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  1. Runk n.3A runk o' a body, a runk o' a baess, a runk o' a sea. A muckle runk o' a man.  
  2. Ever n.A ever o' a man, o' a coo . . . etc.; a ever o' a fire, a great, blazing fire. A graat ever av a 
  3. Bessie n.1 . A virago. and are the diminutives. . A word used to a person when one is angry: as when a mother in a temper says to her girl, “Ma bessie, gin I hid haud o' ye.” 'No,' said Paradise, 'that's not a pose. Stella has a warm heart. A bold bessy but a warm heart. ...' A gude Paisley tocher-- a Bible and a bessy.  
  4. El D n. A familiar name for Eldorado, a proprietory brand of fortified wine. Also Clatty Mattie! Rab gaped at him. Then he laughed: Hey, we should've brought her with us. Go down a bomb in here man — a couple of glass of eldee inside her and she'd be up on top of the bent shot's bar doing tricks with a guiness bottle. 2 boatles a L.D. A boatle a Lanny. A dizzen cans a heavy. Hauf-a-dizzen cans a light. A hauf boatle a voddy. A wee boatle a pep. Aw the winos drank Eldo in my youth.  
  5. Bally n. . A milk-pail, synon. . A ballycog is also called a bally. A cog is not so tall as a pail, and has a handle for carrying it, and not a “bow” as a pail has. , a milk pail with a handle formed of 
  6. Belge n., v.He that will not in chorus join A claty belge is he. . A short, plump, and thriving person or animal; as “a bilsh o' a callan,” a thickset boy. She was a bilge o' a body like her mither. He's a stout bilch o' a man. . A little waddling fellow. I was but a little bilsh of a callant then. . Fat and at the same time diminutive. A bilshy lass. A short bilchy body. He belges awfu fin he's in gey gweed binner. He's standin belgin there an' speakin' oot o's breist at a great lick. We stummelt an 
  7. Haiches n.A mim mou'd maiden jimp an' spare, Mistook a fit for a' her care, An' wi' a haiches fell. Doon A cam' wi' sic a haechis that A thoucht A wis throw the grun'.  
  8. Flatch v., n.Wan time dey hae a thing flaached doon ipu der heads laek a mutch. Wisna he set his fit apon a rotten maasguum it wis driven ashore, an' flatched him laek a pancake. Ilk lad his watch dress'd wi' a flatch O' ribbands frae his lady. He . . . hed a face laek a ashit, an ' a flatch o' a nose. A great flach o a thing laek a ten-year-owld kishie. Hit's a fleein' krab! He gengs taerin trow da wattir wi' yun hint flatshi klaas o' his. Flatch I fell upon my face Out o'er a muckle sod  
  9. Blett n.“A mouldy blett” black muddy soil at the head of a bay, or the mouth of a burn. Dirty spot on cloth, . “A green b[lett],” a grass-grown plot on a stretch of heather and . . . “a steni b[lett],” a stony plot of ground. “A b[lett] o' oo (wool)” lying on the grass; a “b[lett] o' ware,” patch of seaweed on grass. “Great o' feet”; a “great b[lett] o' a plate, boat, etc.” Great o' snaa on the 
  10. Tillie-pan n.To 3 Fish and a Big Tillie . . . 1s 10d. A tillie pan O white iron, whilk I made mysel. Lauchin' as she snods the kitchie, Scoors the tully-pans. Wull ye no buy a brander, A stander, a tullypander, Or a jouggie tae the bairns? Fan the ale wis only tuppence, an' a “tanner“bocht a gill, A besom or a 
  11. Durk n.2, adj.What a great durk o' a knife to carry about wi' thee! “A durk o' a stick;” “A durk o' a carrit.” The word is also applied to persons; as, “He's a stout durk o' a cheel.” A short “durky” man, with 
  12. Mollacher n.It's a mollacher. [of a cabbage] It's a mollicker o a sheep. She's a big mollacher o a wumman.  
  13. Dodgel n.“A dodgil o' a stick”; “A dodgil o' a neep.” He's a saft, easy-going dodgel. A dodgel o' bannock.  
  14. Lurt n.A was a shapeless, unsightly mass. was much the same. A lort o' a piltek; a lort o' a chield.  
  15. LÖ adj.Ta reel a pirm Or wind a clew, A lo soolpaltie Will tak you. “We're gotten a lø corn” — we've had a good meal. “ Yon is a lø” of a little meal.  
  16. Toosht n., v.Ilky wee bit tuschlich o' a ruckie it he's thrashin'. A' the toosht aboot oor toon'll mak' little odds. Gie's a tushloch o' yarn. A “tooshlich” means a small quantity loosely contained, as “a wee tooshlichie o' sheelicks in a pyock.” Pickin' up a tooshlichie o' saut atween her thoom an' finger. Little Jock Pom, a toosht o' a craitur. A roosty-reid fusker that stack oot o's face like tooshts o' teased towe. Nae a toosht. ... a muckle chukken, mebbe ten times as big as Curra, wis lordin it ower the littlins happit wi nae mair than a tooshtie down. Ye little tooshtach, ye! He ga' the bundle a toosht fae 
  17. Gull n.1, v.1A , a chill evening, one marked by a cold wind. There's a gull on the hills this forenoon. Nyod, that's a gey gull comin' doon the nicht; we'll hae a bit dyow aw'm thinkin'. A think it'll be rain; it's a' beginnin' to gull.  
  18. Booscht n.“He's a gang[e]in' o' a mannie.” Eng. . He's a peer busht o' a mannie. A nesty booscht o' a 
  19. Pooit n.A policeman was given various names. Among others these names were: “a Peeler”, “a Bobbie”, “a Snout”, “a Poo-it”, or “a Slop”.  
  20. Slunk n.2 was a word applied to a “lang chiel o' a man.” Also used in speaking of a fish — a codling, a 
  21. Umik n.A umikin ting av a lamb. Da peerie umags a' deel-foik ( . the fairies). Pit a omik a aetmael a da 
  22. Baivie n. (of a fire). A term used to denote a great fire; sometimes, . , a large fire; a great blaze. She kennl't a curn birsled browls an' flang them intul the beevis. , a large or heaped up fire.  
  23. Blink n.1She met my lad, . . . An' gar'd her lips on his gee sick a smack, . . . An' then wi' sick a blythsome blink she took it. Ye dinna swither to cast down a blythe blink o' your ee on me. But ne'er a blink o' Fortune's e'e E'er comes my airt ava'. There was a view on a bit of empty road, . . . houses . . . and a blink of sea. And May-month decked the shaws There was scarce a blink o' the wa's For the flower o' the gean. Gang and bring me your books, and when I have ta'en a blink of their contents, I'll gie you an answer. Hursle forrit yer creepie an' get a blink o' the ingle. An' ye will sit a blink, somebody will be in. Eesie'll see the fun o' this in a blink. Ay, but — but hover a blink, Miss Airmstrong. There cam' a fiddler out o' Fife A blink beyond Blaweary. [This sense is not given by .] [ ], he has had a short or (ironically) a good sleep . . . [ ] . I got no a blink destreen. Applied to the momentary use of borrowed light; as, “Gi'e me the o' a candle,” give me the use of a candle for 
  24. Keek n.2Ye rampin' keegs, black be ye're fa', Ye plague a body ane an' a'. Ye vile keig, ye! On Deeside a girl may be called a caig o' a quynie, a jade of a lass. One of the queans was Faith, and faith she looked a daft-like keek.  
  25. Beezer n.I'm meanin' serial films — no' stories. I ance saw a beezer. It was ca'd “Vera the Vampire of Paris.” , an uncommonly effective person; also “a beezer of a blow,” etc. — . a most effective blow, etc. The neeps werena a great crap, bit there wiz some beezers amo' them. To be quite honest there was a thumping crop [of potatoes] and lots of “beezers.” What a beezer o a tattie! Carties oot o orange-boxes an' pram wheels. Auld bed-springs, booncers, tethert til the feet. Boolies knockit wi a skirl frae chalkit rings an' beezer conkers crackt owre soon, flin'ert on tirlin strings. It was a beezer — . a knock-out blow. Your bool was a beezer. It's a beezer the day. Here's a beezer comin' [a big wave]. An extremely cold, icy day: 'I'm no goin oot the day, it's a beezer alright.' Weel dune, Robin Hood; dash it, man, but you're a beeser.  
  26. Bas n.2, v. , a large, fiercely blazing fire; peat-fire, a b[as] o' a fire . . . a mass of peat piled up on the hearth when lighting a fire; dey're bigget on a b[as] o' peats. [Also given in Angus . (1914).] , to build up a fire; to get a fire to blaze up . . ., to “b[as] on” a (great) fire. [ and known to 
  27. Blichan n.Ah, little did the blecham think That he'd be there afore her. “He's a puir .” “You! ye're a bonny indeed to pretend sic a thing!” I hae wit eneuch to see through a blichan o' a la'yer, onyway! There's no sic a blichim 'twixt Ayr and Dundee, As the velveteen hero ca'd Jamie Brownlee. . A person useless for any thing. An auld o' a beast. Also, a worthless fellow. , a lighthearted person given to 
  28. Scart n.2To be even'd in love to a scart O' a think [ ] like a buskit-up monkey. I ha'ena buried a leevin' sowl for sax months, an' it bena a scart o' a bairn. He's a puir scart wha sets himsel' wi' care To gather gear his sordid lifetime thro'. On you, ye scart o' a Hielantman! When do you think a scart like you could pay me? He's nothin but a drucken scart.  
  29. Barley n.1, v.And like a proper lad o' his quarters, that will not cry barley in a brulzie. “A barley!” through the armies baith, From ilka geysend craig resoundit. I beg a barley. . Known at Ballater in my a baurley socht. Then Bonaparte, completely cow'd, Shall cry, “Guid safe's, a barley!” a rest time in a children's game for discussion or bargaining He gripped me by the craig and fair choked me afore I could cry a barley. I concluded that it was a' a vile conspiracy tae gar folks burst themsel's, an' resolved tae cry” a barley.” The sun is blinking warm and bonnie owre the holms and the plantin's, and so I maun cry “A barley! a barley!” and go and enjoy it while I may. Whan ee're staw'd o' writin', duist take a barley. “Now, I would like to give you a little sermon on this — ” “A barley! a barley, Maister Crosbie!” A , a rest in play by children. He said he would brak barlie, If he lay lang. . . . to treat, to have peace for a moment.  
  30. Rivvle n.2A rivvle o' a staff, a rivvle o' a boy . . . a muckle rivvely chiel.  
  31. Slud n.Dis is only a slud atween wadders. Hit wis wi' a sludd o' dis kind 'at ye kent what Magnie wis. Waitin' fur a slud ta tak it up. ‘Ir you haevin' a slud, boy!' as spoken to a lad going for a walk wi' a lass, or spaekin' wi' a lass, in a leisurely wye! Is doo gaain ta buy anything ta da slud? What mak's doo o' Tammy o' da Lees? Isna he a slud o' dine, as da youngsters ca' it noo-a-days?  
  32. Letto n., interj.A letto ting o' a calf. Oh letto! what a ting! A letto, a letto! Lit-a-lit, alt'o da wather 
  33. Tossel n., v.A Scarlet Pistol-Bag trim'd with Silver, fringed, and a Tossel. A white sash, with green tossels. The Hessian boots, having cuddy-heels and long silk tossels. Big tossel-jocks bob up and doon. A braw noo silk umberell, wi' a sterlin' silver hannel an' a pair o' silk tossels. The hassocks with the tossels. The ear flaps were fastened on the top with a broad black braid, making a kenspeckle tossel. Brass handles on the ends and black cords and toshels draped along its sides. A loon fa's een is luikin' oot amo' a tossle o' hair, like a fumert's. If Willie Hill was made a gibbet-tossle o' the morn. He wad form a bonnie tossil at the end o' a hemp string. The book-brod, tossled roun' and roun'. When the catkin's brawly tossel'd. Wi' a tosselled trok o' a nicht-kep on.  
  34. Sprig n.I shall play Ower a sprig o' the merriest. Once I heard a tinkler play a sprig of it on the pipes. Gie's a bit 'bacco an' I'll gie ye a sprig o' a tune. For thare's nae a bonnier whussler an Ah ken a 
  35. Shuve v., n.A short prayer's like a brose breakfast, just a shove by. It wis a holiday for the weemin fowk an' a shove-by o' a denner. I canna eat by mysel'; I'm aye just pleased wi' a shove-ower.  
  36. Parrock n., v.Along the north wall are erected a row of twenty houses, “parricks” or pens, the roofing of which pens. It very soon puts the milk off a lean ewe if she is to stay in a bare, “keb” park any length of time, after perhaps a night in a parreck. In stormy lambing weather, it is a good plan if you have a handy kebhouse or parack. A wild, Cheviot gimmer was in the “parrack,” and in a second the flake-gate closed. A gead through the stable an' roond a' the parricks an' the closes. Ye're my ain wee . Sic a parroch! A some parroch. A parrach o birds, o fowk. Sic a parroch as he wis in fan the horsie lairt i' the bog. Sheep are said to be in a fold, when too much crowded. It is applied to machinery when in the same state. There were the two parrocked together, like a ewe and a lamb, early and late. Parrackeet in ov a ceetie, mang reekin lums an chowkin smuists.  
  37. Fudder v., n.1Sae aff it fudder't owre the height, As fleet's a skellat. As a' their thoughts gaed fudderin' thro' my head. An owlet futherin' in a tree O'ercoupit his philosophy. A foumart o' a motor gyangin a' the drochlin hempy thrang, Gat o'er him wi' a fudder. Till birr, a maukin wi' a fudder, Startit up wi' souple shanks. He's eye in an unco futhir, an' little diz he dee wee't a'. “Fat's a' yer fudder?” is a common question. An' aye a bit fudder was comin' up fae the manse aboot fat the Presbytery was deein'. What a fudder o' a storm this has been.  
  38. Heifer n., v.An heifer counts as a cow when it is over three years of age? — Yes, or when it has a calf. The Royal Highland Society's description of a heifer is a female that has not had a calf, and once calved becomes a cow . . . in England they did not call a heifer a cow until she had calved a second time. . . . In Canada and the United States a female was still a heifer until five years old. All castrated 
  39. Stolum n.When I was a boy at school, in Fife — more than half a century ago — when a boy wished a dip of ink he asked for a “stolm” of ink. I'll wad a richer screed ne'er yet Cam frae yer stollum. Taking a powerful stolum of snuff. Or does the greed of pelf . . . T' invade my loose-laid stollums make thee [a rat] bold? A stolum o' bread and a seip o' milk. What a stolm o' brose he put in'im. Stolums o 
  40. Tummock n., v.Upo' a turf-dyke, straught, they take their stan', Or round a tammock wheel. A “rouch curr tyke”, seated in a comfortable manner on some foggy tomack. She'll eat the grass about the midden Or grassy tammock. Sae hameward hied the tammocks owre. The Moat in Gallawa's a muckle conical tummock, maistly wi a flat tap. Nae time, enoo, to sairch for nests, Or on a tummock tak' their rests. A proper tummock, you can scarcely see at all The bump in a bog, a marshy mound, a knubby knoll.  
  41. Nimp n.A “nym” is a small quantity, often used by nurses, for a piece of bread or cake. Mind you, it micht be a very wee, wee corner — juist a nimp, as it were. Nae ae nimp o's candy did he gie aboot 'im. A relative of his used to say, for a small quantity: a wee nimmle. There should be nyumlins enough tae mak' a fine shepherd's pie. I'll mak' a gran' meat roll wi' thae nyumlins.  
  42. Whush n., v.The roar o' the waterfall only reached his ears now and then wi' a loud ! A marriage makes a whush for a while on a kintra side. Hear ye a whush like waters fa'in? Up cam the tide wi' a burst an a whush. Wild is the owlet 'Mong the trees whushing.  
  43. Slag adj., n.2, v.2The land, or after a thaw, is said to be . A with , is a day on which the ice is thawing. A weet slag; a slag o' a shooer.  
  44. Sowd n.Nor a' the gowd Your father stoll shall hence retrive you, An immense sowd. The tradesmen are paid with a certain sum or quantity of victual annually agreed on, called . Great souds o' hidden treasure. Th' lawyers need a gey sowd for arrangin' th' transfer. They've a feu, an' they've flunkeys, a flat an' a phone, An' a sowd i' the bank. She spent a sowd o' siller. After a sowd of toddy was swallowed,. . . . A sowd of strange faces. Twa reamin' bowls o' toddy Were brewed, an' ladled roun' an' roun', A sowd to ilka body. They made a sowd of toddy to herten theirsels afore settin' furth. But, An' seated weel the sowdie wicht. Auchteen stane, an' sax feet ane — Wha wadna' fancy sic a sowdy? Sandy had married a great big sowdy of a woman. Jeems wis a richt herty sowd.  
  45. Punt v. intr."It's a tap flat up a close. We could get in through the loft, but I need somebody tae gie me a punt up." Gie's a punty-up the dyke! Gie's a punt (up). Gie's a puntie (up). [a help up with hands for foothold to get over] Gie's a punt up ower the wa.  
  46. Firlot n. 200 bushells which are comed to Leith. A Firlet of good Cakes my beuk. An' first I'll have a meal-pock, Of good aum'd leather made To had at least a firlot. It is to be observed, that the firlot, both barley and wheat, is a Scotch pint larger than the standard. This may be in some degree owing to a privilege possessed by the burgh of Dundee, of taking a ladleful from every boll delivered in the town or at the harbour. It's no for a courtesy o' causey clash that he's birling his mouldy pennies in sic so easy now . . . to run off wi' a sheep or a firlot o' tatties. There are, it is true, some smaller communities, especially in the East of Scotland, where you may still be served with a “lippie” of flour or potatoes; and where you may even find it possible to be served with a “boll of meal” or a “firlot” of potatoes. Many Words fill not the Farlet. Borrow a firlat at Portsoy to carry allongs with you. Payed to John Lyon smith for makeing iron girds and handle to the towns furlet 0 15 0 A forpit-dish, a tatie 
  47. Black-strippit Ba' n.There are aniseed balls and black-strippit balls and sugar-elly straps and sherbet bags, all a haipny each. Agnes went round the shelves with the line: a tin of Lyle's Golden Syrup; a tin of Fowler's treacle; a half pound of margarine; a half a dozen eggs; a tea loaf; a packet of Rinso; a bar of Sunlight; a packet of Woodbine; and a quarter of black striped balls. When I wis wee I used tae get a bag o 
  48. Gange v., n.That hug-ma-hush ganjin' clorach o' a deem, Eppie Mowatt, wha pat oot sic a spin aboot's. The deeans. He had long ago put the Frenchman down as having “a ganjin' tongue.” Meggie's midder wis mairriet tull a weeshin o' a mannie, ca'ed Johnnie Shearer, a puffin' ganjin ted. The third, nicknamed “Gangy,” from a prominence of his under jaw. He has a gey gaunzie, ., a twisted or ill-shaped mouth. “Ye've a ganje that wid sair a wife o' sixty” — said to a young girl.  
  49. Grain n.136 Scotch grains were reckoned to make a drop weight. Ev'ry grain, Baith waft an' warp. An' still a fresh croud was advancin' That ne'er a grain room for the thrang They had for the fiddle an' dancin'. Women are jist as heid-strong every grain. A' wis dark an' still except a peerie grain o' licht i' Eddie Maikimson's skylicht. There was a grain snaw on the grund. “A grain of hay,” a bundle, an armful. “A grain of sugar,” a good spoonful. Jeems's hoast's nae a grain better. Ye growl and grummel aboot blicht, fan it may hae been but a grainie o' fite frost.  
  50. Joint adj., n.A joint trade is merely an union of the joint adventurers for a particular adventure . . . A company may be partners to a joint adventure. A partnership for one particular transaction (known as a 1815–1823 — first in the Tron parish in the city, hampered then by a joint-session. A joint trade is not a copartnership, but a momentary contract, where two or more persons agree to contribute a sum, to be employed in a particular course of trade. These fields are over-run with weeds, particularly 
  51. Minuwae n.Like a Lady's gentlewoman in a minuwae, or a hen on a het girdle. The otar dancit ane minowaye. Could mince a minua on mist, Or caper on a cloud.  
