Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HARP, n., v. Sc. usages. See also Hairp.

I. n. 1. A sieve or riddle used for sifting grain (Sc. 1808 Jam.), malt, etc., or separating sand and gravel (Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 149; Cai., ne.Sc., Ags., Kcb. 1956), specif. the lower sieve in a winnowing machine which has a fine mesh to separate weed seeds from grain (Ork., Mry., Abd. 1956).Edb. 1735 Caled. Mercury (10 April):
There is to be exposed to Sale . . . a new Malt Harp, a Malt Steel Mill; also a Milch Cow and a Work horse.Abd. 1744 Monymusk Papers (S.H.S.) 137:
300 B. oats for seed, cleand with harp and fan at £1 Scots more.Ork. 1757 Session Papers, Galloway v. Morton (12 Nov.) 139:
He remembers a Man sent to this Country, with Harps and other Instruments, for dressing, and teaching the People to dress their Bear.Dmf. 1812 W. Singer Agric. Dmf. 641:
All broken stone should be sized by passing through a harp of that width and breadth.Mry. 1813 W. Leslie Agric. Mry. 125:
The wire, or sifting part of the corn harp, is a parallelogram, set up so as to form an inclined plane, nearly 4 feet in height, and almost 2 in breadth, having two sides of board to prevent the corn from running off at the edges.Sc. 1831 Mechanic's Mag. XIV. 162:
The year following [1795] he introduced . . . what he denominated plain harps, to receive the straw as it fell from the shaker, and give it also a shaking motion.Rxb. 1843 Trans. Highl. Soc. 37:
They consist of — 1st, A portable screen or harp.Abd. 1900 C. Murray Hamewith 3:
The mason's harp is set upon en', He's harlin' the fire-hoose gable.

2. “That part of the [meal] mill, which separates the dust from the shilling” (Abd. 1825 Jam.; Cai. 1902 E.D.D.). Comb. harp stour, the powdery meal after it has passed through the harp (Ork. 1956).Sc. 1952 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 336:
The product of this grind (husk, dust and “groats” as the grain is now called) falls down a chute to a sieve of fine wire mesh, called the “harp,” which rotates and vibrates, shaking the fine powder (“black dust,” but pale enough to the layman) out of the mixture into a sack below.

3. A sparred shovel used e.g. for lifting potatoes or for filling coal (e.Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 35; m.Sc. 1944 per Edb.⁶; Knr., Fif. 1956). Comb. harp-shovel.Sc. 1816 Trans. Highl. Soc. 364:
If gravel cannot be procured clean from the pit, it must be harped, or taken up with harp-shovels.Clc. 1897 Alloa Jnl. (24 July) 3:
He was threatening [him] for not giving him his harp (a riddle for coals).

4. Dim. harpie, herpie. An Irish copper halfpenny or farthing bearing the figure of a harp, current at the end of the 17th c.Wgt. 1711 Session Bk. Glasserton MS. (1 Aug.):
There is nine shillings and eight pence of insufficient coin, doits, orkies and harpies, of the 12 lib. Scots, which the minister keeps.Wgt. 1712 Session Rec. Whithorn MS. (4 Aug.):
Of orkies and herpies . . . 00 10 00.

5. = Harpi (Ork. 1954 Ork. Miscellany II. 56).

II. v. To riddle, sift with a harp (Abd. 1825 Jam.).Sc. 1704 Foulis Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.) 352:
Jul. 13: for a quart of eall to wm. denhame and the men soured the lyme and Harped sand . . . . . . 0. 4. 0.Ork. 1757 Session Papers, Galloway v. Morton (12 Nov.) 139:
He not only remembers Bear harped aboard Ships, and afterwards put in their Hold, but harped in the Store-house of Kirkwall.Sc. 1837 Trans. Highl. Soc. 82:
From the absurd practice of slaking and harping the lime, its qualities are deteriorated.Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 370:
I've seen a lassie harping san', Wi' cheeks as rosy as the dawn.