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.
KET, n.2, v., adj. Also kett.
I. n. 1. A matted fleece of wool (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ayr. 1912 D. McNaught Kilmaurs 296; Clc., Lth. 1959).Ayr. 1786 Burns Poor Mailie's Elegy vi.:
She was nae get o' moorlan tips, Wi' tauted ket, an' hairy hips.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 23:
Nae mawkit kets, nae scabbit een, But ilka yowe as trig's a preen.
2. Couch-grass, quick grass, Agropyron repens, from its matted appearance (Sc. 1808 Jam.; s.Sc. 1886 B. and H. 287); a spongy kind of peat, composed of tough matted fibres (Cld., Dmf. 1825 Jam.; Kcb.4 c.1900). Hence ketty, of turf: matted, lumpy (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Uls. 1953 Traynor); of soil: bound together by couch-grass (s.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Abd. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 94). Also fig. and attrib.Sc. 1807 R. Rennie Peat Moss 176:
Ket moss is similar to this [red moss]; and that called in Ireland old wives' tow is of the same kind.Lnk. 1818 A. Fordyce Country Wedding 185:
We'll yoke our pleugh, and deeply fur Corruption's heart; Her spretty knowes, an' ketty turr Will tear apart.Ayr. 1928 J. S. Gall Muses 42:
Kett on the coulter, kett on the sock.
3. Barren, exhausted land (Cld. 1825 Jam.).
II. v. 1. (1) intr. To become entangled, obstructed by matted clumps of couch-grass and similar weeds, as a plough; (2) tr. Only as ppl.adj. kettit, with up, overrun with weeds (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 94).(1) Ayr. 1901 Burns Chronicle 34:
We once heard a farmer remark to his ploughman, “Your plough is kettin',” when the coulter was becoming fouled with weeds.Ayr. 1928 J. S. Gall Muses 42:
Their ploughs were ketting badly.
¶2. tr. Appar. to tousle affectionately or in fun. The word is glossed by the author as “to make of; fondle” and is not otherwise paralleled in this sense.Hdg. 1885 S. Mucklebackit Rhymes 219:
An' frien's to kett the lyart croon O' puir, auld Athie Graeme!
III. adj. Irascible, quick-tempered (Dmf., Gall. 1825 Jam.; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 150; Kcb.4 c.1900). See note.
[O.Sc. has cot, kot, wool matted together in the fleece, from 1375. Cf. Eng. dial. cot(t), id., to mat together, to become entangled, cotted, cotty, matted, entangled, short-tempered, E.M.E. cotte, 1531, Anglo-Fr., cot = I. 1. The change of vowel is unexplained. There may be some influence from Ket, n.1]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Ket n.2, v., adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 3 May 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/ket_n2_v_adj>