  52. Sheemach n.His hair's jist a sheemach; for it hizna seen a reddin-kaim for a month. Dysie's sheemach head. Her heidie wis jist a sheemach o' curls. A shemach o' weeds or ither growth. On the animal's back was first laid the “brottie”, . a piece made up of pieces of old cloth. Over that was placed the “sheemach”, . a piece made of plaited straw. Over these two was placed the “crook-saidle”. A young couple got married and the bridegroom bought a leather saddle to take home to his bride. When a near relation been dein' wi' a sheemach as his forebears took their wives hame on.” A middlin gleg little sheemich o' a mannie. I hinna haed it in my pooer tae say an ull-natur't word tae the bit shemich o' a cratur. Of corn that turns out to be poor stuff, the farmer will tell you it was a “rale sheemich”. It wudna be wise tae tak the wee bit sheemachan wumma. A sheemich is a craitur that cwid be describ't as the runt o the litter an it can mean a toozl't soss, as in "his hair's jist a sheemich for it hisna seen 
  53. Baghle n.A , a bundle. , , a clumsy performer. A clumsy awkward fellow is sometimes called a “baghle 
  54. Glunimie n.Some Glunimies met at a fair, As deft and tight as ever wore A durk, a targe, and a claymore. Not a of them all cocked his bonnet more briskly, or gartered his tartan hose under knee over a pair of more promising spiogs (legs), than did Robin Oig M'Combich. He is but half a Highlander neither, and wants a thought of the dour spirit of a Glune-amie.  
  55. Ajee adv., adj.[She] Dung a' her Cockernonny A jee that Day. They baith wid tell ye what was richt, And ne'er tae tell a lee, They walked the 'straight and narrow way'. And never gaed agee. His little head was thrown ajee. I was . . . constrained to loot [bow] a sort a-jee. Weill, ye can lave the casement o the muckle chaumer winnock ajee an the muin'll shine in owre. An' Geordie wi' his jaws ajee A ballant roarin'! Ye'd better wait till the yett's ajee. Come nae unless the back-yett be a-jee. There wasna . . . a lum reekin, or a door agee. Let ne'er a new whim ding thy fancy a jee. His brain was awee agee, but he was a braw preacher for a' that. When a' we think, an' a' we see, An' a' we luve, 's been dung, a'm telt, is a' agee.  
  56. Bittock n.It's unco late, and it's sax miles an' a bittock doun the water. He buist a' bigged 'er weel cis sheu man hae steud noo I wad tink a guid bittick ower a hunder year. . A very small bit; a “bittock.” “That was a bonnie sang you were singin' . . . Ha'e you ony mair o't?” “A wee bittock,” said Tibbie. Tho' she hadna feck o' fortune — Jist a bittock 'bune the scant — Baith her pooch an' hairt were open. Three miles and a bittok. An' how, quo I, can ye ken a ye alledge again my frien frae that we [ ] bittock o' a paragraph? A gey bittikie on the vrang road. Life hid niver bin the same fur Davie Donald sin Graham Reid hid meeved tae the clachan o Blackbrae. The Reids war still a thochtie o a questionmerk in the place, bein toun fowk fa'd bocht a hoose a bittockie ooto the clachan. They keepit thirsels 
  57. Moor n., v.1A moor had fa'n a' the heel day. It's on a moory. There is a fall of heavy, fine snow. I' da voar whin da snaa is kumin' doon in a blind moorie! An you heard da soond o da muckle wind As he shook da hoose in a moorie-blinnd. Aroond the hoose the mooran' snaw. Sic a night o moorin as he is outside. It's beginnan tae moor; it's been mooran a' the day. The dikes 'll be a' moored ap. Du'll hear me cryin' troo da gale, An' troo da moorin' snaw. “Mooran wi' the cauld” — smothering with a cold in the head. If he's a muirkovi, we might skri by wi what's in. Ye canna stime far in a moor-kaavy. An dats whin ye're strugglin alang kerryin your sea-chest on your back in a gale o wind an a moor cavey, an da Grind yunder ta climb. Wi da snaa moorie-kaavie'n it ye widna a seen a skorie apo' da stem-heid. Nae waanderin da hills wi' a moorcavie proogin inta every fan fur karcages.  
  58. Shampse v.Her impediment was neither a stammer nor a burr, nor a lisp, nor a snivel, and, like her hair, English wants a word for it, so we must again resort to Zetlandic. She had a “shampse,” which consists in almost invariably introducing an “h” sound following the “s”, modified sometimes by a sound between an “h” and a “z”.  
  59. Cromarty Fire n. comb.“A Cromarty fire” was a name current over the country for a fire just gone out; and some humorist of the period represents a Cromarty farmer in a phrase which became proverbial, as giving his daughter the , and bidding her to take out a peat and a-half that she might “put on a good fire.”  
  60. Ar n.I tink', der'r a ar o' frost i' de air (a slight frost). Der'r hardly a ar upo de shore (a slight surf). A ar o' wind (a very light breeze).  
  61. Misred v.A rackless coof O' Prentice Wabster lad, who breaks his spool And wastes the waft upo' a mis-rid purn. That's a lang story, mither, and a misred ane. It's ill to quarrel with a misrid warld. A fair misread masel' whan A said . . .  
  62. Wheen n., adj.He accordingly got the kail, and supped a whine of them. There was a bonny wie ladie Was keeping a bonny whine sheep. He and other four labourers did dig up and remove a guid wheen of the ashes. A whin ragamuffins o' their ain makin'. There's a wheen German horse down at Glasgow yonder. The storm cut off a wheen o' the creatures. A gay wheen o' yer auld cronies. I said I would tak a whean meal. Had he lived a wheen mae years. I ha'e a wheen cowmon sense, an' that maun jist stan' for the lave. Whiles she'll tak' a wheen porridge an' whiles a bit o' scone. For . . . has seldom seen the maik o' at “The Inn,” Tho' it has seen a wheen! We have every grade of quantity among a humble folk, considerate of small things, in the series — a tait, a curn, a stime, a bittock, a hantle, a wheen, a feck. There was an awfu' wheen scones eaten. Pei-soop, a wheen grand thing A faand thum. The weather was killin' This last wheen o' weeks. We've been here only a wheen o' minutes. There's a wheen colds about this 
  63. Smucht v., n.,” . burn slowly without almost any flame, it is a sign of death by drowning. An' fat wis smuchterin in his hert she blew intil a flame. Nae heat, nae colour noo Bit the yalla sharn-midden's smuchterin fire. Mim-moued's a corp, the nerra lanes Lie straucht an trig, the toon's rig-banes, Far starnies glimmer in the glaiss Or smuchter in a plaque of braisse. While I write frost holds and it smuchters awa'. A smughterin' noise I hears, o' speakin' folk. Smuchterin' i' the cauld. Sae lang we've smuchtit [with heat and drought]. “Smochering” about our outside jobs in the winter light of a marginal farm. A' smuchterin' aroon for a hug and kiss afore they're aff. There's hardly a smoke but jist a smuchter. There was a good dame of Glenbuchty, Whose chimney was horribly smuchty. Boxt up a' that time in a wee smuchty placie like the Airk. This smuchty widder's bad for the craps. That wis a nesty smuchter o' a shooer. A drummlie, smoochterie mornin'. Haein' a bit smuchter o' a cauld.  
  64. Leerie n.2A child's word for bouncing a ball under one leg. From the rhyme: One, two, three, a leerie, Four, five, six, a leerie, Seven, eight, nine, a leerie, Ten, a leerie, postman.  
  65. Forpet n.A fourpitt of corn to Blairs horse . 2s 0d. A Fourpeth or Lippie of Meal Day, which commonly is these Peoples Allowance. I hae brew'd a forpet o' ma't, And I canna come ilka day to woo. The miller's servant has besides . . . a out of every boll. A forpit-dish, a tatie-peck, A firlot, an' a row. From do not mind cornpickles never come to forpits. Retailing it [salt] at sixpence a — a wooden measure, the one end of which was a forpit, the other half a forpit. Wogg has eaten a forpet of rice and milk. In the Grassmarket on the first day of the week you can get anything from a kipper to a loaf of bread or a forpit of potatoes. A forpit o' treckle an' a groat's-w'th o' brumstin for the Droggist? A forpet of potatoes. Once upon a time Scots shopped in butchers and bakers and dry-salters that smelled of paraffin. The chemist dispensed a dose of common-sense along with the cascara, the greengrocer a generation ago, I might have been able to get my head around maths. When I was sent to buy tatties 
  66. Drochle n., v.Mary hisna growen oot o' the bit the last twa 'ear. She'll aye be a wee drochle o' a craiter. Yet you! ye German-siller shrew, Would say I filled your drochle fou, A Chield, was aye a ne'er-dae-weel. A wee drochle o' a craitur. Up there starts a droichle man. What are ye drochlin there for? That droghling coghling baillie body they ca' Macwhupple. Tho' Rob was stout, his Cousin dang Him down wi' a gryte shudder, Syne a' the drochlin hempy thrang, Gat o'er him wi' a fudder. That lassie's a drochlin 
  67. Lig v.2, n.For sic a gaballing, ligg-lagging and scauling. I saw him lig-lagging wi' the woman opposite my. (Scotch, for the confused noise of geese, etc.). Such is the term which a lowlander applies to a conversation in Gaelic; Sic a lig-lag as they had. There's sic a leg-laig an' a clatter. Upon the street. A hard the lig o' thir tungs lang afore a got in aboot. “A lang leg-laig and a short cullyshangie”, the hubbub preliminary to a row.  
  68. Smad n., v.Her best black goon on, no' a smad to be seen on't. Da sky is clear 'ithoot a smud. He “widna alloo a single smodd o' black aboot the angels.” A smodd o' a meal. No a smodd o' dust. Dinna lat a smad o' ink on tae ma table wi yer vreetin'. My noo frock wiz a' smads. I canna stand to see a minister a' smaddy doon the front. Ane end of whyt cloath being all smadded and spoylled. His sark-breest a' smaddit. Dicht them this meenit, an' nae smad yer gweed claes.  
  69. Within prep.A , within itself, at the foot of Carrubber's close, consisting of six rooms, and a kitchen, with cellars, and other conveniences, genteely furnished. A Large House, all within itself, with a water-pipe, area, and other conveniences. That House containing seven rooms and a kitchen, all within itself, with a water pipe, cellar, and many other conveniences. Building houses , as they are emphatically termed. Besides a washin'-hoose an' a coal-cellar we've got a fine bleachin'-green an' a place for hens, . Oh! It's nae difficulty for us, for ye see, we hae a coo within oorsels!  
  70. Gabbit n.' stabbit. When a thing is dashed to pieces, they say it is driven to , or . , it is all to rags. If a man lets fall a pane of glass, “O! it's a gabber,” “Ye've made a gabber o' that cup.” If a horse or cow dies, “O! it's a gabber noo.” A boy says he has three marbles in his pocket and a gabber (a broken 
  71. Bilter n.In Renfrewshire a thriving child was a “big bilter.” . . . a minnow. Dumfriesshire. Perhaps a generalised idea of “a little one.”  
  72. Swarfish n.Lifting a stone in a pool, a yellowish little fish darts off in a flurry of sand. “Yun's a 
  73. Easten n., adj.A man f(r)ae de ( ), a man whose home lies east of a certain place. A man, a man living east of a certain place. Alang at the easten end ee toon.  
  74. Lippie n.2I'll gie you a toast, a thing which, but at an occasion, I ne'er think o' minting, and this toast ye maun a' mak a lippy. Get a lippie or twa o' Hollands oot o' a bit corner cupboard. When we had ta'en a lippy thegither.  
  75. Nether n.The day — it's stinging like a nether. I saw your hert, wi' channerin' neddars there. What if we lifted a peat with a “hairy brotag” on't, or worse still — a “nether”? 'No sign o a fox?' 'I found a nether's skin,' pipes up a young Campbell.  
  76. Banyel n., v. , a bundle; a slovenly fellow; a crowd of people. , a bundle. “Banyals o' bairns came burriein' round the door.” The word contains the notion of disorder and rudeness. , bundle. . 1. A bundle or package. . . . 2. ., one's baggage. . . . ‡3. A slovenly, idle fellow. A tendency to assimilate to the ending , is illustrated by Banyel (= Ballion), Haniel (= Hallion), Stannyel (a stallion). , to crowd; to move in a confused crowd. vbl.n. , the act of crowding ( .).  
  77. Hooker n.2In a hooker-doon, with a grauvit round his neckium. Ye'll go and buy a kep. A hat like that's no use at a Gleska fitba' match; ye need a hooker. Oh, ay, just watch for an auld man wi' grey whiskers and a hooker-doon bonnet comin' oot. His kenspeckle figure, clad in the combination of vest and jacket known as a sleeved waistcoat, a “hooker-doon” tweed cap on his head.  
  78. Staig n.A Dark Brown Staig of four Years, with a White Spot on his far hinder Foot. A black din lyred Horse-Staig with the Hair unpolled. There was Stolen a dark brown Mare-Stag. Four Stags, viz. A brown two-year old Fillie, with a white Face and a white Hind-foot; A grey year-old Fillie; Two Foals, one a Colt, the other a Fillie. Sold the black 3 year old Stage for 6 Gns. Thou could hae gane like ony staggie. Wi' mony a staig and mony a stirk An' fowth o' gear. A young gelding is often called a staig. Wild staigies, wild fillies an' a'. Du tocht nethin ta pit dye mark apo mye steag. I'll maybe sell my geldin staig. “A pelly staig maks a good horse” — a rough or poorly clad boy may become a good man. I cam here through stane and briar like a dementit staig. I'll shoe a staig, or ploughman's naig, Wi, John. Da mare o' Nazegoe's haen a pair o' foals — twa staigs. Layin at 'e grun wi wir feet like a young an' mettlesome styaag yarkin at its traivis. A staiger that's been on the road for seiven-an 
  79. A indef. art.Doo's aye in a aet ta git news, an' as kibbie tae tell hit. “Hae here's a aipple tae ye 'cause ye're a gweed laddie,” said Betty. It's a unco thing the Wud, Mr Sempill, sir? This wus a Insurance Company wantin' him tae gang tae Palnure tae examine aul' Doctor Agnew. Ae boat's crew o' ye speak at a time. “Keep to a side,” cried Tommy Staytape, “for . . . Moosey'll maybe hae a pistol.” I'll tak a sax or seiven o' them at that price. There wid be a hantle mair sheep in the kwintry noo nor there wis a twenty year seen. A twa'r three doors noo aifter that bides vandriver Mackie.  
  80. Brain n.1, v.1We hard sic a brain aboot twa i' the mornin,. Sic a brain that man has (said of a loud singer). Andrew Irvine, he was there, He had a “brain stoot,” And ilka tune that Massie pitched, Irvine dang him oot. When a child cries lustily at birth, a bystander will say — “It his a gueed brain, onywye.” “A braw brain,” “a strong brain,” a powerful voice. Wha was aside but auld Tam Tull, His frien's mishap he saw, Syne brein'd like ony baited bull, And wi' a thud dang twa To th' yird that day. [In the Abd. ed. 1805 of Skinner's (quoted by Jam. ) the spelling is .] A coo brainin'.  
  81. Daw n.2 their maids when they have been early up, and done little work. A working mither maks a daw dochter. A morning's sleep is worth a fauld o' sheep to a.hudderin' dudderin' daw. I'm cheated, if he doesna aither turn oot a deil or a daw. There was never a Slut but had a Slitt, there was never a Daw but had twa gae by the name of a dilp or a da. Every day braw Makes a Sunday daw.  
  82. Shaek n.Hearing certain sounds in old wood, called a shaek, foreboded important events. These sounds are Fate. A sound like the ticking of a watch was called a “marriage shaek,” a vibrating sound a “flitting shaek”, and a dropping sound a “dead shaek”.  
  83. Skrattiskrae n.“He's no' o' wir auld gentlefolk. He's just a sklaterscrae.” When a person begins to rise in the world a bit above his class, the first sign of his rise was putting a slate roof on his thatched cottage in imitation of “Upperlees.” A sklater is a repulsive insect. . . . A scray is a swarm of vermin, an 
  84. Yim n.1, v.1Nae mair she'll chew her yims of cud. Let us slip away quietly to bed, say a yim o' prayer. Layin' up for the fatherless bairn an' its mither A yim o' their meal to be brose. Nor leaves in creation a yim to afford A bite to a beast, or a bield to a bird. Gie me a yim o' cheese.  
  85. Strib v.Till a' the kye are stribbit dry. “Can ye milk, boy?” “A could learn. A stribbed a coo yince.” Breaking into a bothy in Countesswells Woods and stealing two axes and a stribbing block.  
  86. Brod n.2, v.2Fling at the brod was ne'er a good Ox. Its hard to sing at the brod (goad), or kick at the prick. Pit a bit upo' the tae, T' gar the horsie clim' the brae; Pit a bit upo, the brod, T' gar the horsie clim' the road. There's a nail, and there's a brod, And there's a horsie weel shod. [Given by for n. and cent. dial. as a short, round-headed nail made by blacksmiths.] 50 lbs pan brass and 50 lbs brod iron. A fan' stoons aboot my hert like the brod o' a needle ilka noo an' than. He [a bull] coupit owre a wife twa year come June An' broddit a' her hips. I'm a' broded wi nettles. I wad be sure to get my hurdies broddit if I tried to sklim owre. His words they brodit like a wumill, Frae ear to ear. The sweetbreer's a broddy buss. De hill (hill-top) just brodds in sight. Da fish brods idda skruf.  
  87. Sloch v.2, n.2I saw them drink the barley creed! They slugh'd it down in horrid speed. He's nought but a slocherin swine. Used also of a pig ‘slocherin in the glaur'. He's a peer slocherin' bodie. Gehn he be ae day weel, he's twa ill. My advice to young school-leavers is: — “Dinna slochle yer time, or put a wishbone faur yer backbone ought tae be.” The ground was a' weet and slochy. A slauchy herrin' playin' plap against yer moo'. A slaucher like a pig's breakfast. Did ye ken that afore ye bocht chewin gum in packets a' ye hed tae dae wiz brak aff a bit ash bark and chowe awa at that? It frothed up and wiz fine. Ye ca'd it slachy bubble. Some o' them can tak' a guid sloch o' whuskey tae. Wi a they're sae enchanted. I'd a fearful longin' for a good slauch o' venison broth. Gie me a sloch o lemonade.  
  88. Fush n., v.To fyfty Seven Fush . . . 5s. 0d. We wiz in a “chiffer-oot's”'oose; we cudna hae a fushin. A grand sportsman he was tae . . . as a fusher he had nae equal. We hadna had nae luck at a' when suddenly a big fush jumpit up a hunner yards awa'.  
  89. Porter Biscuit n. comb. . A kind of bap, very like the Aberdeen “softie”, said to be a favourite of carters, etc., who dipped it in their porter or ale as a snack. A porter biscuit is similar to a morning roll, only sweet and of a finer texture, almost like a plain cookie.  
  90. Siccan adj.But sicken a day there never was. Gin sickan things were true. To cow an' horse, an' sican beast. I'll ride in nae siccan troop. Sicna a discreditable like thing. To use sickan freedoms. I nevvir gat sek an a flegg i ma lyfe. There doesna seem a trace O' even siccan ane. I mind of ae siccan a nicht. Ye'll do no siccan thing. Whin id waas dark aneuch dey met a' ermed, boy, an' seckan erms. The writer remembers the indignation of a gardener, also an elder in the church, at the ‘Englishy' butler's skimp traditional grace on the occasion of a solid supper. ‘Sicna grace for sicna supper!' as he laconically observed. "There's a thing that happens, though you are not o a family to understand it, but married men hae sometimes a difficulty o putting their wives wi a bairn. Now there are ways in siccan a mechanter. Sometimes it's the man that's no on his mettle and a diet o good green kale can kittle him. ..." Gin thir wis siccan a player hereabouts he wid seen be snappit up. An' the band wis takin' a brak' A 
  91. Greek n.3Fine Greek-stone, Calmstone, and Limestone, for buildings, Monuments and other uses. A mill-stone quarry, of a strong Greke, from which mill-stones have been dug. The stone quarries . . . consist of 3 different kinds of stone, one of a bluish black colour, with a fine , capable of receiving a polish like marble. . . . The second is a white stone, of a fine small . This parish [Tulliallan] abounds with excellent quarries of free-stone, both yellow and white. . . . It is a durable stone, perfectly white, of a small , and takes on a fine smooth polish.  
