Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BANGSTER, n. Used also attrib. [′bɑŋstər]

1. A burly ruffian, a bully, a braggart, an overmastering fellow.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 84:
But we have seen 'een shargers gather strength, That seven years hae sitten i' the flet, An' bangsters bauld upo' their boddom set.Ags. 1819 J. Ross Angus-shire Chaplet 30:
Sae Britain tauld the bangster bauld.Fif. 1912–1919 Rymour Club Misc. II. 158:
While they sighed for some bangster wooer to come to Fife, to marry and carry them awa', as the old song hath it.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 159:
Laird Norse. . . . Bad [bade] auld nick fight The bangster fallows owr the seas, That did him slight.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake, etc. 14:
An' theekit stacks, the bangster blast Had shaken, as 'twad them owre-cast.

2. A victor.Bwk. c.1783 W. Dudgeon in Minstrelsy of the Merse (ed. W. S. Crockett 1893) 101:
Wightly can he wield a rung; In a brawl he's aye the bangster.