, which in its abbreviated form of “Whig,” was destined to political service too well known to need a word of explanation.Sc. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped x.:
It has slashed the heads off mair Whigamores than you have toes upon your feet.Sc. 1907 A. Lang Hist. Scot. IV. 159:
In the Parliament of 1649, the Whigamore Parliament, lay patronage was abolished.