  92. Hick n.1, v.1Jamie began, wi' a “hic” an' a stan', Like ony whase heart's ower fu'. Ye'd think a man that had lost a leg wi'oot a murmur wad never mak' sic a stramash aboot a hicker in his thrapple. A hickeet an tuik the rewe, for the . . . look o'd wad heh gien a body the scunners. To hick on it — to have one's gorge rise, on a last mouthful when one has eaten too much already. Cheer up, my sweet auld-farrant 
  93. Pownie n.2There are several evergreens cut into several shapes, a peacock, pownie-cock, and a pelican, and swan. I wad rather hae a bit good powny an' a pound o' cheese. There's a muckle roast of Beef, a jiggot of mutton, twa Dukes, twa Fools, and a Poney. Pawnies, black-cock, muir-fowl and capercailzies. I hae been at the cost and outlay o' a jigot o' mutton, a fine young poney cock, and a florentine 
  94. Scale n.2To build and carry up a sufficient scale stair to the uppermost story of the said work. The stair of the tenement to be a skelly [ ] stair. They call a round Stair Case, a ; and a Square one goes by the name of a . They entered a scale-staircase, as it is called. In the house of a Mrs Carfrae, Baxter's Close, Lawnmarket, first scale-stair on the left hand in going down. A Frenchman, lodging wi' Lucky Leather-tongue, ower in the scale stairs. . — Of a stair having straight flights of steps with 
  95. Tirse n., v.When he fand a tirse on the rop. Whan du turned dee round wi sikkan a tirse. In sic a tirse, dat he near owerbalanced himsel. Der 'r a tirs upon him; in a awfu' tirs; a tirs o' a hurry. I saw at wance he wisna pl'ased, He wis in sic a tirse. Doo kens what dey say whin dir in a tirse. Whin dis tirse o' wadder an' cauld is ower. Aye, lass, he's a tirss o wind. He was tirsan an' pullan at that 
  96. Grawl n.Many a grawl, and many a trout, By net resistless dragg'd to shore. A wiz jist a young grawl o' a 
  97. Notion n.I hae lang, altho' I didna tell, Had a strong notion o' the lass mysel'. In the regular routine of a matrimonial transaction; first ; secondly, . Gin ony o' ye hae a notion o' the dambrod. A spinster in the neighbourhood had “a notion” of him — was, in fact, only waiting till he would “speer” her. Does he hae ony scaar iv a notion o' her ava? She had a notion o' the Frenchman frae the first glisk o' him. For a notion he'd ta'en tae the fowk o' Drumclack. "The sooner thoo're feenished wi' Gabriel Stoot the better. He his a notion on Portia Rosie." "If she still has a notion of you, and if you've a cot bigged by Martinmas, you'll can marry her wi' my mither's blessin' ..." She's got a notion o ye/fur ye. [fancies you] were “very notional,” and would bring a suit back again and again for alterations. He was a “notionate” old fellow the elder Mains of Yawal, and would be obeyed. He was . . . a terrible notionate buddy, and he took a craze for everything Dutch.  
  98. Reemis n., v.With a loud crack the house fell down at last, The reemish put a knell unto her heart. Weel, sorra tak' this warld wi' a reemise. There was no accounting for the reemish they baith h'ard. He wisna weel doon fan we heard an awfu unearthly roar and seen a great remise. As gin some warlock hid made a a whummule an' a rum'le an' a remiss as this Lon'on. A gryte reamys they're haddin' awa' aboot Germany some wye. A reemis at the door fair strak the speaker dumb. She tumbled down upo' me wi' sik a reimis. We gaed tae lift him up an' saw that he had gotten a gey reemis. [He] only leuch when threatened wi' a reemish fae a rung. The “reemish” which the barley took on 6th September. Aul' Cairnies reemisht in a hearse. I hear a reemishin' o' the tay things. There's an unco reemishin' gyan on oot bye 
  99. Refreshment n. a wee refreshment of a Saturday night.' Of course it was in his interests that I was deported but I am not saying it was him told the Arabs I had a few bottles on me. How they expect a man to work in that heat without a refreshment beats me. As his name suggests, Malky [Malky the alky] was fond of a wee refreshment. Yer grandad likes a wee refreshment on Saturday efternuin. And when I finally settle down on the 25th for a wee refreshment only to discover they've drunk the last bottle without me, too right I need something like Santa to sustain me. He usually stopped for a refreshment at the Craigdarroch Arms, and he would shout 'Here lass, haud this horse tae a get a pint'. My father must have had a drink or two in the afternoon. Or three. A tipple. A snifter. A dram. A wee refreshment.  
  100. Reird n., v.And sic a Reird ran thro the Rout. For a the Din, an a the Raird. At nine months' end you'll hear the rairds In our Scotch kirks. The tottering deevil coupit ower amang his ain pigs, and damaged a score of them. And then the reird raise. Noo an' than we hear a flist, A reerd wud deeve Van Winkle. A House with a Reek, and a Wife with a Reerd, will soon make a Man run to the Door. Mony lang rairds o' dandillie tehein' an fliskmahaigo chit-chat. A reekin' lum's ill, but a wife wi' a raird Is fit to gar ony ga'e a snore, And then she ga'e a reirde. Beckin she loot a fearfu' Raird, That gart her think great Shame. Behind his ears, That made them ring, a raird, Exploding downwards. He loot a great raird rap. This carle could rairdet a sang wi' the youngest. Lang Mack disna ken me, an' that gars him raird. Jenny was a Jezebel, a reardin, flytin jade. She laup, an' rampaugd, an' rairdit, an' flate 
  101. Tass n.1They have the lawing, having the tasses receiving the money. Fill him up a tass of usquebae. Rob. Cruikshank, silversmith for mending the lug of the silver tass. A tass cut out of eaten wood. For the spirits, they had what they called a pewther toss, instead of a glass: some of these tosses had a cup at each end, a longer for a great dram, and a smaller for a little one. Go, fetch to me a pint o' wine, And fill it in a silver tassie. Gie Steenie a tass of brandy down stairs. Out has he taen his poor bluidy heart, Set it on a tasse of gold. You are just in time for a tass o' tea wi' me. I'll hae a tassie o' tae ready for ye in a jiffy. Tammas poort oot a tass o' brandy tae the piece o' them. 'e Earl corses oniwey, in boattle, tankard, tassie, gless or joug. Owre in the coarnir, ther wus hauf a deid cou liggin oan its syde an a boy in a whyte peenie wus layin intae it wi an aix. A laddie gaed past wi a siller tray an fowre tassies oan it. The draw for the Junior Tassie to be played at 
  102. Brot n.2, v.I saw'd gweed girss seed an' it cam' up a brot o' sooricks. Yer stocking or yer yarn has gone into a brot. A child's head may be “in a brot o' vermin” when they are there in abundance, or a coat is worn out “into a brot o' holes.” The haunless taupie has brotit a' my shank. A clumsily darned hole in an apron, stocking, etc., is “a' brotted.” “What gart ye brot the heel that wye?”  
  103. Wummle n., v.To him for the 2 womells helping to tonie. His words they brodit like a wumill, Frae ear to ear. He was as gleg as onie wumble. Tak your ellwands, your elshins, or wummills. He had . . . a lang brog or wummle to take a potatoe out of a cow's throat. Farm “teels”, like tweeslicks, wummels, and perhaps a sweerkitty or two. I'll “heat a wummil” — a far better plan. If ye saw him at the very height o' his merriment, get him yokit tae play at heat a wumble. Nurses used to amuse infants on the knee a hole in the infant's breast or belly, repeating the words ‘Heat a womill, heat a womill. Bore, bore, bore.' Hate a wimble, hate a wimble, Bore a hole, bore a hole. Whaur piece, whaur piece, In his puggie, in his puggie. The above rhyme was accompanied by a circular motion of the forefinger, ending by door Was pierc'd wi' mony a womble bore. I saw her thro a whummil bore And I neer got a sight of her no more. Up troo a runnick, doon troo a lum, or in troo a wumble bore. His circumstances “were that 
  104. Clatch n.I gart him play clatch amo' the dubs. Da grices hae a wye o' rotin' ony lom 'at's empty afore dem, fil hits in wan clatsh o' gutter. I got a clatch o' marrow fat apo da leg o' me breeks. A muckle to Embro' living monuments o' clatch'. It blecks me to ken fat he can see in yon muckle clotch o' a dame. “Are you a married man: have you a wife?” “Aye, a kin' o' a clotch.” She wuz a clean, ticht lass, when she wuz merrit, an' noo she's juist a big, lazy clatch. Now, what influence could a cauld clatch of a creature like that . . . hae ower our bairn, either to make her happy or unhappy? Haud your gab, ye claverin clatch. An ill-built house is said to be “a mere .” They say I'm a rotten clotch Unfit to carry cart or coach. [A bridge is speaking] A lady . . . had lent her a nice little carriage 
  105. Guest n.If a feather, a straw, or any such thing be observed hanging at a dog's nose, or beard, they call that , and are sure of the approach of a stranger. . . . They judge also from the length of this , what will be the size of the real one, and, from its shape, whether it will be a man or a woman. “It's ill ta drook a laughin guest.” A brand standing by itself in the fire was called a guest; a smoking brand betokened an unwelcome guest, while a bright brand meant a friend. The coming of the unwelcome misfortune on a friend, who might fall into a mire or burn. . Half-burnt brand, standing right on its end, without any support, when the fire wastes away; this is considered as a fore-telling of a guest's arrival said: “dis is gaun to be a welcome gest.”  
  106. Powler n.A boy, looking at a big-sized haddock at the quay, says to a companion: “Boy, 'at's a great powler o' a chiel.”  
  107. Staggle n.A deer-calf becomes “a knobber” in his second year, “a staggle” in his third, “a stag” or “a hart 
  108. Wuppen v.If ye was to pit a weaver, a tailor, and a miller into a poke, shake them a' through ither, an 
  109. Gudge n., v.100 House Carpenters Gudges for carving at 4d. p.s. A gudge o' a stick . . . He's a kibble gudge o' a cheelie. A stoot gudge anxious to work a pair o' horse. Dilly was a thick-set “gudge,” slightly Greek, Took wife to mend his trouble. In three years more one pound had to be given for a “gudge” to the bell. A stone roller is dressed, cost 5/6 with ½ for iron gudges and pillows. These cylinders of granite [a field-roller] had a hole bored at each end and into these were inserted short metal rods, the , to act as axles. To a stone from a quarry, to press it out with a pinch or lever.  
  110. Toot-moot n., adv., v.Being interrogated by her landlord, who was a judge, as to the origin of the fray, she replied; “It began, my lord, wi' a laigh tut-mute, and it raise to a heich tuilyie mulie; and or ever your lordship wad hae kissed your ain a — e, they were a' i' the mussel-midden abone ither.” Says she, makin' a laich toot-moot o' 't, — ‘He's Lord Lossie's? ' Thei set tew at a low tut-mut, efteran thei gaed tae a heich cullya shearg, at a hun's bark thei ware at a heich cullya whumlie. Hillock's ‘tout-mout' with Gormack over a purchase at a roup. I thocht I heard a toot-moot o' that kin'. It's gain teut-meut amo' them it the maister's taen t' the drink. The prence drew him doon, an' toot-mootit in's lug. After a 
  111. Slag n.3, v.3I gae her a slaag wi' da eel. The're a filty slag in the sea the day. A great slag o' a wife, a muckle slag o' a boat. I wid tink little o' slaagin dee afore da mooth. Doo'd no slaagid Tamy o' da Lees wi' a weet cob.  
  112. Smiach n., v.No a smeech fae him. Not a smiach! Not a sound! Hush! He never made a smiach. Not a smeech oot o you noo, or it'll be the worse for yersel! I canna get a smyach out o 'at fire. They could no raise a smiach o' steam. He niver smeeched.  
  113. Snicher v., n.Snighterin' an' laughin'. I see Jeems ye snicher an' girn. A hantle o' snicherin' amang the mair thochtless. Sneevilin' an' snichterin' and befulin' yersel' like that. She's a sleekit, snichlin', inhaudin' snite. A snicherin kin' o' a lauch. Neil Rannoch, the gamie's loon, an Jimmy Higgins frae the paper shoppie, war keekin ower at Davie an snicherin nesty-like. Davie reidened an turned awa, kickin a teem crisp pyock ben the tarred playgrun. A bit snicher ran roond the table. A snicher and a smile went round the shop. Monie a snicher and hearty guffaw. Wi' a white collar and a feart-like snicher.  
  114. Funcy adj., n."Ma mither got it at a jumble afore the war. She jist took a funcy till't and she swappit a hame-made tea-cosy and a puckle bannocks for't. ..." Funcy piece: "piece" could be a scone or bread with butter, jam, but can also be a cake, especially if "funcy piece". "Yes if it gets you oot o' ma hair. And I'll hae a funcy piece." I can report an expanding waistline and no shortage of places to stop for a "fly cup and a funcy piece" — sorry, I can't help slipping back into my old dialect! Locals might settle instead for a "fly cup and a funcie piece".  
  115. Birr n.3, v.3Hair on end. A' in a birr. I'll tosche my curls, pit on a wee bit birr; My hair's a kennin' thin and tousie noo. A birrie pow. His impetence set ma birr up. A blind beggar called “bare — birr-headed blin Jamie.” Wi her hair a' birred up like a heddery besim. His cowt grew reezy, its lang tail 
  116. Futtle n., v.The Trojan lads right soon wou'd dight you Like a futtle haft. A soncy pig that by hairst-time will be ready for the futtle. A bunch o' birse, a ball o' wax, . . . And crookit futtles five or sax. Death cowes a' wi his futtle. 'E aald futtle o' a machine went sindry. Here's sklates and skailies, ilka dask a' futtled wi' a name.  
  117. Harden v.We've hid eneuch o' rain noo. A howp it'll . If there would come a “north hardenin,” they would soon get the corn in. “Hardenin” means a drying and “north-hardenin” a drying with a cool north wind. This term regarding the weather is used by country people when, during a time of , a dull threatening day has become clear and settled, “It was jist a .”  
  118. Ribe n.L—d man! 'twad mak a body spue, To see a set o' ribes. I would not have you despair of your of a boy. The horse took bad and turned a perfect ribe. Applied to persons, but more especially to pigs. “They come of a ribish breed”. A gipsy ribe, wi' leer an' jibe. Kitty was a long-legged ribe of a 
  119. Sagan n.That lassie has a sagan o' a temper. Johnny Smith's a coorse sagan. Ye're behavin' like a perfect sagan. A sair saigen — an awful chap (jocularly). Weel, ye niver saw sic a saggin as she is, eh, sic a fattie, fat a hillock o' creesh! The aul' sagan wid pit back her lugs, stick oot her snoot . . . an 
  120. Skleff adj., n.A skleff cheese, a skleff piece of wood. A thin-flanked, sparse, what the Scotch would call as a pancake. A never saw sic a thin craittir; she's as skleff as a fir dael. A've paid the accoont, so oo're skleff. A was luntin alang the skleff, towrt Denum.  
  121. Tortie n.A drume and two drume sticks, ane box with ane [toy] tortie and a man felling a ox, a fine watch and a key. The he tortyshall kitlin'. He hiz fower legs, a lang tail, an' a tottie-shell skin. I min' ae nicht, fin straikin ye, Yer coat o yalla tortyshell Ceest on the air a balmy smell, Its 
  122. Doldrum n.A doldrum o' a steen; A doldrum o' a tatie.  
  123. Durkin n.A durkin o' a knife: A durkin o' a club.  
  124. Knolt n.A knolt o' a codlin. A hnolt o' a chap.  
  125. Strunt n.4A strunt o' a saick. A strunt o' a goon.  
  126. Nashick n.A crab with a half-hardened shell is called a ; one with a hard shell but not yet in the state is named a .  
  127. Grindle n.A crab with a half-hardened shell is called a ; one with a hard shell but not yet in the state is named a .  
  128. Butterie n.1Is there a difference between a rowie and a buttery? That is the question. I had assumed they were Toonsers. For more than 30 years, I have laboured under this gross ignorance. Not so. According to a colleague who has made a detailed study of the etymology, construction and origin of the buttery/rowie, there are distinct differences. A conversation with a respected baker or two would appear to back him up. "A rowie has a curved bottom. A buttery is flat." So now you know. Between butteries, Rob Roys an' turnovers . . . her basket was weel filled. [I was] takin' a chack at a butterie.  
  129. Snack n.1, v.1, adv.But ane gies him a snack an' syne anither, Till he is near-hand worried a' thegither. A surly hound salutes him wi' a snack. May ye ne'er want a freen', gin need Should show his ganchin, snackin head. His fell wee snakkers ken nae haivens. He'll no as muckle as snack at a flee that lichts on his to the troot, snack her up, man. A shove that snacked the good new farthing tobacco-pipe. A blue-faced monkey wi' its tail snackit aff. I ne'er snacked a flint at pouther a' my days. His teeth gaed snack thegither wi' a skelp like a slippit fiddle-brig.  
  130. Back-band n. ; is a deed attaching a qualification or condition to the terms of a conveyance or other instrument. , a bond that nullifles or modifies a former one entered into for a special and temporary 
  131. Feuch n.2, v.2A Chiel came wi' a feugh, Box'd him on's arse wi' a bauld brattle. Whan in a trice I got a bang, Wi' sic a feugh my twa lugs rang. Feuch him up; he's an ill-contrivet loon.  
  132. Guff n.3, v.3Da hens took sic a claagin. Dat's whin da gaut [hog] is geen doon by wi' a guff an' gluff'd dem. “Sly” wis wi' me an' got up wi' a guff, an' begood ta bark. Charlie gave a gouff o' a lauch. 'That farmer we were working for is a pure guffie. He has been charging us a sixpence for a thimble-full o' skimmed milk, and a shillin' for a handful o' hay for the ponies. ... ' She screeched oot like a banshee and ran oot squealing like a guffie. A guffie's just a pig. So far from having the Voice of a Levite, that if Modesty would allow, it seems like the Guffings of a Swine when it's lost its Company. Just listen tae the grice gaan guffin aboot after meat. A boannie, peerie, fleckit grice Ran fae da hummel gouphin an' crackin', Transported wi' ilka sweet smile. ... she tried to do a big smile, teeth so white cause her face was red, but she guffed out a big sob again.  
  133. Lackie n.Though ivery fauld o' your lackie wis a leaf o' da Confession. Sled on a bloomin' lacky doon at da runnock. A boddy wid a needed a lackie laek a bo bag till a hadden aa it dey cam wi. Carry it in thee 
  134. Dirvin n.A dirvin o' a bannock. . . . A muckle dirvin o' a wife.  
  135. Hunk n.1A sluttish, indolent woman, a drab; as, “a nasty ,” “a lazy .”  
  136. Skreinge n.A skreinge with a box and a pan. A little skringe.  
  137. Wanworth adj., n.'Gainst Barns and her wanworth attackers. Sic a waefu' wanworth meddler Weel deserves a hankit craig. An' birst them again for a wanworth pack. Ye fuil fowk that wur radge for gowd Mair nor for sold unless we sell it at a Wanworth. In order to get possession of his estate at a wanworth. The coft naething. Ministers wha expeckit my gudes for a wanworth. Sandy had bocht an auld cairt, juist at a wanworth. Speaking of the salmon as “just gat for a wanworth.” [He] got it for a lifetime or mair at a mere wanworth. They made a lot o' money, but fat gude did it ever do them; it juist gaed a' awa' to a wanworth. Robbie said among other things, that it was a wanwirt an a wa-cast. O wae to the, brisk, an' braw, Yet ay the wanworths bide awa'. Wanworths as she is may pair wi' a lackey. I've been a wanworth a' my life, A lo'er o' lawless bluidy strife. There's nae a wanworth o' them, though 
  138. Bettle n.A chiel came wi' a feugh, Box'd him on the a — e with a bald bettle, Till a' the hindlings leugh At 
  139. Holk n.1A holk upo de back or atween de shooders. A holk o' a taati. A muckle, hoilkit, soople craiter Wi a burden on hits back.  
  140. Ca' Through v. phr., n. phr. the fine phrase “Ca' through” . . . because it forms a counsel of perfection for the New Year? Hey, ca' thro', ca' thro', For we hae mickle ado! We got him hame a' richt, an' he'll mebbe ca' throo't. He's a servan' it hiz a ca-through we's wark. There was siccan a ca'-thro', as the like was never seen. Wi' this an' that, they'd a gey ca' thro'. A gaed the colour't things a ca'-throw. I'll gie the press a ca' throu', bit I dinna think yir glesses are there. “Man, Jimmie, ye sud tak' a wife; she wud be chaper than a hoosekeeper.” “Weel, gin a hed the hairst by, a'll yoke the shalt an' hae a ca 
  141. Sneeter v., n. nose Wad a gart a frozen mill gang. A jist hid time t'get a sneeter o' a sleep, sittin' on a chair.  
  142. Grumph n., v.Better thole a grumph than a sumph. Pressing his lips together, he drew a long sigh or rather morning in his head, . . . he would have spoken more like a gentleman. But you cannot have more of a sow but a grumph. A girn — or a toss o' your head — or a grumph, 's a' you aften condescend to gie in answer to a remark. A fig for their pretended care, Their formal grumph and groan. “An' a weeda man too!” said Mysie wi' a grumph. Sir Thomas gied a kin' o' grumph. As aye the grumphs flew back an' fore I' meallocks frae my pockets. Her hoose wid be nae empty hool If “grumph” wis in the bauks by Yule. There's a, . . . himsel' (a grumphie kind o' body) was aye i' the bake-hoose. The tither wis a pridefu' yade, A grumphin' your grumphing try to fear me. A stupid loggerhead of a fellow, who . . . at all genuine sports, and sits as sour as the devil, when all around him are joyous. She made a great deal o' grumphing an . . . grunting and grumphing most filthily. He wis a girnin' deevil, faith, an' never hed a please, Bit aye gaed 
  143. Pushion n., adj., v.. They haed a gran hidey-hole doon inside th'aul water-mul an nae trap or pizen seem't tae faze them ava tae thole Wi its tip aw weit wi pushionous dew. ... " “He's a pusion o' a craitur,” and “He's a perfit pusion.” A fantit ting o' a grice aboot a hoos is shurely wan o' da greatest pushens 'at can be seen. Sees du whatna pusjon av a bonnet wir Meggi is gotten on. Ye could fa aff o' Princie an' no mak' sic a pooshinous foosum mess o' yir jaikad as ye wid in 'is guttery w'ather. He's jist a rale pooshin wi't. A baand a ellit oorlie pooshins, Shargin, njirlin, lipper tings. , a sneaking, contemptible fellow. Here's the strae that yin puishan ill-skinned tyke o a man ca'd a shaef o corn. Up comes yon red-heedit, pishion-faced creeter. He's a pooshin wadder-head, a dirty soal i' da sea. “A pushion, fusom, moniment” expressed the lowest stratum of worthlessness. What's a' the med'cines that are ta'en, An' Doctors' puson'd stuff. What can we expect from brocks but a poosioning flavour. Ye've 
  144. Taid n.The venom of black taids and snakes. A taid may sit on her coffin the day. And the milk on the tynd o' the harrow took him a tide. Half a poddock, half a tead. “Hoo did your minister get on las' Sawbath?” asked the one. “Get on!” said the other; “he got on — just like a taed amang tar.” Sittin' like twa taeds i' the cart o' a stane. Claik a hunner different leids Dwines tae a hoolet's lanely croon. Nicht, like a taed, his hunkered doon. Yon vile discrimination, That breeds aye the taid's e'e In mony a congregation. It [charm] was for stoppin bluid whun onybuddy wus woundit. They put a Taed-stane, are called or or . Jordanlaw Moss was the reputed habitat of the tappit taed, a unique specimen, whose head was believed to contain a gem of fabulous price. A baukie-bird in the air, or a yerd taid on the brae. Ye would as soon think o' likening a yird tead to a patrick or a turtle-dove. A swindling, hen-peckt, poisonous taid, The vilest o' them a'. The same wee blackent-like taid as when you left 
  145. Throuither adv., adj., n. Midges frisk in lazy Air, Have ye not seen thro' ither how they reel? Threed, which was of a very coarse he's prolix. The streams of sweat an' tears thro'ither ran. If ye was to pit a weaver, a tailor, and a miller into a poke, [and] shake them a' through ither. I thocht ye wud 'a maetit a' throu ither. They were a' freens throughither in auld Wigtown toon. His prayers . . . are aye sae bonny, an nettercap's weave. He would tell you that he “worked through other,” which implied a certain authority in garden, farm, and stable. Life's threads a' through-ither Cam' free frae the tangle. The defenders fell a' throu'ther. She was a rattling ‘throughother-speaking woman', very familiar often in her address to her mistress. A' things thru other an' the hoose in a confusion. A' hirdy-girdy — clean through ither. They ran a' throuther in their hurry. Ye hae put me that throo ither a dinnae ken what a'm dain. What's the dairy when a'thing else is gaun through-ither? Everything was lyin a' throughother on the 
  146. Stug n.2, adj., v.2A dark gray Geldin, the Hair on the far Side of the Neck being shorn by the Stug. Let's sleely gie't [corn] a stug . . . Awfu' stugs are seen to cock Their birse ahind them now, Knee-height this day. A comb is said to be stuggy, when some of its teeth are broken, and it therefore the hair. In comes Watty Bell, he was something fou' He . . . bought a stug-horned cow. An old healed wound over her shoulder, with a stug rump. A brown stou'd Horse, stug Tail'd. Very short lugs, stug-tailed, and has shattered skull. But there are caulds an' yawkin' stogs. A stog will gether nocht but fog. I was a gey grown styog o' a loon fan I left Mr. Barnett's employment. Oh! the big ungainly woman? (Was she not a stugger?). He's awa' to an aul' stogue o' a horse — said of a farmer on the downgrade. [Hugh McDiarmid] is also in some sense a Scottish character himself. He might be listed as a totey, pernicketty, sometimes rigwoodie, stug. A fine canny humoursome styogue. A fine stuggie beast. A stuggie peerie fellow 
  147. Bairge n.2, v.2She geed oot wee a o' a greet. Gee a after 'im, an' tell 'im t' come seen back. Fah wid hae him for a minister? He's jist a mere , fin he preaches; an' it croons a', fin he praies. , one who. , to scold. ‡ , to speak volubly, loudly, or scoldingly. Shut up that noisy brute o' a dog o' yours; he bairges on throw the haill nicht. , to bark like a dog on the chain. He hauds a sair o' a' thing intill's lug. He's unco dull o' hearin'. Sandy, remarking that she was a “bairgin' eediot o' a wife yon,” settled down to the mending of my boots in earnest. The new minister hiz a wye o' readin'. He's a bulliein', bairn, that o' yours.  
  148. Drow n.1, v.Sae near Sabbath at e'en, and out o' ane's warm bed at this time o' night, and a sort o' drow in, Cauldrife an courin fae the daithlie drow: Ree-a-ree, a ranigate. The pipers i' the Canigate, The drow is in the air. A clud had coped the Dunion Hill, A dreary drow the syke did fill. The daggy drowe comes drifflin on. I have heard an old lady remark, quoting a local saw: “A Liddesdul drow Weets a Tibidull man Throw and throw.” On yon grey drowy muir Whaur snell blasts scour ye ti the bane. It was a dull, drowy (showery) sort of day, not a rain, but a Scotch mist, a wee damp as they express it in those parts. My folk, they sal drink, bot ye'se no hae a drow. , used to denote a thick wetting mist.  
  149. Sail v., n.'Till Boord and Floor, an a' did sail, Wi' spilt Ale i' the Dark. In staves my stauns he brak them down And set my wort a sailing. The fluir's fair sailin. Are ye sailin' tae the toon wi' yer motor? if ye are will ye gie me a sate? They were seilan' doon Traill Street as snowg as ye lik. I'll sail take a sail in our wagon with Mr Herbert. Wull ye gie me a sail in the kert? It is very comical to hear a boy say that he had a “sail” on a horse! The weans were wild an' happy: they got a sail hame in a cairt. As he came abreast of her he called, “Can A gie ye a sail?” 'E fowk nowadays widna thank ye for a seil in a cert.  
  150. Stimpart n.She [a mare]'ll whip me aff her five stimparts o' the best aits at a down-sittin. Buying coals by the stimpert. I ate a stimpart o' potatoes. Like a Clydesdale roadster after a heatit stimpart o' aits an' beans. The usual order to the grocer was for a stimpart of oatmeal. On “feeing” girls, it was stipulated that a “stimpart” of lint should be sown, so that they could claim it on their own account. The young shearers through course of time come forth as a stimpart or fourth part of a rig. The puirest stimpart-shearer in a' the muirlands could hae shorn the haill o' the lang riggs. For the harvest workers worked in couples — a lad and a lass — a halflin and a stimpart. The stimpart bound the stooks 
  151. Dungeon n.“Do you not know the man who got his learning from the devil?” . . . “I warrant you he's a dungeon, then.” I have obliged them to confess me a . Although he's a dungeon o' Latin and Greek. They say he's a fair dungeon o' learnin', an' I daursay he may be. Before Dr Johnson came to breakfast, Lady Lochbuy said, “he was a of wit”; a very common phrase in Scotland to express a profoundness of intellect. And but few o' his trade e'er his fitstaps will fill, For a dungeon for craft was auld Mungo McGill. A deep, a dungeon-headed billie.  
  152. Howdle v., n.Dancin', and tumblin', and houdlin', Wi' men, and wi' wives, and wi' weans. John, what'n a pea-hotch is this? Div ye ca't a coach? let me oot! Div ye think I'll sit howdling here a' night? An houdlin' wi' the feathered creation. Whan hills are howdled in the snaw I plank my rit upon a wa'. A howdle o' hog-showtherin' freirs, Augustines, Carm'leits, Cordeliers. Aa in a howdle = all in a heap. A howdle o bairns = a swarm of children, a large family.  
  153. Puppie n.1To the bairns and servants to see the puppie play yisterday . . . 5s. 0d. You'd mak a noble poppey-show. An' you hae nae a wish to kiss the causey, an' dinna want to make a poppy-show o' yoursel', you'll never offer to take it [horse] that length. They let me in with a grudge for twopence . . . to see a punch and puppie-show business. It was there we used to gather floo'ers to mak' a poppy-show. A preen tae see the poppy show, A preen tae see it a', A preen tae see the little mannie Dancin' on 
  154. Sloo n., v.I maun gie da aetin' anes [potatoes in a clamp] anidder sloo o' poans. He leaved a slu o' hay ahint him. Tak a divit aff o' de second slue o' Ole's byre and pit him anunder de kirn. Rise dee wis up, du lazy sloo! A great lang slu o' a boy: a soft slu o' an animal. The folk of Unst are Midden Slues, which, being interpreted, signifieth slatterns. , making a compost by placing first a layer of earth, then a layer of byre-manure, and lastly sea-weed, and repeating this. As muckle as wid sloo a 
  155. Vast n.The old woman bestowed a vast of presents on Tom. A vast o' foak a' round about came to the feast. They couldna get them sindry, else there had been a vast o' bludeshed. She could see a vast farrer afore her than me. Vast of women are confined before they have time to change themsel. We mak' a vast o' din. . . . I kent there were a vast o' grand new hooses oot thereawa. I've yet a vast o' baith to do. She's a vast better. There's a vast o' young chaps dichtit up wi' this war.  
  156. Shive n.A marking iron, a shiver frame. Gie me a shive of your white bread. The wheaten loaf in mony a shive. As I'm spreadin' this shive o' bread. Eleven cups o' tea and eight shives o' bread. A shive or twa o' broon Geordie. A slice of bread, etc., cut carefully was a “shive”.  
  157. Garb n.That shoot o' claes that ye've bocht is jist a garb. Holding up a piece of cloth, a man said: “That's a gey garb. A cud spit throwe't, lat aleen read the Lord's prayer.” There has been a garb of 
  158. Kinvaig n.A , or small woollen plaid not larger than a shawl, wrapt round the head, with its skirts spreading over the shoulders, in the form of a hood sheaf upon a stook of corn. “Kinvaig” — what's that? — a tippet or a maud?  
  159. Barme Horse n.But the phrase is still used in Angus, where a signifies a horse without a saddle; “to ride a barme horse,” to ride without a saddle.  
  160. Bati n.“Ye're gotten a b[ati] o' her dis mornin'”; you have had a good catch (of fish) this morning. , a batch; a quantity, a considerable number.  
  161. Galderie n.A muckle galderie o' a hoose, like a kirk. So he took wis intill a grate galdery o' a room aa set 
  162. Stramlach n.A wand brank, a cuttumrung aneth her tail, a stramlach and a leurich. [The version in . (1910) I. 173 reads .] “Stramlach”, a long trailing slender thing.  
  163. Hawkathraw n.Ye're a sneck-drawing dog, A fule, a hack-a-thraw, man.  
  164. Rander n.3Wull ye no' buy a rander, a tander, A roaster, a toaster?  
  165. Tander n.2Wull ye no' buy a rander, a tander, A roaster, a toaster?  
  166. Wiff n.Man's life, a wiff upon a wave A speck amid a gloom.  
  167. A' adj., adv.A' cracks maunna be trew'd. Some o you is been very good freends wi him, ta aal appearance, truly. But a' forenicht I hard Sandy wirrin' awa' till himsel'. Sic is the po'er o' risin' fame! It meets me at a' turns. A thae gowden lyrics liggin aside ye, Chris Yirdit there i the moul wi yer best-loo'ed thochts. Oh sad I think on a' thy ways, sae gentle an' sae kind. ' ... It's the travelling and a' that? "Here Boab, did ye see the wy the boy birled roon' there and sold us aw a dummy? Whit a loup that wiz, eh?" After a' I've done for ye mysel'. Well, I wiggled tapselteerie, my heels were that peerie While a kinna Jimmy Shandish band Played 'Flower of Scotland' - But it aw got droont oot wi wolf whistles. Is that aw? Abune the heids o' them aw I could see Jock Lowrie. A's necessary for a guid pairty is guid champagne. A's we need ti dae is ... A's we dae is ... A's he dis is ... Haudin a' airt in a yagamint, maroonjeous as the Deil. The thing that a'body says maun be true. The skipper put 
  168. Beast n.1 apply it to birds, insects, and fishes; as, the is a noisy ; the , a filthy ; the , a terrible . The sneakit little brute! . . . What could the baste [a mouse] tell? Rydin apo Peter o' Hundegird's blessit hoarse, wi' a sheep best afore him. An' a'to' the' wur a Eerif [land court] hauden whin the faither dee'd, Backaskeel keepid a' the geud horse baest. Wi' onie help, I cud my mither gee At milking beasts an' steering o' the ream. Ilkie baist aboot the toon got a rip o' corn. Syne he micht hae saved' sleepery trance in winter raw. There's nae beasts in my heid this mony a day. He found the grayling very plentiful . . . at every cast he had a “beast.” , any animal except a human being. A zealous individual asked a servant-girl, “Are you a Christian?” She replied “Do you think I'm a ?” . A horse. By way of eminence, a horse is, in Teviotdale, denominated ; no other animal receiving this designation. A man is said to have both a cow and a when he possesses a cow and a horse. When the twilight began to gather 
  169. Smudder v.For common smuddert peats wis used an' a fine fire they made, but it hadna the same heatin' poo'er an' fat wye they war made. They war casten an' dried jist the common wye. Syne they war a' giddert in a hullock an' cover't up wi' weet moss, a' less a wee holie that wis left for kennlin't wi' a fiery peat. Fan the fire got a guid haud the hole wis closed up an' a' the reekin' bores roon' the hullock. The hullock wis a' clappit wi' the back o' a spad an' left tae smudder for a day or twa. Aifter that the moss wis tae'n aff an' they took a look in tae see if it wis a' richt. It wis happit up again for a week or sae. Fan it wis caul', it wis driven hame an' biggit up in the smiddy. A hauf-smuddert 
  170. Junk n. purpose. A large knot in his cheek from a junk of tobacco therein stowed. [He] snatched up a large pound-cake, cut it into junks. A stout junk with the back well set and the hose doubled a bit down. Taks a junk o' reestid mutton an' maks a denner fit fur a king. Some roadstone is still obtained from discarded “junks” in the vicinity of the quarry. Duncan Macgougan wiz a strong junk o a man. He never weighed it. That's how ye got it - a junk o' mutton. All stout junky men of middle size.  
  171. Lameter n.A broken seman . . . £00 04 00; three poor . . . £00 03 00; a lamiter . . . £00 04 00 [limiter, . II. 190]. As I am a lameter I ha'na been able to travel. Though you may think him a lamiter. Jenny Hirple, a lameter woman, who went round among the houses of the heritors of the parish with a stilt. Ill with an income in her leg, which threatened to make a lameter of her in her old age. Dawvid's been a perfeck laimiter wi' a sair fit. Our pet aversion . . . was a snivelling, watery-eyed “lamiter mannie”. Like a lameter hirplin' on two staves! The Germany wars have made lameters of the both of us.  
  172. Kin-kind n. comb.The races o'er, they hale the dools, Wi' drink o' a' kin-kind. Here's fouth of a' con-kind of nowt To suit demands. That temple's flures and wa's are lined Wi' leifsum pictures a' kinkind. A' the sma' kinkind o' articles had been floated oot at a back wundo. He deals, to bring a penny out, In a' kinkinds o' meal. Confuse their lines wi' a' kin-kind O' high pretence. Nane o' them got a funeral o' nae 
  173. Shade n.1, v.Sun and Shade are common Descriptions of Land in Scotland. A shade or toofall made up for a house or in a shade. A meal and lint mill with a lint shade. In shop mostly, arranged casks and boxes in a long shade. Here i da idder coarner, heedin nane, A ting o lass sho sat — hit micht a been, Penglin apon a peerie sheddin hap.  
  174. Smairt adj. feet." Man, whit a coup d'etat. straucht an smert the ba is lowsed sherp as a skelf burlin aa weys a buhlitt She's a lot smerter nor me. She'd been a smerter a' her days. Gad! but she was a smarter . . . as clever as you make them. Ellen is a smartie Never kent tae hesitate. She's done well for herself, Stella has, she's a smartie.  
  175. Touk n.3“This maun be sea-borne meal; it has a vile muisty teuk.” When a meal is made from corn that has been heated in the stack, the peculiar taste is denominated the . “I thought,” says a third, tasting a little of it [whisky] raw, with a very knowing air, and a peculiar compression of the lips, and shuttin of the eyes, “I thought it had a kind o' .” It has a villainous bitter at the end of it. There a touk o curry in this parsnip soup.  
  176. An' A Wi' a hundred pipers an' a', an' a'. Hout na, your Honour, . . . ye were just as ill aff in the feifteen, and got the bonnie baronie back, an' a'. He'll jist be takin' a last look at the kye to see them bedded an' a' — he's awfu' particular aboot the beasts. Who'd hae thought auld Rowan could hae garred the mud fly that gate, wi' sic a great lang-leggit lub to carry an' a'. An' refresh my soul, an' my sense ana', Wi' a sicht an' a smell o' the barley. Twa bridies - a plain een an an ingan een an aa. He noddin aff. “I want a piece, tae,” and number two entered the chorus. — “I want a piece ana,” yelled girls . An' Hezekiah himsel — gude, an' a' as he was — or the en' come, 's like a wean in his han's. Big an' strong an' a' as she is.  
  177. Belch n.A term applied to a very lusty person. “ , or , one who is breathless from corpulence, q[uasi] burst, like a horse that is broken-winded.” Wae worth me bat ye wou'd hae hard the peer bursen belchs whosing like a horse i' the strangle, a rigglenth e'er [sic] you came neer them. By this time Lindy is apple round. The gutsy belgh, too, grows sae chattie Aneth your nose. He's as bilchy a beast as in a' the barronry. I could a' tell't ye a hun'er stories aboot Nanny, for I sat for oors hearkenin' tae Mrs Smith tellin' them, — a bilchy bit lassock, ye ken. . In Selkirks. denoting “a little, crooked of its legs. The belch winna sleep sae lang as ane wad fell a flech without rocking. , . A brat, a contemptuous designation for a child. A bash in the eye is what you'll be havin', ye ould bilch 
  178. Ailiss n. , n. A hot blazing; “A roastin' ailiss of a fire.” , a blazing fire.  
  179. Badlin' n. . A low scoundrel. † . Also † . A worthless fellow, a scamp; also, a naughty child.  
  180. Peep n.3I've gat fowre bools, a peep an' a', A glassie an' a jairie.  
  181. Maggiedoozler n.He's a gran' 'un, a fair clipper, a perfect maggiedoozler [of a horse].  
  182. Brail n.An dan da tow cam an' a bonnie brail o sun, an he haed a faigh crap efter a'. Used chiefly in two phrases — “a b[rail] o' heat” and “a b[rail] o' sweat”; . “He was just in a b[rail] o' sweat when he finished”; “What a b[rail] o' heat it's been the day.”  
  183. Knapdarloch n.It's nae a stone ava but a knapdaerlick that hung at ane o' my stots' tails a' the last summer. His hair hings in knapdarlochs, like a coo's tail clortit wi' ile. The beggar wife wis a sair sicht, her raggit claes wallopin in knapdarlochs as she hobble't awa'. A wee dirten knapdarloch o' a craitir.  
  184. Pug n.3Hate a wimble, hate a wimble, Bore a hole, bore a hole. Whaur piece, whaur piece, In his puggie, in his puggie. The above rhyme was accompanied by a circular motion of the forefinger, ending by poking the child in the ribs or stomach. A little boy might be asked: His thu a pain in thee puggie?  
  185. Reticule n.You came tripping in with a reticule-basket, and gave me little cakes. Tibbie never could gang half-a-mile frae hame withoot haein' a radicle basket on her airm. In her wee black retical basket. Nannie wi' 'er reddicle basket, an' a big lump o' butter wi' a cabbitch blade roon't. A redicel basket on a kist.  
  186. Skrift n.Da drought 'ill be brunt up her bits o' skrifts o' buirds. A por aamis scrift o' a ting. A boat built of thin wood is termed a scrift o' a boat. He wis wan o' yin peerie skrifty men aboot the colour o' a moth. . . . Yin scrifty, scrunty t'ing; thir's a hantle o' differ atween denty an' scrifty!  
  187. Thoog A Poog n.“A ghost!” derisively snorted the Cooper, “ga' wa' mon, ga' wa', that's jist a thoog a poog, and ye've gane and spoilt a guid nicht's fishin'. But it wis rale shabby o' the scoondril tae fricht ye, Charlie, and sae mony braw fish in the water — that alane proved it a thoog a poog, and no a ghost ava.”  
  188. Fup v., n.Ekin' oot a geyan bare, leensome liveliheed fuppin'-'e-cat, dargin', an' thiggin'. She wid come ben the kirk wi' a suddenty, an' fup a haud o' 's an' set's doon wi' a doosht a bit farrer ben the seat. How stand poor I, o'er ta'en wi' sick a trick, To look like blunty an' the fupshaft lick. His exercise he speedily takes up, Nor e'er for gaing wrang anes got a fup. I'm thinking Bessy's pride will dree a fup. While Maggie's floor dree'd mony a fup Frae their hard soles. I've seen fan ye wad hae gotten a piece for a bawbee as lang's a fup tow. There's ower mony eddyfups in the air: we're gaun tae 
  189. Slype n., v., adv.I got a good sclype mysel' [of a fall on ice]. Fain wad threep tae gie'm a sclype. A “skylp gar't cry sclipe ower 'e pow o' some peer chiel. A sauchin slav'ry slype. A rangel o' gentles, an' a liethry of hanziel slyps at their tail. . A fellow who runs much after the female creation, yet has not low in me, a drunken sklyp. Was ever onybody plagued like me wi' a heedless slype o' a woman? The rochest sclype in a' the countra side. Twa orra ill-redd-up sclypes. He sklypet the loon doon on's back.  
  190. Bourie n. , a hole made in the earth by rabbits, or other animals that hide themselves there. A mappy frae his bourie boundit oot, Syne skipt ahint a buss. A rumblin' like a yirthquake sheuk My simmer morning bourie! Let us hae a bowry .  
  191. Reevick n.A person looking at a piece of cloth, if not satisfied because it is too thin, will cast it aside and say, “It's as thin as a reivik ”, or “Oh, it's a perfit reivik”. As thin as a reevick. A fair 
  192. Flech n., v.I have a that loupit aff him upon my aunty. To send him off . . . wi' a flech in's lug. Pity the flechs that canna soom! Da Flech an' da Loose lived tagedder in a hoose. Wi' bow-hoch't legs an' pirn taes Bit swuppert as a flech. I'm gleg as a flech, spinnin like a peerie, singin like a lintie an' oh, I canna weary. Terpsichore was trachelt; But, for aa she had tae pech, Was lowpin like a limmer Wi a forkie or a flech. Food for ilka manner o creeping thing - worm, klock, flech, bluebottle made on he wis scrattin his harns, thouchtfu-like. Molly McKenzie glowered at him-she wis sure he hid a dose o flechs. That flechie brute o' a cat on the stairheid. Flechy feels fair ferfochen [Headline minister is an awfu' flech o' a creatur. One who is always in a hurry will be called a “flech o' a craitur.” The dog's flechin' (himsel'). Fergie, stop yer flechin! (to a dog) Fat are ye flechin' aboot at?  
  193. Ganfer n. . . . very commonly seen, particularly by the sagacious shelty. A person likely to die was said to be , and a or was a prelude of death. Atween dem baith he saw his son coman' . . . Hid was his gonfer, for when he met dem dere was juist de twa weeman. A “sun-gaa” or a “broch aboot the moon” is regarded as a betokening bad weather; in winter, a cold, foggy drizzle is regarded sometimes as a “gamfer for snaa.” This wather's like a ganfir afore sna. In the winter time, if it gets suddenly calm, and if there is a slight drizzle, weather prophets say that it is a 'ganfer' for snow, and a snowstorm is expected in the immediate future. In my childhood, my father referred to just such a quiet mist as a "gamfer for snow." ... I had come across "ganfer;" only once, in a terrifying ghost story in a . I knew it meant "ghost;" ... Is that mist, then, the ghost of snow, like a coming event casting its shadow 
  194. Bear n.2 A name loosely applied to any noisy or belligerent young man, usually a heavy drinker, varying from the merely boisterous to the positively dangerous. A pub frequented by many of these is known as a : 'Ah wiz oot wi ma wee cousin an his mates; a right crowd a bears they were an aw.' A big pay rise has urging a strike offshore to mark the second anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. Leaders of the North sea "bears" are meeting in Glasgow tomorrow to consider calls for a 24 hour stoppage. ? Mary: Right from day one Rab was a post-modern reconstructed new lad, or "bear" as we called them back then. The economics of buying a beer on the Champs Elysees can be daunting. The bears, of course, lug huge carry-outs of cheap supermarket beer wherever they go. A name loosely applied to any noisy or belligerent young man, usually a heavy drinker, varying from the merely boisterous to the positively dangerous. A pub frequented by many of these is known as a : 'Ah wiz oot wi ma wee cousin an his mates; a right 
  195. Clash n.1“A on the side of the head”; a box on the ear. The next instant the heavy-fingert tawse labbit wi' a stingin' clash on Tammas' jawblade. A dead cat came whizzing through the air . . . and gave me such a clash in the face. There will be many more cauld clashes before the true spring reaches the cauld morality in worthy Mr Macmichael. A huge clash of mire was thrown. “What's brocht ye oot, woman,” said Willie, “in sic a clash o' rain as this?” Claes, a' as wat as a clash. Wha kens if there will be ony speakin' t' ye, ance ye get sic a clash o' siller in yer loof. He's a' a clash o' debt. There was a clash o' hey got up yesterday. I heard o' ane, wha had a clash O' laddies wooing at her. A true. Tam will tell ye the whole clash o' the West Country. A' soun', as weel, is stappit By yon siller quine - A' clash fae byre and barn A' scart an scauld an girn He listened to the parish clash ground. A' hae bin hearin' a guid dale o' clash an' nonsense, Mrs Sherpe, concernin' the quaestion o' a 
  196. Amiter n., adj.Dey gaed in by like a pair o stoopid amiters. (Amiters — foolish persons (A.).) An amiter o' a calf. It was a puir amiter ting of a beast.  
  197. Mushle n.For each load of mushles. Man, it's a pity ye wizna a laird or a minister or a gentleman at lairge. Yer mushles widna' a' been sae stoot.  
  198. Swatch n., v.1 suatch sent out to him. To send to her Highness a swatch of plaids as the manufactory peculiar only to the swatch as possible. For Joseph's coat he wore langsyne, Was only but a swatch o't. I rowed up aboot a score o' clippins in a cloot for swatches. I ken the stuff by the swatch. The Packmen disna peerier da swaatch, da mair risk wi da waelin. Ye'll mind an' bring a swatch o' yer wallpaper wi' ye. Naebody kens o' fat wab he's a swatch. Now I shall give a swatch of his Self-contradictions. I record this for a swatch of the hospitality of the parish. On this hand sits a chosen swatch, Wi screw'd up grace-proud faces. Gie me a swatch o' what's wrang. I ken'd a swatch o' sinfu' clay Wha halflins gap'd to curse the day That e'er his honest mither bore 'im. That's but a swatch o' the plaiks that they play. Thee evil hert is bit a swatch An' clippin' o' the Trow. As a swatch o' some o' the jobbies they socht him tae dee. She's had mony a swatch o' the Gospel frae honest Mr. James. Suppling his 
  199. Gowpenfu n.Who for a knife Or penny whissle, will part wi' their gold In gopinfu's. As long's there's a plack to the fore in the purse, or a gowpenfu' o' meal in the kist, ye'se aye be welcome to a share. An old Russian countess yesternight sat playing of gold pieces every stake. I tane up a gowpen-fu' o when finished a small lady took a gowpen full of their meal and put it into John's hands. I sighed . . . for a lang simmer's day to gather gowpenfu's of wild roses in the Pyet Holm. The fishwives . . . sold dulse at the rate of a half-penny a gowpenful. Yet a' the while his puir auld heart was far frae being tume, But held a gowpenfu' o' love for her his leddy dear. Something ti serr as an off-pit . . . a gowpeenfih berries or a penny gray rowe. Two gowpenfuls o sugar, four gowpens o flooer, ... is a cauld, mochy, jeelin, dowie wird - a wird fur weather, character, emotion: an yon's bit scartit the tap o't, fur there's a guid gowpenfu o the eldritch steered inno't anna. What's the tawpy gigglin' at; by my 
  200. Hauch v., n.Dr Skene . . . declares my leanness and hauching to proceed from a corrupt digestion. But a' this spat. A bit beef stack in's craig; but he seen it up. Wi' hoastin', spittin', an' wi' hauchin', He. Hach it up, man: hach it up: an' it'll clear yer throat. He hauds a hauchan about a' it he diz. A continual “hauch” has reduced me to skin and bone. Frae the gardy-chair, syne, wi' a hach an' a flyre, Auld fairnyers will soon be begun. Ilk friend and crony prin their mou, Or gies a cough or sober haugh, For fear o' lattin' out a laugh. That's him ahint the hedges hoastin' An' sic a hauchle o' a spit — His death we'll live to hear o't yet. Sandy gae a bit hauch, an' swallowed a spittal. “Hoo ar ye the day, Erchie?” “Ach, I'm no' that bad, but I hae an aafu hach.” Wracked with a hach and a hoast that put him off his work with pneumonia. Just gie the gless a hauch an a rub up.  
  201. Sowp n.1, v.1After ilk Tune he took a Sowp, And bann'd wi' birr the corky Cowp. They'll ablins a' their coup And swallow o'er a dainty soup. God bless your Honors, a' your days, Wi' sowps o' kail and brats o' claise. Aft they took an' ga'e him sowps o' whey. A sowp of brose, or a bit of bannock. I suld clash a sowp cauld water on you. Auld Donald Blue, a drover, frae Braemar . . . Could sneck a mutchkin like a sowp o' jeel. “Ha'e,” holding out the bottle, “tak' a sowp.” Come wi' me an' ye'll get a sowp milk. No' a single sowp o' a' thae reforms we've been waitin for. The sowpes ye took oot o' yer plate. Keep twa sowps gaun, . sup fast. But Deil a sowp could we get doon For Pussy's constant intervention. You are as white as a loan Soup. The sowpe their only hawkie does afford. Be wi' her neibours frank and free Wi' bites and soups. I like a sowp when it's for nocht. For sair's the fecht, an' hard the tae dwams, kan dae on poor fare An' gee a brave “sowp” on grazin' that's bare. [She] to her Closet 
  202. Chavie n.A chavie is like a geeser Tiger. I thought it was an east coast/Aberdeen type of saying. Not offensive in any way. Now, the Diary was never a "ned" but was addressed as a "chav" or "chavvie" as a had in common with Delhi and Ahmadabad was not only a Ruby Murray on a Saturday night, but a shared language. Kerr traced a lineage from the Khyber Pass to Leith Walk, through the gypsies who left northern India a thousand years ago, decamping five centuries later in East Lothian. "The old Nungate quarter of' slang, such as chavvi (a child), mortie (a girl), chore (to steal) and scran (food). Has she gotten a 
  203. Chickie-mellie n. comb. . The boys having procured a “pirn” of thread . . . proceeded to tie a nail or large button to a piece of thread 6 to 8 inches long, which they attached to part of a window frame with a pin. At the weighted end the rest of the pirn of thread was attached and from a “hidey hole” they pulled the nail or didn't rule out mischief, the 'Chickymelly' fitted that category. A wood screw, a length of string and a rubber washer from a lemonade bottle stopper, was arranged as depicted. With moistening, this contraption could be stuck to the hidden corner of a window pane. Running a hand over the knotted cord caused the screw-head to play a tattoo on the glass to the puzzlement and even alarm of the householder.  
  204. Sauchen adj., v.He caused dig a cave, with a saughen-bush covering the mouth of it. Just jog on at the sauchen tree, And mak' a riddle. As well yon bonny sauchen-shade Whare she first made his heart fu' glad. A strain frae Strachan Will mak a man o' stiffest stock As swack as saughen. When Spring ca's forth the sauchen buds. They brought him slow From the hills on a sauchen bier. Cornel whips and sauchen whistles! He would “let oot” a raip which one or other of the young men would twine with a sauchen-bow thraw-crook. But they had been in Boyndlie Den Where sauchen trees grow bonny! A sauchin slav'ry slype. But d'ye think a saughin block Can furnish out a decent stock O' poetrie? He was aye a sauchen, saurless breet. It needs an iron tenant to fecht wi' a sauchen laird.  
  205. Hantle n.And rattles out a hantla stories O' blood, and dirt, and ancient glories. He connach'd a hantle o' tobacco. Thae, an' a hantle scenes that I cou'd name, Sal ay mak mine to me a happy hame. They believed a hantle queer things in thae days, that naebody heeds since the lang sheep cam in. Ye've great reason to be thankfu' that ye get a dover in the , for hantels o' folk dinna get that. A hantel speak o people as he meant . . . “I ken the word now,” he cried, “it came to me a' at once; it is hantle!” There's a hantle o' folk pass by here at a' 'oors. Some folk's oo needs a hantle o creesh. Tho' no' very big, maybe twanty-twa pun', Ye certainly cover a hantle o' grun'. Ach weel, I've a hantle pitten by, Eneuch for John or his lad, and Catherine, The son brak out in lauchter: "There's a twa-three chiel at the inn Can mak a hantle o siller An'll show me hou it's duin!" ... the weans got thir licks frae the dominie for yasin the auld leid but it niver dee'd, though a hantle o fowk hae trockit thir tongue for a 
  206. Widow n., v.I have more widow wimen that hase tacks in my intrest then in severale perishes round me. She's a ceevil weedow woman. “Here's a poor widow from Babylon”. A girl acts the widow, and behind her are other a weedy wumman. Nancy keepit a weeda sister, Mrs Tamson, as a duty. A dream beuk 'at the weeda wife had hankered after lang. Aff tae a weedywife trachled wi' weans. . . . She's kamed his braw pow has the weedy lass Nance. To them she was just a widow-body. "That shaws on shae his mair honesty than thee. Shae'll be mairried, no doot?" "A weedow. Shae lost her man in the war. He wur itten be a master, J. F. a widou. The said John had called himself a widdow. Depriv'd by a feaver of the most indulgent. the best of mothers, who hath left my father a destress'd widow. David Owen, nurseryman at Renfrew, aged 60 years, a widow. Deacon Daigh's a widow too — better a bein baxter than a poor preacher. He was ninety year auld when he died, and lived a widow three score years and five. I [Samuel Tamson 
  207. Hotterel n.We got a perfect hotteril o' young rottans aneth the shaives. There'll be a hotterel o' folks in here afore the night's out. The bit gairdenie a hotrel o' weeds an' thristles an' dockens. ... a hale breenge o bawds, a fleerich o mappies, a kirn o creepie-crawlies an a hotterel o mowdies, tods, brocks an bantam chukkens. It's that frosty win's; ma han's is a sad hotterel o' cankert hacks, an 
  208. Shavie n.And so to fortune I must leave ye. I wish she play not you a shavie. But hurchin Cupid shot a shaft That play'd a dame a shavie. Kirk an' state are sisters twin, To work the land a shavie. Sorrow tak' her “bishop sleeve,” It played her sic a shavie. But ere lang she made a shavie Kicking up a 
  209. Shortsome adj., v.It's very shortsome. There's a hantle o' folk passing to the market. Maybe a sang To haud fowk shortsum roun' the ingle. A niver saw sic a short-some, cantie bit bodie. “The Toon” was a “shortshum plaicie, wi' a terrible haip o' fowk in't.” Life is shortsome for her these days. But therr's nae a mary mang them a' Can pu flowers to shortsome me. To shortsome the forenicht wi readin the papers.  
  210. Touther v., n. lang white tooder'd hair. Der draigled claes, an toodered hair. Whether you want a towther, or a kiss. A lump o' a barefitted lass wae her heid a' in a toother. Her gray hairs in towders hung doon. I haes da frock doon frae da nail, An aa itill a tooder. She's but a glaikit, weirdless towther.  
  211. Reel-rall adj., adv., n., v.Th'unmeanin, reel ral, backward page. T' the close, in Edinburgh yonder, ye are a' reel-raal through ither. Countless reera clatterin' jades. Scotch, Irish, Gaelic, a' reel-ral. Wi' its hooses reel-rall, keekin' oot at ilk turn. A reel-rall, through-ither performance. He wis a rael reel-rall chappie, wi' glesses an' a gold ring whan he wis dresst. I'll have none of your boom-boom singing here to put me all reel-rall. I'm terrible reel-rall — I mean, I'm whiles awfu' forgetfu'. A fel tumbled-doon, reel-rall cottage 'ee country. Five Anster sutors in a steir, Rush't reel-rall owr the street. Fouk were na' coupit in mosses reel-rall. An' the maist o' them's a' biggit reel-rall, here an' there. He stuck in the stobs a' reel-ral. Things the day are gaun a' reel-rall wi' me! I juist played the cairds reel-rall. Some people think a Militia would bring all parts of the Country equally forward but time. A' that I could catch was a confused reel-rall o' words. Deed it's a perfeck disgrace; jist a 
  212. Brammer n."Darkie's got a rare hatchet on", meaning that Darkie was in a bad temper, "yon Heinie's a wee bramar", which was the highest sort of compliment,... Anything excellent: 'Your new suit's a brammer Hallelujah Catching the javelin and heiderin the hammers Hallelujah That last goal wis a brammer. A wee brammer o a story. ... a very beautiful woman — elsewhere a 'stoater' — here could be a 'brammer'. A new car could be a 'brammer' etc. It wiz bright in the west — I thought we wir gonny get a brammer the day. [a warm sunny day] Names of companies now, ... Mr Finlayson comes out with what we in Glasgow know as a brammer. The firm PIFCO, founded in Manchester in 1900, is in fact the Provincial Incandescent Fittings Company. Lisa turning out to be gay was a brammer of a punchline, ... "Fiona Henderson cam oot wi a richt brammer whan she spake o the Forth Estuary. Whit kinna map did she confear wi tae come up I was saying 'what a diddy, look at all the sitters he has missed today' he bags two brammers. I'm 
  213. Beff n.2Thon's a big beff o' a butcher. He's a stoopit beff o' a cheel.  
  214. Tuint n., v.In a tuint, set up a tuint on, etc., a tuint o' a thing.  
  215. Slaik v., n. jist had the auld feather ba', an' ye canna blame folk for takin' advantage o' a ba' that wis pairfectly easy tae mak' an' that didna jist exactly turn intil a slaikit bap at the first drap o' rain. They lay, down there right on the shore where they were slaiked by every tide. Tae slake about a great man's kitchen, An, like a spaniel, lick his dishes. She was nae brood o' thievish cats, That rin and slake 'mang bowls and pats. A lazy slaikin beggar. John believ'd himself aboon, While he slaik't an an ran. Slaked and blacket a' owre wi' dirt. Their heids wus slakit up wi hair oil. To go with a pailful of sowens, and with a whitewashing brush sklaich the doors and windows of a dwelling house. It [hair]'s a' sklaikit ower wi grey an' marlt wi' fite like a spurgie. Sklacking sowens, i.e. sowens that were used like whitewash. This was a Hogmanay ploy. Slaik on mair paint. He believes in slaikin on the hair-oil. Yer hair's slaikit doun. I'll give you a gob slake. Frae my father monie a slaik she gat 
  216. Suddenty n.What was the Throng with the Council the Night, on such a Suddenty? It is not likely that he should have joined them on a suddenty. In a suddentie, on the firie-flaucht. The stately stag is gane. It was an awfu' whup — a sair straik a' of a ! It jist cam' upon's wi' sic an extraordinar suddenty. I forgathered on a great suddenty wi' Pate Glunch. She gaed aff a' in a suddenty. Upon a suddenty, and wi' the ae dreidfu' skelloch. She can be the missie on a suddenty. Remember her? Well, to be sure! One didn't keep a black besom under one's roof three years and forget her in such a suddenty as that. The puir sowls that the past week his brocht sorra tae wi' sic suddenty. On a suddenty throu yer heid In the flichter o an ee Rives a mental arra aimed bi Ane o yon nine queyns on Parnassus Wi naething better adee. O a suddenty, the back wheel o the tractor laired in the dubby sheugh aside the burn an furled roon, spirkin glaur in ilkie airt. Where the killing was only a Suddenty, and not 
  217. Cogglety-curry n. comb.A favourite source of amusement to an Ulster lad is a “cogglety-curry,” or “shuggy-shoo'” made by placing a plank across a barrel or log of a tree.  
  218. Dochle v., n.Saunders, in my opinion, is juist a haiverin' auld ass. He's a hoddel-dochlin', hungert-lookin' wisgan o' a cratur. A dull scholar would be called a sweir dochle.  
  219. Jilt n.1Tom, help the maid to a comfortable cup, though she's but a dirty jilt neither. She's but a lazy jilt. A wild gipsy jilt, a ward o' Auld Faa's!  
  220. Twaingie n.“I'll turn a wi ye yet” — a threat signifying “I'se forgether wi ye at a neuk or a , when ye leukna for it, to hae a mends of you.”  
  221. Snorl n., v.When a pirn of yarn in winding runs into disorder it is then in a snurl or a burrble. It's like a snorly hesp o' ravell'd thread. A' in a snorl, heels-o'er-gowdy. At last it [a “black unshapely” apparition] took the form of a great mass of smoke, curling round and flinging itself into “snorls”, and then it suddenly disappeared. Snirly and brittle was the yarn. If a clew were thrown out on the floor it would stretch out in a straight line without showing any snoods or snirls. Whin you get yon snurl in your broo. Ye'll hae't [ball of wool] cad a' in o' a snorl. Minnie's broos a kinda snirlie or traa'n. Twis a taigle o aspen an willow, a snorrel o nettle an ivy, a dubby, glaury hole the like o fit anely a till a bonny snorl. I ance had a man, an' I had but ane — I never fell into snorl again. If I got into a “snorl” as sometimes the Council must do. Whyles he'd screive an official letter wi the biro tae the tax fowk wha'd made sic a snorrel o his returns. When Northern Blasts the Ocean Snurl. John 
  222. Tousle v., n. hairst rig? A French sneckdrawer that haesnae the smeddum to gi'e her a toozlin'. Ilk lad and lass their glasses pass, And touzzle owre the nappy. After they had touzled out mony a leather poke-full o and keep them braw and clean, And toosle oot their bonnie tails. A Toosler is a player who eases a ball out of the rough if lying badly. Gie us a touslie gale or a plooter o' wat. An we bate hame the tooslin we got, a proper doin we got goin hame that day. A chield had taen a glass, and had A towzle wi' a gauger. They took to fechtin' an' were making a rather tough tuzle. Witches hae but ae dire grip, Tho' oor boys are fechtin' gran'. Aw wid like a bit toozle owre th' brod, an' see gin Aw cudna pit ye intull a corner faur ye cudna meve. Tho' I be baith blyth and canty I ne'er get a touzle at a'. Be brisk wi' her, lad; she can thole a touzle, I'se warrant. You'll not go up to get a touzle wi' the lasses then? A right hearty touzle he gave her.  
  223. Bluiter n.3, v.3 . A senseless talker, an outspoken, inconsiderate person, a cuif. “Oh, to the devil wi' ye!” said Wanton Wully, sweating with vexation. “Of all the senseless bells! A big, boss bluiter! I canna compel nor coax ye!” He's sic a bluiter o' a speaker I canna make him oot. John here blutred out a volume of indignant astonishment. To bluiter like a bogle aneth a six-foot wa'. To deave us wi' his bluitterin' guller. Jamie . . . at last bluitered oot — “I — I — I was up the water, sir, fellin' a deid 
  224. Dobbie n., adj.We a' ken you for sic a notorious daidlin kind of a dobie wi' the lasses. Whiles the doubie o' the school tak's lead o' a' the rest. Up dux and doon doobie. A fool or idiot. He's a country dobbie was a custom with every person in the South of Scotland when they yirded (hid) money, to commit it to the protection of a Dobie, or a Brownie, or any tutelar saint of the family.  
  225. Hareshard n., On's lip, I trow, A worrykow — A hair-shagh, urisum and grim! He had a lip, and consequently was a bad speaker. My wee name dochter had gotten a harshie lip. It was also believed that if a pregnant woman stepped over “a cutty's clap,” . . . her child . . . would have “the hare-shach,” or hare-lip. He's nae near a' yonner, to say naething o's hare-shard. Dyod, I hardly ken a wird that he says wi't.  
  226. Hyke v., n.1The gowk wud gowl, and goup, and gab, Wud hyke and hick, and habbernab. A nurse a child when she heykin't on her knee an singan tae't. An' a snail sall heeze its hornies oot An' hike them roun' an' roun' aboot Gin ye tell a lee. The moss . . . swalled up like a barm-scone, and first gae a hyke this way, syne a hyke that way, then a rift and a rair.  
  227. Knog n. standing full of Water with the Stings hanging by them. A of a chield. A of a stick. And muscles plenty in a noggie. These sids were used to make sowans. A sowan “knog” or barrel stood in every kitchen. Withoutten whawkie or a nog o' ale. A small wooden can — they called it a noggie (or noggin) — to eat my 
  228. Shock n.The mistress of Windy-Yett had taken “a terrible turn — a shock or something”. Haein teen a shock an' soocht awa in 'is sleep. Her mother had taken a shock which left her paralysed down one side, and Jenny could not be away from her for more than a few hours at a time. ' ... Just keep out of the pools!' And they both laughed. He'd been over in France himself - but he was a pig of a man! I think he took a shock and died, twelve years before my grandfather.  
  229. Bausy n., adj.Sic a bausy o' a wife's he's mairriet! She'll fill's oxter. That's a fell bausy dehm it he's gotten for a kitchie lass. A big bausy cat wiz sittin o' the aul wife's knee. There he [a stag] lay on 
  230. Carrywattle n.A Stroma man, a witness in a trial for breach of the peace . . .: “First 'er wiz a sma' tit-tat, 'en 'ey cam tae a curryshang, an' 'fore ye'd kiss'd yir ain — twice, 'ey wir a' in ae carrywattle on 
  231. Goldie n.A goldie's nest it might ha'e been, It was sae round and warm. And goldies may chirp and pick seeds on his graft. Linties an' goldies were fleein' a' aroond makin' the air cheery wi' their sangs. It's a fine bird a goldie if ye get a guid yin; it can whustle better nor a canary. That Goldie — weel, she micht hae learnt a tune If frae him [linnet] she had gat a trainin' sune. Waste ground with deep minnen ditch I weel ken. I'd pour out that hauf, Eddie. It's great how the prospect o a wee goldie fairly gies a man acceleration. Twigging that Dolan was less interested in his lighter than he was in tossing over a few more goldies, I volunteered to go. An affectionate term for a glass of whisky: 'Ah'm fur a wee goldie this time.' Well a half pint then. Or a wee yin? a goldie - eh? I'm the next time there is a hike in prices I want it to go to the barpersons who have been serving old topers like me for the past 30 years. Danny, do I get a free wee goldie for that? Order up a "wee Goldie 
  232. Rub v., n.For a wasshing ruber . . . 10d. A sweeping brush and two Rubbers. Carefully scrubbed with a , or hard brush made of the smaller twigs of heath. A' rowed up like a bundle o' heather rubbers. “A rub-doun” was the current expression at roadside inns north of the Forth for a glass of whisky. [A rider would make the need for rubbing down his horse the excuse for stopping for a drink.] Woe be to the cunnin weaver who tried to hide a blemish with “batter” or the “rubbing bane”. As . . . the rubbing and rubbin-tubs. A grain o' rubbin's, mebbie hartshorn, wi' suntin' idder intil hit ta rub wi'. I set me up i' da bed, an' rubbid oot o' mi een. . . . Shu wrang da eend o' a tooel oot o' da daffik o, Willie, here's a fine , Play straught, and like a king. They tore his garments at Forfar, and “rubbed” him, that is, hustled. Whatever happens to a Ball by accident must be reckoned a Rub of the green. The green has its bunkers, its hazards, and . Rub on the green. A term in golfing, denoting a 
  233. Byack n.Robbie wis a peerie byacksit objec. “A peerie ”: a small child, a puny calf, etc.  
  234. Drilch n., adj.A durg o' a bodie is a drilch person as unbendable as a paling stob.  
  235. Fetter-lock n. comb.A pair of branks, and a fetter lock. A Fetter-lock, a Trump of Steel.  
  236. Frothe n.1, v.A Froath-stick, a Can, a Creel, a Knock. Frothe the claes through het wattir.  
  237. Chug n.1, v.A wee broon spug Warselt wi' a doo Rivin' wi' a chug At a bit o' 'oo. 'Now there's a guy with an incredibly high sex drive.' 'Fuck off, he's just a chug-merchant. ...' Give a chug and ye'll pull loose the twa like a hen on a het girdle!” A goodly number of ponies were galloping up and down, and the 
  238. Clabbydhu n.'Will you be havin' a clappy doo wi' me, lassie?' he asked, indicating a driftwood fire on which sat a can filled to the brim with large mussels. O, the Clabbydhu, it loves the Trinch, The Crouban, the quay-neb. . . . But, Flory, I love thee! A "clabbydoo" is a coarse type of clam found on Loch aipples. Hauf-a-dizzen tattie scones. A jaur a clappy doos. 2 boatles a ginger. A punna mince.  
  239. Daimen adj.The Scotch . . . have something of a poetical way of displaying their affections, which they' jagged yellow whin. I once asked a fisherman if he had caught many trout in the Esk. He replied, “A daimen ane or twa.” A in a 'S a sma' request. Folk may tak' it easy by a demin' time, but they wud really need to shear some. In Dumfriesshire I once asked a farmer if he ever went to see a football match at Palmerston Park. “At a time,” said he.  
  240. Mutton n.Our meikle Pot that scads the Whey put on, A Mutton-bouk to boil. Porter, beef or mutton ham. The shackle-bane o' a mutton-ham. Ye'll get a slicy o' a dishy nicey, An' a sweety wiggy, an' a mutton ham. The kitchen ceiling darkened with a goodly array of mutton-hams. He rode past, bung full of brandy and good mutton ham. Ait-cakes an' mutton-kail. Eppie could hardly repress her wonderment that a ploughman of this unusual character should land at Endriggs. “Eh, Losh fie,” she cried, “sic a mutton's on a 
  241. Roost n.1, v.1An' frae the roost a rung she drew. Inby the kirk, twis as cauld's a crypt. A crammosie carpet ran frae yett tae altar, like a bluid-red bandage, richt up the steps tae the meenister's reest itsel, like a craw's nest. Throw down some mealocks for a sparrow's feast, Then take a steady aim across a get a true and stable “reest”, the eager competitor would lay himself along, and with all earnestness take a deliberate, and, if it might be, correct aim.  
  242. Soup n.1, v.1My doggie and my little kit That held my wee soup whey. A wee soup drink dis unco weel To had the heart aboon. The goodwife collected a soup out of every cog. To coup a gay soup o'er their hass. There's puir distressed whigs enow will be glad to do that for a bite and a soup. Naething louses the jaw like a soup drink. There was nae drink but a soup I' the boddom o' a tun. Try him wi' a soup o' brandy. I can gie her a soop o' watter noo an' again. Burns gi'ed him Hornbook's paregoric But a'e soup 
  243. Coorly adj.Jock o' the Geo waas a trowie coorly ting. , — claa me nail, I'm a man, but thoo're a snail. Kooerly, kooerly — kokk-a-pen, Gae a gift, an' sought again.  
  244. Design n.“Pickle” is also a small quantity — “Do you take sugar?” “Ay, a wad like a wee pickle,” or “a wee design” — also a small amount, as the case may be.  
  245. Forenick v.A. and B. both intend to purchase a horse. A. knowing B.'s design, takes the start of himself and concludes a bargain with the dealer. Thus A. has B.  
  246. Bittie n., adj.Only I wad sair like a bittie o' can'le. Noo' try that bittie first, and watch yersel'. There lives yont the water a bittie A restless and camstarie chiel. I juist edged alang a bittie. And he understood, for he walked on a wee bittie aheid. Bide here quiet a bittie. We're nae gyaun tae compleen get. I'm sair needin' . . . a bittie tobacco wi't. Maister Lumsden was allowed to have a bittie fish for his dinner. D'ye no' think it's time Kate had a wee bittie freedom frae the hoose? Whin Andro begood tae cower [recover] a bittie, he skrimed [saw dimly] Black Jock sittan' on de middle o' the fleur. Leukin' fyles at the reidenin' sin throwe the open windows, an' wussin' that he war doon an' the air a bittie callerer. I own Nellie is a bittie soft and feckless. He's a bittie scrimp wi the measure-joog. McTavish: That's perhaps overstating our claim just a bittie, but we have the capacity, I reckon, to give the rat population a scare, right enough. The'r a haill new wabsteid haes been writ frae an American 
  247. Hatter v., n.1This hatters and chatters My very soul wi' care. I've hattered a' my hand wi' the saw. He wid be' thae by-hoors. . . . He got a sair hatterin' wi' a' thae fashes. Wi water fae da Urdar Fountain, De fashiousness an hael ma hattert sowl. To gather, to collect in crowds; as, “to in the eaves” of a house. A Muir hattering thick wi quarries. Washes; hatters; early, late, Puir, weary, wasted Megsie! A heh thae thochts ti faa back on . . . whan A hatter on, maist deeved an daivert an donnert wui the pit suntin in his [pig's] nose. . . . Hit'll hatter him. , a hank of yarn that is entangled or disordered. “A of stanes,” a heap of stones; “a of berries,” a large cluster or great quantity crowded together, a confused heap. Into a most spacious hall, and amang a perfect hatter of unkent faces. An' though o' Southerns I've a hatter O' fame possessed, The chiels that deal in Doric clatter Aye please me]. The latter they scornfully designated “a hatter o' nonsense.” Whatna hatery hae we here? Sic a 
  248. Lippie n.1 horse that came here to preach during our vacancie, £2. Their Subsistance costs, at a Fourpeth or Lippie of Meal Day, which commonly is these Peoples Allowance. For a lippy of salt … 1½d. I had a leepy of groaten meal wrapt up in a Nepkin in my pocket. A libby o' groats an' a furlat o' meal. Lay four dozen of cucumbers, and one half lippie of beans. The maid-servants have also a sum of money, some ells of harn, also fine linen, an apron and a lippie of lintseed sown on the farm. These are termed their bountith. A cog that hauds a lippie. A peck or two from this one, a leppie from the next one, a hathish-cogful from the next one. The lippy measure — which is the fourth part of a peck allowance will weigh even more than this. A faur-seein chiel, wha kent hoo mony lippies gae to the peck. He pat near a hale lippiefu' o' corn in tull's seck. Some smaller communities, especially in the East of Scotland, where you may still be served with a “lippie” of flour or potatoes. ...The general 
  249. Amitan n. , . . . in Caith. a “gapus” . . . an empty-headed fellow. An ye'r no a hair better nor him, ya muckle ill-faur't aumitant! “A lamentable amiton,” and “A deplorable Gow,” are synonymous terms, meaning one addicted to merry-andrewing. , a person wi' but a sma' share o' common sense. . A fool or mad 
  250. Crab n., v.John Dick . . . after all was a man, though a crab-grained and ill-conditioned one. Crab without a cause, and mease without amends. A couldn't thole bein' crabbed at, when A didn't do nothin' ondaicent. You tirred the kirks, and crabbit God. The man who never kicks a ball, Nor figures in a punchin' bout 
  251. Misbehaden ppl. adj.The first side that lifts a sword, or says a misbehadden word. “Misbehadden geit”, a child that is very ill-trained. She never said a misbehaden word to Jamie. In all that time I've never heard him speak a misbehadden word. Der no a misbehadden yackle in her mooth. I ne'er mowban'd a misbehauden 
  252. Slotch v., n.Coming slowly slodging o' the lea. A hallanshaker slochin' chield, That wants for neither bite or bield. Twa billies on the hunt for wark, Gaed sloatchin up a ferm-toon road. A dandy was he ance and gay, A drucken lazy slotch the day. You great thowless slotch, wake up, man. He's a slotch! he's a slotch! He wad slouter up a'.  
  253. Aiver n.1An inch of a nag is worth a span of an aver. — A little man, if smart and stout, is much preferable twenty yards without peghing like a miller's aiver. Gilbert has . . . only an auld jaded aver to ride. Whaislin' like a fooner't aiver. In Spring I plow my inlan' fields Wi' weel fed Aivers. Aft a ragged Cowte's been known To mak a noble Aiver. [Burns's own gloss is “old horse.”] , a stupid person. . Now used only as a term of contempt. “A queer aiver.” “Sic a droll aiver.”  
  254. Drow n.2The lady confessed in my hearing, that a drow of anxiety had come ower her for her son that she had left at hame weak of a decay. He made oot to win free o' the meetin' by feingyin' a drow. Twas musin' further thus, belyve, he fell into a drowe. A drowie thing I used to be, An' meikle toil ye've haen wi' me. The change o' air and scene will set you up, from just a bit drow and fever that has overcome you. She looks like a maid In a drow or a dream. There was a Drow of Anxiety overwhelmed her about him. The puir callant 's fa'en into a drow, an' I'm feared he's gaun to dee.  
  255. Jellie adj.I had na pu'd a flowr but ane, Till by there came a jelly hind greeme. By chance came in a jelly, a dainty jealy man. An aunt o' the bride's was there to welcome the fowk: a richt jellie wife in a close mutch, but unco braid spoken. A bonny pair ye are — the jeely man, for Aeneas! — keepin' me in the dark about the cairry-ons wi' silly glaikit lassies! A jelly Sum to carry on A Fishery's design'd. To the west, thy gelly mouth [a door] Stood wide to a'. And jellily dance the damsels, Blythe 
  256. Wilsome adj.Hamewith thro' many a wilsome height and how. He blew, till a' the wullsome waste Rebellowin' echoed round. So they rade over hills and dales, Through mony a wilsome way. Wulsome muirs and roads usual use in Banffshire is, causing to go astray, — often applied to a dark hazy night, as, “It's a wilsome kin' o' a nicht;” or to a road, as, “I maist 'a never got here, the rod's sae wilsome.” A wullsome wyde, fu' sair tae byde, Throwe gullie-wullie moss. A man apon a wilsome hill. Breathless and 
  257. Wowff n., v., adv.Ilka collie play'd wouf, An' barked sair. — a silent cur, Without a wouff, a wow, a wurr. Hark! is nae that Collie's wowff? M'Drisner, neist, put in his wird An' made things waur, till sic a wouff. Currs began to wouff an' bark. A witty wench, a woughing dog, a waukit-woo'd wedder. I had a wee dog and he wouched at the moon. The gowk wowfs to the echoing woods. A hard the wouffan o' a dog 
  258. Pair n.Why then give me such advice? Why ask me? That wasn't very nice. A perra loonies! Gie's yer haun's, you twa. Go ahead, son. But ah'm an expert. Never burnt a per a troosers yet. ... aa he had oan unnir his lang blek coat wus a whyte t-shirt, a perr o jeans, an mawkit gutties oan his feet. "You'd look a doll in a mair casual gear, like. F'r instance, perra cords and a Grandpa nightshirt..." Pairless I stray by mysel'. “What!” he furiously interjected, “eight hundred pounds for a muckle fowre tether.” “An ill-gyaun pair” sums up a matrimonial misfit. 'Er man dee't, an' leeft 'er wi' a pair-placie an' a loonie only sax munth aul. I cuttit ma first hairst fin aw wis seyventeen on a sax-pair. “I've gotten the first pair” (at such-and-such a farm) is the same thing as saying “I've got the coming of tractor cultivation, the usual colloquial way of indicating the size of a farm in north-east-pair, three-pair, etc., places. The first farm I lived at was what was known as a "Two Pair and an 
  259. Spail n., v. Speals. Any persons, who have a mind to purchase, may look at the timber which is marked with a spail taken off. [He] ca's awa the lies as fast as a plain di's spales aff a deal. He made a fire of the oken speals, An warmed his lady wee. The first o' them a' tae be opened Was the spale kirk o' Monzie. Hew abune your heid, an' ye'll get a spale in your ee. He was gaun hame to auld Spellie to learn to be a vricht. She used to make a livelihood by selling speals and shavings. The reins or ‘bools there already, when Hurricane Jack gat back to the ship and excitedly demanded a large spale basket. 20 Dozen Wire and Spale Potato Baskets. To climp on the tarry ropes, and having nothing but a bit of a spale-boord between him an' etarnity. There wis a mannie made o' spell-boord jist like a Heelander. Another Speal Box containing a fine head suit of french Silk, a pair of Ruffels of the same. A Spale box containing 10 wine glasses. Has the dowg swallowed the spale-box o' pills? A pair of waxen babes of the 
  260. Blaud n.1A heavy fall of rain is called “a blad of weet.” Atween the big blads o' rain an' ither henders we got, it was a dreich hairst till's. It scougs . . . Frae the blaud o' the wind an' the scud o' the shower. A great or sudden blast of wind is also called a . A hungry tyke ne'er minds a blaud with a rough bane. , to give him a slap or blow. Ye've mair to fear frae it, my lads, Than ony faemen's dirks or blads. Whar he fell wi' a blawd on the bredth o' his back. Wha gied them mony a donsy blaad. Thou wanton witless weaver lad, That fell'd my chuckie wi' a blad. Nane o' yer blauds o' wind an 
  261. Hurl v.2, n.2A deep hole in a burn, into which the water falls, would be called a hurlan hole. Sometimes a hurlan i' de kjist, . . . An' his bad kjettleen i' de t'rot. The thunder roars, an' nae a breath between, Hurle upon hurle, an' just aboon their head. A heard the hurl o' the trees gain' oot our the rocks in o' the river. A heard the hurl o' the cairtie comin' in the rod. Instead of a cold on the chest, we had “a hurl at the breesht.” She thought her mother was taking pneumonia — she “grew in the chest. Maist o' them seems t'hae a hurl in their throats. O, boy, yon's just a lok a hurl at du's spekkin.  
  262. Sober adj., a “sober bodie” whom either of them could have put hors de combat by a single blow of his fist. Oor industry to afford a maintenance, very sober indeed, to his family. A sober servant, a very indifferent one. If only half a peck of potatoes is given each night, (and this is a sober feed to a working horse). A simmer's evenin' glory fa's Upon his hamestead's sober wa's. Thin sowens bodet sober health, an' a sober crap. Some gey sober crappies o' neeps. Hoo's the gudewife? a' doot she's sober. A 
  263. Black-a-viced adj.You'll see an ill-faured, pock-marked, black-a-viced hizzie in the front laft. “Where Mrs Bodkin,” inquired a lang black-a-viced man. Grey daylicht: blench progeny of lemon-coloured Helios and wintrous, black-avizit Nicht. A wee, stumpy, blackaviced chap as dour as a whunstane. A blackavised, pockyawr'd, knock-kneed, potatoe-bogle o' a dominie. . Dark-complexioned. The black-a-vicedness remained, it is 
  264. Ron v.Ronin the Bee, a rude game; a cazzie is unexpectedly thrown over the head of a person; the victim thoroughly saturated. You'll hae a day roinin da nest. Fleein' troo my head laek a plivver aboot a roan'd nest. “To roan a bee's nest” — to take away the honey; “To roan a bird's nest” — to take the eggs or 
  265. Scribe n.1, v.There was not any of them had a scrib of a Pen against the Union till it was concluded. Jeems Carlyle never wrote a scribe o' print, or hand-write either. We'r no hed a skribe frae Johni sin afore Yul. A writer scribing about Jeffery as if it was a living thing. The very line his own romantic self was scribing. Scribe me a line (private-like). There's never a post frae Embro but brings me 
  266. Aber Knot n.A mystical knot; a knot on a wrestin treed [weaving thread]. A proper wrestin treed is made in three strands with three knots on each strand. Such a thread applied to a sprain, while the prescribed 
  267. Bagrel n.“He's a body,” . one who although puny is very plump. There were several kinds of small fish in fattening — a pig! baiting a hook for a bagrel! — a stickleback! — a perch!  
  268. Hemlin n.A helmin before and one behind on the left lug, a hole in the right and a bit before, and a skirt in the right nose. Robt. Balantine, Gossaquoy, crop on right lug, a bit behint on right lug and a 
  269. Keessar n.Though he saw the muckle keicer o' a wife comin' alang he never jee't 's ginger. “A muckle strong keessar”: used of a young person, gen. a girl, who is big and strong. Did ye ever see sic a keessar o' a 
  270. Rouchle v.Toss'd and rouchled like a shougie-shoo. E'en as a ship withoot a hellim is rouchled be the waves. Donal's a dacent lad, but he's a wee ower fond o' roochlin the lasses. Ye should jeest roochle it roon. Oh, gie the lassie a wee bit roochle.  
  271. Misdimable adj.It was a gay bit misdimable house wi' a but and a ben an' a fireside.  
  272. Bilget n.2 , in house-work, a wood brick; in ship-work, a little piece of wood applied as a bed or cushion for a bigger piece to rest on. In old times all the eating utensils were of wood, before the era of be placed on a table they had a small slip of wood, called a “bilgid,” nailed on the bottom on each side so as to prevent them rolling off the table. . A piece of wood built into walls at doors on which to nail the door-standards, or posts to which the doors are hinged. . A projection for the support of a shelf, or anything else. † . A block of wood projecting from a wall to support a shelf.  
  273. A prep.2They hae ta'en Yule before it comes, and are gaun a-guisarding. An' the wintry win's asouchin' an set my very teeth a-dirlin'. An' the wee lark keeps a singin' far abune the wintry gale. Peggy tuk haud o' the tangs, an' begood a biggin up the peats roon a pot that wuz on the fire. To-morrow, all day, papers will be a-reading. Her braw bridal dress is a-makin'. I'd better been a yont side Kairn-amount. It's necessary to kill heaps o' yearocks, or the haill kintra wad be a-cackle frae John o moorit hog it doo slachtered a Foersday? But he . . . carried the poor infant away in a credill a horseback. The waeter's no been on the feier abuin a meenit, so it canna be a-heat yet.  
  274. Bung v.1, n.1, adv.Like a light bung in a gutter. Weel, man, there's nae muckle fun watchin' a puckle chiels, tirred half-nyaukit, bungin' the hemmer. Sir William Wallace ups wi' a stane like a houseside and bungs 't my entry. Weren't worth bunging a chuckie at. Y'ive 'im at ye. Ye're nae bunged wi's are ye? If ye dinna lat wi her [gie in till 'er] she'll bung an' rin awa hame. He gies me a bung apo da back. He gae me a bung on the lug. She cam into the hoose wee a . Syne awa' he gaed full bung a' o' a). But aw doot Dawvid's gotten's nain leg drawn a wee bittie. . . . He's hame nae time syne in a terrible bung. , a low phrase, synon. with . “He's ta'en the bung,” Bella says. He slammed the door An' oot 
  275. Eetch n.Calvin's sons speech is Jove's sons eetch, Wisdom to teach and prune each beech. Let me hae a whample at him wi' mine eatche — that's a'. He wis a boat's-bigger till his trade, an' ae nicht he wis gaein' hame frae his wark wi' his fit eitch apon his shouder. He can handle an etch or a hammer, A chisel, a plane, or a saw. Aeneas, my lad, take you the eitch and work it like a wright if feet come down that ladder. It wid gie ye a bit o' a begeck, but nae sae ull as ta fin' a lad ahin' yer cheer wi' a new eetch in's han'. The ground was well broken up with eatches, which were like big hoes, and cultivator was the eatch, which was made in the style of a hoe, but much heavier, and with a deeper blade. It 
  276. Gruse v., n.I declare this story [of a murder] makes me growze whenever I think of it. I'm beverin and growzin wi' terror and cauld, But I'm doubtish I soon will be hetter. Preserve us, Dundauvie; ye gar a body growze. Aft wi' thuds, hae gart me growse, Thou [night wind] hast shook me frae a drowse. An auld man sat ayont the fire A' grewsin' wi' the cauld. He . . . made a hasty retreat, felt sick, or “a' groosin',” as he called it. A chill, a gruzin'; nothing more. It will pass. Nor if she [a woman recovering from childbirth] take a “grewsin” must she touch her mammae, or a “beelin' briest” will be her sure reward. 25 Aug.: I own one felt a little gruse at a pass called Shanes Inn . . . where they cut alternately. When he got up in the afternoon he was in a “gruize.” When I had gotten ower lookin' at the 
  277. Likely adj., adv., n., v.She's weel-bred an' likely-like. A likely lass she was then, and looked ower her southland nose at us a'. For laekliness, diel bit der better is ony lassies. Thon young doctor's a rale leikely-leike. I'll likely hurt your tender feeling by a time. Lickly Maister Gibb 'll be lea'in' 't an' biggin' a bit cottage till himsel' aboot the Broch. “Oh, fat else! A funeral lekly” with artful carelessness. “Likely he winny care,” retorted the boy. - Maybe I wis just vyndless wi a saa. Joannie wid a smiled if he could a seen me. Mair laekly, da saa wis blunt. Whan wid he a been sharpened last? She never minds her, but tells on her tale Right bauld an' bardoch, likely like an' hail. A very pretty young fellow, and who spils good likly if he be not. In a' likely, I my jo maun tyn. A wid 'a 
  278. Nairra adj. and narra. The mither lat flee her Bible Straucht at his narra face: "An wad ye be a riever And bring us this damned disgrace?" I've seen prood men come steppin ben This kirkyaird, swankin saucy. A nerra staa awytes them aa: A “narrow-nebbit”, or a “nippit”, teetotaler is a common expression. Ther is much talk of a man . . . who hath left ten thousand pounds to a Hospitall at Aberdeen. He was exceeding narrou, they say, and hard to his relations. His Grandfather was a very narrow man, and therefore presumed not to have squandered away the Effects of his Grandchild. He was a narrow ailing man, and his a penny ribbon. He was near, though, i' the money way. A ceevil en'uch man, but nairey, nairey. She's a dacent cratur', but a wee thing narrow! A wheen puir, silly, contrackit, narrow-begaun, cadgin 
  279. Smatter v., n.There's aftentimes a gey bit smatterin' o' fun an' galleer gangs on at a richt furth-the-gate country roup. The pane he smattered wi' a pelt. He got a gey knottie o' siller at's grannie's death, bit he smathirt it a' 'wa in a year or twa. Jem Tamson the smith was a throuither chield, A smatterin. Hei broke it inti smatters. Ye'll fley a' thae young smatter. A great smaitherie o callans. A smatter o' wee rush or broom-theekit stacks o' grain. The market wiz naething but a mere smathir. To coop him up at home among the smatterie of youngsters. Maybe he had left at hame a smatter o' wee duddie weans. Sic a smatter o' geets! They keep an unco smathir at thir work. I care not the signor's 
  280. Tousie adj., v.His breast was white, his towzie back Weel clad wi' coat o' glossy black. Tho' Andrew he's a tousy blade His head, tho' seldom it be red. The towzy Turnbulls, and the red-wudd Ridderfords. A bald head and a toosie grey beard. His hair in towzie ringlets tossed. Towsy goats amang the rocks. An there, ma wee bit toussie. And so, in a strange, yet real, way, she had come to love the lonely lumbering giant from the forest, much as in another age or in another country, a ten year old girl with freckles and a tousy wee head might give her love to a pony, a cat, or an elephant, and think all the toozy-lookin' drab? A tousie-tailed collie. Rab Broon was a porter, a tousy-faced tyke. A lassie towsie-heided, A laddie wi' bare feet. Clipping a the toozy bits Aff drunken Davie's sark. Hersel' and her hoose alike toozie. Tousily awaking from a reverie. Neatly trimmed fences look well on a farm, yet they would be better liked by the cows if left a trifle “tousy.” I played aboot its aye-open door 
  281. Clocher n., v.1! He'll need it a' to staun' her clocher. There's a sair clocher wi' ye. Ye'll just be plagued again wi' yon clocher o' a host. Stagger up the gangway with “mony a cough an' clocher.” Ye may gang to their kirk the haill year round without hearing either a clocher or a hoast. She had had a brash, and still had a clougher and was doncey. If hid wisna ‘at A wis clocherin' wi' 'e cauld A wid gien til 'e Reay seed; Syne, clocherin wi a craichly hoast, He dwine't awaa, an dee'd. "A lady, describing an irritating cough, said she had a 'nesty tickly clocherin' hoast' and after a sleepless night said she had 'rowled an' tum'led an' better tum'led'." I hechle, an' clocher, an' toyt but an' ben, Like a puir 
  282. Jupe n.1For a jup to a child . . . 12s. Take aff, take aff his costly jupe. I put on my gray duffle sitting jupe. Hee hedd on a grey Joopee nevvir bun i da watter. His jupe sleev't coat o' curious mak. With regard to dress in last century, the peasant, when a boy, wore only one woollen garment fitting close, having sleeves, and covering the body from neck to knees, it was called a jupe. He wiz sittan shewan a joop anunder hit. His mither hed stappid a lock o' papers . . . i' the tail pooch o' his muckle jupsie cot. Stoln and Robed out of Widow Allan's in Gogartoun . . . a Joop of Indian Caligo and a Froge for a Child. A short gown fitted closely to the bust or upper part of the body and commonly called a the family. Where gat ye that joup o' the lily scheen? A white quilted bed-gown or jupe; it was gaucy, and came over the hurdies. A loose jacket, called a “jupp”, made of printed cotton.  
  283. Swee v.1, n. da lum a heavy drap Ita da fire fell sweein. Lat's get dis swee'd head an' feet [of a sheep] oot o' da rod. . . . To clean da gless o' da lamp wi' a bit o' auld cloot apo' da end o' da sweein irn. I wis tryin' ta swee on a heel hole apon a spade heft. “I wis do may swee fur dat” . . . a very Dat 'e wad swee for id. We'd got some mackerel from a boat and thought we'd swee dem ower da fire. Rinnin doon apo ma bak wi a sweein an a yuke itt wiz undumas. He gae his heed a muckle rug, That left him wi a sweean' lug. A sweein id da ruif o' her mooth. Hailie-shooers or sweein sleet. A reed co'l anunder his right knee Set ap sic' a mester fiend o' a swee. Da swee o' nettle stings.  
  284. Callan n.2She said, that was a man when she was a , (provincially, in Galloway, a very young girl). In Wigtonshire and the Isle of Man it [ ] means a girl; everywhere else a boy.  
  285. Yoofer n. Yuffers an' a Sastick. A eufer, a hatch, or a plank in a geo.  
  286. Bap n.) Flour, salt, lard, yeast, sugar, milk, water. Shu wappit twartree flooer baps apo da butt table wi' a hjimsness [quick impatient movement] 'at wis aneugh to gee a body da herskit. Sonsy cheeks like hairvest baps . . . Has Muckle Kate o' Catterthun. A bottle o' sma' ale an' a bawbee bap. . . . thick cake a bottle o' ale and a wi' this last sixpence. “A penny bun” becomes “a panny bun,” or more properly “a panny bap.” That's a lesson for you, you bap-faced bitch. The term "bap-feet" is applied to one who being rather flat-footed, walks with a possessive gait. John Major's never lashed oot at naebody. He couldna knock the stew aff a bap. 'However, as God would have it, I soon found out that he was one o' they big soft craturs that couldnae knock the flour off a bap. Was I no' glad. ... ' , sometimes applied as a term of contempt to a stupid person. "It wisnae a bomb, ye bap-heid! He wis kiddin 
  287. Palaver n., v. a grasp o' his haun an' the Mason's grip, thereby recognising me as a brither withoot ony mair palaver. The awfa palaver he hauds aboot onything — he's jist a rale pooshen! When Ah dribble, Ah dribble ontae ma tie an' ma vest, an' inside ma collar's the only place for the thing [a table napkin]. Ach, it's nothin' but a palaver onywey. A niver saw sic a palaiver o' a cheel. She's a fair palaver o' a woman an' never weary bummin' aboot her stootness o' body, an' her want o' breath. He palaivert up an' doon amo' the fouck. He had a lot o' palaiverin', first upo' ae knee an' syne upo' the ither. A giant o' a man like you to cawper an' palawver like a fule at a fair! Sang, ay, he wis a 
  288. Stank n.1, v.1 which their love of provant leads them. The creature took across a mire, a perfect stank. The guides led on through moors and stanks. By sedgy pools and reedy stanks. Considering using for a football field the ground known as “The Stanks.” A naisty yowm comin' aff 'e stanks o' the Moss o' Lenabo. Once upon a time, within a half mile square of my house, I could have watched dragonflies, in a score of places, for every worked-out quarry pond and stanky produced them in some abundance. A bird called a stank hen. It is a water fowl, less than a duck. The loch famed for powheads an' stanks. The eggs of the “stankie hen.” Where wild ducks and stankies found a quiet resting-place. There is 3 plum imps stank. He let them taste. They lap the stanks wi' nimble sten. To effect a more complete drainage of Millgate, A wee besooth the stankie. There were meadow at each side of the street. It is then that I sit down at a stank-side with poor Lord Brodie. A' the stankbanks an' dykesides had tae be shorn an 
  289. Anie n.It's a sheepie an' fat a wee eenie. . A little one . . . a diminutive from S[c]. , one.  
  290. Rookit adj.Foo mony hoggies hiv ye the day? A black and a brookit, a reid and a rookit.  
  291. Rumballiach adj.A rambaleugh day. . . . She has a rambaleugh temper. . . . A rumballiach wife. Sic a rambaleugh 
  292. Aff- prefix2 remove the furniture from a peat-pony. , to take off the pack of a pack-horse. , to take the bends off a horse. , to take harness (of any kind) off a horse; also, to take a horse from a cart. , distasteful, of a repulsive appearance. , having a forbidding appearance, having a threatening aspect. He was an affkom o' stock fae Ayrshire. He has a great af-lay. Yon chap o yours is no a grit haand at prolixity. “Affrug of the sea” — a spent wave receding from the shore. Afrog. , the reflux of a wave after it has struck the shore. A cross-tide that occurs off a headland. The current which carries past a headland and does not follow the coast. , rebound of a wave. Da affskod cairried 'im oot 
  293. Deaffy adj.A voice gives forth a daiffy sound. A “bool” that “wudna stot” was described as a “daiffy bool,” or simply “a daiffy” — That ane's a daiffy. [Also form .] They deefied me. Hou lang dae we Scots speakers hae tae dree a Scotland Office an Scottish executive that sees tae the wants of juist ane o Scotland's twa hamelt leids and keeps on turnin a deefie tae the ither? From a young age, they learn to "sling a deafie" as a way of cutting out parental instructions. They have a remarkable ability to develop skills to an art form. There is hardly a parent anywhere who hasn't bemoaned the fact that their teenager guidebooks released in Deutschland this week warn visiting lederhosen-clad tourists to sling a deafie at our: 'Aye, ye slung us a deefie the other night but Ah seen who was wi ye.' I can do a deefy to those who turn up once a year simply to tell me that there is another wean on the way and they don't bother 
  294. Pattle n., v.Meantime a Ploughman, with a Pattle, Engag'd the Captain close in battle. A huddrin hynd came wi' his pattle, As he'd been at the pleugh. With the pattle (a piece of furniture belonging to the plough) he gave him a violent blow on the head. The devil pay them with a pettle, That slight the North. I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle! If he liked a book ill, he liked a plough or a pattle worse. Ilka heuk, and auld pleugh pettle, They've gather'd up the country round. Plooin a ploo the pattle. Nae the vera pattle shafts but wus broken, an' the harness grey an' green for want o' cleanin'. The ploughman . . . using a pattle-tree to clear away clods, or hasten the pace of his refractory team. There was a pattel tree stuck into a hole in the block, which served either as spaek, bit like a deuk Lay quarran, pattlan like a fleuk That pattles i a ebbed pow. To patl or sit patlin i' de aess. A peerie bit o'bairn. To patl ut de nokki.  
  295. Blaw n.1 nor'-east. That means a bla' doon your lum, I'm thinkin'. We micht just sit down here an' tak' a bit blaw. Ah'll huv a blaw afore ah dae onythin else. Syne our her weakest shouder, She wechts the corn the gravestones discussing the parish ferlies, taking a bit blaw o' a smoke. And every noo and again takin' a blaa o' a short, black cutty pipe, which she keepit at the back o' the hud [fireplace]. . A pull, a draught; a cant term, used among topers. Then come and gies the tither blaw Of reaming ale. Come some forenight when ye're slack, An' gie's your jaw; Though my auld purse should get a rack, Thou's hae a blaw. Jeust a lock o' hypocrisy an' blaw. His sisters, wi' a bit o' blaw, waur never far ahin, Bit their brither a lieutenant! — they waur nae tae haud nor bin! I aye hae mind . . . O' hearin' young Rab Royston frae Dunsyre, Uphaud a new-boucht ploo wi' unco blaw. , one who boasts; one who tells fibs out of vanity. Also . E's a great blaa - bit e niver dis onything. He's an awfie blaw 
  296. Doonsit n.He ga's sin a gueede doon-sit, fin he pat 'im in o' that fairm. Ou, aw dinna misdoot that; an' he'll get a braw doon-sit at Gushetneuk. Glenfierroch will be a fine down-sitting for our sister's daughter. She has got a good down-sittin', and a kind man. Gear's no everything; many's the lass I saa that got a gran' doonsittin an' had a gey sair hert efterhin. Marry the heiress: Howeboddom is a warm being a considerable tyme to the dounsitting of the Parliament. It's a very fallawshus prenciple in fat they ca' poleetical-economy to encourage the doonsittin' o' the like o' them in a place. He bequeathed drinking one bottle of port at what he calls a down-sitting. I gat the humle-cow . . . for ten pund Scots, and they drank out the price at ae downsitting. Could polish off a terrible lot o' provender at a doonsittin'. It's ower sarious a maitter to be settled aff-hand, at ae doun-sittin. She'll whip me aff her five stimparts o' the best aits at a down-sittin. That's e'en a dowie ditty. Hech, but it maks the 
  297. Whillywha v., n., adj.He canna whilliwhaw me as he's dune mony a ane. Nane o' your whullywhaing, Mr Bindloose. Cauldwell been at him wi' his whilly-whaain' lees. Whether selling out of the pack, or whilly-wain a nicht's shelter and a cog o' brose. The fower lads stared at ither, an' tried to whilly-wha him to be quiet. A generation that canna read the signs o' the times, but is as easy whillie-wha'd as a wheen silly bairns. Two young things whilly-whawing in ilk other's ears. Alas he's gane and left it a'! May-guts to your Sea-maws. The lisp's sae bairnly; but you soon begin to suspec a whilly-wha. Ye're a whillie whaw — ye speak awfu' fair and look awfu' pleasant. Challenged to a duel by some whilly-wha o' an Englisher. Blawing in a woman's lug wi' a' your whilly-wha's. This is nae whilly-wha o' a love letter. Hut! none of your whillywhas! A wumman that's owre muckle ta'en up i' the noo wi' the whillywhaes o' a French sneckdrawer. Nae mair whilly whas, lads; but get ready. The grainin an' the gruntin kind 
  298. Rove v.2The scholars were quite comfortable in front of a good “rovin'” fire. Ither lads an' lasses sittin' roond a rovin' fire. I was ushered into a fine sitting room, taken close up to a “rover” of a fire. He put on a roving peat fire and closed the door.  
  299. Smyte n.A smytrie o' wee, duddie weans. Out cam sic a smytrie o' wee white dogs. An, as for flaes, we kill'd a' that we catch'd — Tho' troth to speak a smytrie got awa. Hen'erson's fowk hiv a leeterty o' smytery o' craiters. A lot o' smytrie amon' the tatties.  
  300. Clyte n.2, v.1, adv.That man kens naething about managing a horse. He'll get anither clyty afore he taks hame the beast. He would get a deil o' a clyte amon' the stanes below. Gin ye hid gotten the clyte I did ye wid 'a' kent a' aboot it. It was at the very moment o' his greatest confidence that he got the sairest clyte. There's nae saying how soon we may be laired a' thegither in frost and snaw for ever. . . . Hech man, and that will be a cauld clyte to the feck o' us. She'll come a clite on her head one of these days. ; nae rants nor rows, Nae clyte o' cogs or churns; In lanely maijesty I'm aff To mak' a speech on Burns' a crash into every area. But aft wi' pride their heads grow licht, An' doon they clyte again. “I couldna find words,” said a Glasgow bailie, “and so I .” A' clytet doon in a heap — fair deen oot. I, My brain in a fever wi' fyke, Fell clyte in a chair like a bauchle, An' growl'd at a' roun' like a tyke. The twa gaed clyte doon on a seat at the side o' the noo hauf-on Tougal. He got as far as the 
  301. Hoddle v., n.1Thy haff shut een and hodling air, Are a' my passion's fewel. “Ye shall hae that for a tune of the hoddlin' on auld ponies. Joost a hirplin, hoddlin, hamely woman. To hoddle on wi' kellach creels. Ye vain coquettes wha flirt aboot, And scarce for pride can hoddle. Hoolie wi' yer hoadlin' awee. He's a hoddel-dochlin', hungert-lookin' wisgan o' a cratur. There sits . . . sniveling Kate wi' her hodle hand is called the . . . the . . . takes a ball of the dough, forms it into a small cake, and then casts it on the bake-board of the , who beats it out a little thinner. Syne round her a' her servants made to hoddle, An' paid them a' their wages to a boddle. The streets were rale thrang on that nicht, I mind, men an' women a' hoddlin like a bee-byke. The ne'er an honest man wad a hoddl'd sae lang on a ae poor hussie an' then gane awa an a married anither for love of a pickle auld clouts. I ne'er my till I came to Barr's Brae. Ye may hain your hoddle. Ta'en ane anithers word, a kiss, and a 
  302. Jundie n., v.If a man's gaun down the brae ilk ane gie's him a jundie. Tho' on your back ye should them bear, An' setting down gi' them a junday. A staff supports his tott'rin frame, A wee bit jundie mars his aim. Spinning heads ower heels frae top to boddum, getting a dunch here, a clour there, and a jundie gang to sleep at nichts, Unless they've gi'en somebody a jundie. I gied the thing a jundy wi' my airm, onywye, an' gin aw gie't a vrang junny, it's aweers o' garrin' ma cry, “Alis!” If wan of them got a jowed his jundie. He's aff on the jundy again. A jundie of a house, a jundie of a cart. Said Bess' drive, Hog-shouther, jundie, stretch an' strive. Sae junnied on frae day to day, Wi' ne'er a blink o' fortune's ray. They pous'd, they jundy'd ane anither. Whaur jundie, jostle, rug, an' rive A jaupin' crowd. Laughed, flirted, jundied one another, tossed broad jests. A stirk saw the piggin and gave it a dunt, and 
  303. Colour n.Small quantities or amounts are expressively conveyed by . . . a wee “sup,” a wee “nip,” a wee “colour.” “Will you have a cup of tea?” . . . “Yis, thank ye; I cud tak' a wee colour.”  
  304. Coothin n.After the first year the becomes a : it is next called a or ; and when full grown, the same fish is called a . After the ( ) stage it is called a , and ultimately a .  
  305. Gad n.2Sometimes a rounded piece of wood, a ball of twisted hair, a cork, . . . carefully fashioned into a globular shape (and later termed a “nag, not, cad, gad, cor, coit, or golley”) was substituted.  
  306. Golley n.Sometimes a rounded piece of wood, a ball of twisted hair, a cork, . . . carefully fashioned into a globular shape (and later termed a ‘nag, not, cad, gat, cor, coit, or golley') was substituted.  
  307. Marsgum n.Is it a masgum or a turbot? Death is a maasgoom, 'at glaeps aathing. Wisna he set his fit apon a rotten maasguum it wis driven ashore, an' flatched him laek a pancake.  
  308. Dish n. purchased a pint, a dish or a roll of butter. If ye didna tak' fat ye got, ye had to tak' fat ye took in wi' ye, or chew a dish o' want for a chinge. Should there be complaints about the dinner, the good lady of the house threatens to give the complainers a “dish o' want some day.” Gin they widna tak' their pottich they sid get a dish o' want for a change. Wyte or Aw get ma feet in o' ma sheen, an Aw'se see ye by the hens' dish! A dishboard, dishes, plates, cogs. Red Hair'd, dish-Brow'd, Bladder Lipped, meikle Mow'd. Many a time have I gotten a wipe with a Towel; but never a Daub with a Dish Clout before in the wringing of a dishclout [ . immediately]. You are going . . . to the devil with a dishclout, for you are laughed at by them that lead you into these disordered bye-paths. A'm lik a washt oot dishcloot Gin ever he observes a proud professor . . . that reards and prays till the very howlets learn his preambles, the man Auld Simmie fixes on to mak a dishclout o'. This is no' fair to Micky 
  309. Frush v.2, n.2 minutes. Hit wis dark an' dey wir a frushin', an' a klatterin, an' a birrin'. A cat frushes when she “spits curses.” Next dere comes a heavy spulder, An a frush aboot da tirl. An dan we'd see dem ... Plooin da voe wi a frush o froad an maas divin.  
  310. Gully adj., n.2An' he was as gully a body as could live; an' at da Straits he was a' da boys' freen. A gully ting o' a bairn. He had left her husband fishing on a rock called “Tangie”; then, continuing, he said: “Tangie's a gully berry; hid'll hurt naething”; . Tangie is a safe place. Bit are th'u hurt thee, Paety 
  311. Gurk n.A stiblart gurk wi' phiz o' yellow In youthhit's sappy bud. He was a ferdy, gulschy gurkas, Wi' bowsie legs just like a turkas. A rough-looking “gurk ov a loon” carried the end of the [measuring] chain. A sma' doorie opens, an' in steps a gey stoot gurkie an' sits doon on the deas. Ae creeshy gurk 
  312. Kibble adj.Fu' o' good nature, sharp an' snell with a', An' kibble grown at shaking of a fa'. I gather't odds o' fifty kibble birks. There's the Provost o' Elgin . . . He looks weel. A kibble carl. A kibble bunch o' a wife. I wis a tidy dainty cob, A kibble beastie, strong and smairt. His step wisna sae 
  313. Piver v.His han's pivered wi' faer a' the time. Troth a' the time he sat he wus piveran' like a paedle on a plate. That mysterious complaint which an old Shetland woman once described to a medical friend of mine as “the wind piffering in her veins”. A' piveran wi' gluff, for da cap waas tirrlan roond an' roond like a tirloo. 'E waas jeust piverin' wi' madrum.  
  314. Wisker n.“Pit a girse up 'er [a pipe], Maister Macwhirter,” said the goodwife, handing him a grass out of a “wisker”. When referring to her knitting it was her “wivin” or sometimes “shank.” She used a “wisker always wore a , a leather belt with holes in the side.  
  315. Body n. sniggered. "Whit a boady." Lord canna ye let a Body amuse themselves without always clattering. Ma man, a bird that speaks like a buddy is no' nateral. Bit what tripped me, whither it wus bothie, bockie or baest, Lord ken o' me, as I ken no'. Pleadging the most valouable things a bodie may have. Tramp on a I am a bodie, both harmless and nesty, a gangster (a clansman?), a literary pitter-in o the boot, a never understood that my first duty is to myself, and a typical Scot. Yes, I am wantin' her. I wish ye wad gang and get her tae a body. Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the rye. “It's a nesty mornin', it's waur than a guid shower” he continued “for it seems to wat a body into the very soul.” It was." Ignorant bothies, that dinna ken a single saint's day, nor wouldna ken ae Sunday frae anither o' the calendar. She's a cantie buddy. (When a dead person is spoken of the word used is “boady.” This, if ye find oot he was a nice Christian buddy eftir aw, keep yer geggie shut or ye'll be oot o work 
  316. Cast n.His neck has gotten a cast, or a wrang cast. For Nory's heart began to cool right fast, Fan she saw things had taken sick a cast. If these backslidden, upsitten, lukewarm ministers, elders, and professors get not a cast by common, their sun will not set so clear. . . . but let na on what's past 'Tween you and me, else fear a kittle Cast. And she is aye seen to yammer and wail before ony o' them dies a real witch for his sake, he should dree a kittle cast. Twa mile frae this, I left them on a know-up at a'! The Deponent means whatever is laboured and sown with Corn above five of the ten Casts into which the Outfields should be casten. For on his rear a dreadfu' blast He saw begin to lour, . . . Frae whilk, he dread some kittle cast. I redd ye let us take a cast about, as if to draw the wind on a buck. I rede ye to take a long cast round ere you return to your people. But as she kent na, she mistook the cast, An' mair an' mair fell frae the road they past. It is said that one has got a of any 
  317. Haggle v., n.1I hae nae broo o' doctors; . . . though they may learn at the College to haggle aff a sair leg. A bonny haggel't job they're like to mak o't. A hagglin' gomrel. That beak noo cuttin like a knife, noo clippin like shissors, noo chirtin like pinchers, noo hagglin like a cleaver! As weel attempt to split a hair Wi' gar'ner Johnnie's hagglet gully. It would go against my heart to haggle a man that can blow there is a pile of haggled heads by thee. “Geordie” perfect in timing and unless you take your sheaf to receive his wife, he hagled in his answers. After a' Watty's adae, and haichlin' Charlie wi' him, they had a' their tramp for a scarrecraw. A Third Edition got done . . . Printing haggles forward till nae use for wives ava; Ane's ain burden's eneuch to carry, What sairs a puir man haiglin twa? A haiggle on alang streets chowky wui cluds o shairny stoor. I've haigled her [a baby] a' roond the toon. There is a deal of truth in what a farm servant said to me six years ago: “If they gie's the same 
  318. Kebbock n.An honester fellow never . . . cuttit a fang frae a kebbuck. She seenil lays her hand upon a turn weel-hain'd kebbuck, fell. After . . . tasting old Janet's best kebbuck, and oatmeal cakes. A whang aff a new cut kebbuck is ne'er missed. Between some of the couples were hung strong boards, on which the year, a period when the whole countryside rumbled to the farmer's “kebec” laden cart. An' links o understood when one makes a request for a “kebbuck” of cheese or a “farl” of oatcake. A cowp, nae mair nor a tae-breeth frae Hell; like a kebbuck wi mawks, shackelt tae its smell. They brought him powsoudie, drummock, kebbuck and farle. He ate it and dressed. Efter a lang, lang time, somebody pit out the lichts in the lift an aathing gaed blaik, except for the kebbuck o cheese an a green an blue foushty baa hingin in space, like a rotten tangy. Gudewyfe gae to your kebbock creel, See that you wyle your kebbocks weel. The Town's People of  had now as terrible a Prospect as their Ancestors had, even on 
  319. Angleberry n.A Black-brown Mare . . . two or three Angle berries on her Belly. . A fleshy excrescence, resembling a very large hautboy strawberry, often found growing on the feet of sheep, cattle, etc. a growth on an animal (usually on teat or belly). A warty excrescence on cattle or sheep. She was a bonny mare but had an ugly angleberry hangin doon fae her chest atween her legs, a reid lumpy growth, that is. , large hanging warts on a horse, sometimes about its mouth.  
  320. Farkage n., v.Pack'd up in coffins ane, twa, three, A most infernal farkage. Having a about her. To go to town for farkish, . messages, shopping. It was a' lyan in a fargis. He pulled a whole fargis o-qualled wi' beasts. There's a whale [ ] ferkishin' o' them the noo in the park. Thae scones ir weel heirt; A pat a guid fairkeesheen o butter inti thum.  
  321. Glowe n.To ilk tar-tun he pat the lowe; At ance it flew up in a glowe. It was mirk as the deid o' a winter nicht, But it tint a' its dule in a glowe o' licht. . . . the sun's bricht axle by degrees Sinks in the Western Hebrides, An a' is in a glimmerin glowe. Thar wis a spladge o orange i the sky aa shotten through wi a crammasie glowe, an he shiddered as the nicht creepit roon him.  
  322. Wecht n.2, v.2A Corn baskett a riddle ane sive and winding weight. A wecht, a peat-creel, and a cradle, A pair of clips, a graip, a flail. Meg fain wad to the barn gaen, To win three wechts o' naething. There are two kinds of . The one is denominated a , immediately used for , as its name intimates. This is formed of a single hoop covered with parchment. The other is called a , having more resemblance of a be emptied into the . The bairns tak' a winnowing weicht. [To] send a peppering shower of hail along the stack-yard, and, sallying forth, fill a whole “wecht” with the corn-eating sparrows. or for taking up corn from the bin or floor are made either of withes or skin, attached to a rim of wood. Take a sieve or a , and three times go through the form of winnowing corn. One groff siv, one sma' siv, and a weight. Few of the present generation will know what the Nethertown “Weicht” really was bated breath. Take out the ashes — see, there's a wecht. At supper large quantities of pancakes (here 
  323. Ruggel v., n.He stepped on a “ruglie” stone. A ruglet sten, a ruglie sten. To sit ruglin on a chair.  
  324. Tuardelie n.A bed hung with gold coullered hanggins, a tuardelie, . . . a busting bed shewed with green, with a 
  325. Brash n.1, v., adj.Takin' a brash o' godliness ance, . . . auld Cockenny took to the prayin' by himsel in the stackyaird and the parks. Up-bye, as A paat on a bit aixtra brash, a grocer body . . . gien [gave] iz the disorder, to which they are often subject after being weaned, is called the . We also speak of “a of the, “It is just some .” Whin we hae a air i da hoose id slips awa ae way an' anither, atween a gless tae da mare whin sheu takes a brash an wir Pegs whin sheu takes a pain i 'er booals. If whiles they took a wee bit brash They gaed to sea an' took a splash. After teethin', cam' the spainin' brash. Her little charge had taken a “brash” of a serious nature. I heard a Belfast merchant . . . excuse himself from attendance at a meeting because he had had a “wee brash.” Which by-and-by may make them [sheep wadna gie ye a doit for a dance like that . . . ye never get any forreder. It's for a' the worl' like a brash o' wun'. When winter nights were wat and brashie, Say, was your wick a rind o' rashie? We've 
  326. Bervie n.There's little best ale in Bervie far ae wifie brews't a' (no choice amongst a crowd of hooligans). There was formerly practiced, and very occasionally still is, a form of cure known as Bervies. . . . Bervies were or are not washed after smoking, as Finnans are, but simply dusted with a duster and packed for Market. The colour of Bervies is a dirty blackish brown, and the flavour something between a Finnan and a dried spelding. She had a bervie and a boiled egg to her tea. For cockls musles and berve 
  327. Dottle v.3, n.3A small poney, that takes very short steps, is said to be . ...and as we approached the station away at a dottle-trot, I shouted. - But where to? Where do you live? An old man who goes a-courting is said to have . She's a wee dottle o' a body nae mair than fower feet heigh. She wis jist a wee dottle o a lassie. A little useful "dottle of a body," already working for its little bit of bread there.  
  328. Lib n.When a person was “Love-spoken”, a drink was given out of a in which was immersed a silver coin crossed with a fasting spittle. The cure for “forespoken,” or affected by the evil eye, was a drink of water off silver or out of a vessel in which silver had been placed. A mixture of oatmeal and salt had stirred the mixture with a steel needle and muttered over it some incantation. Old James Cook of 
  329. Pickle n.1, v.1Da alilambs wis a' abune da lambhoos, doo needna be in ony peklty aboot dem. Noo' here was a pickalty. Dir wisna wan eetemtation o fresh maet in da habitation. Divity waas i' a pickloo an' dat gluffed aboot 'is horse. “It's a terrible pichle o' a bizness this,” says the swettin' Smith, as he sclappert a brushfu' o' the fancy paste ontill anither length o' the back o' the paper. Tell 'im [doctor] 'at A've gotten a tribble it'll pickle 'im tae tak' oot o' me noo. I promised to come to see a new canary he's bocht — a real pickler.  
  330. Rekster n.He made a puir rekster, he did not gain much. Da hills ta da noard an' aest o' Weisdaal ir full o' ljoags an shuns an dir rexter is immense. What a rekster I'm had me. . . . He's made him a rekster, he made a journey (without success). To facilitate the driving [of sheep] small branch dykes run out in two directions from the . These were termed or dykes. Der wer a guid rekster upon him. I'll giv dee a rekster. She gae him a proper raksterin. ‘A' in a rakster' — of anything gone to ruin or 
  331. Skinny adj. carryin' the books. An aw the time the skinnylinky copper's a' ir heels. "Geud, thoo're no exactly a skineemelink," replied Mansie with a grin, "bit whit's the differ? I like a fat lass mesel." There used to be a children's song in Aberdeen relating the adventures of a thin man called “Skinamalinky Lang Legs”, which is still sung as a skipping-song, etc.: Skinamalinky, lang legs Umbrella feet. Skinnymalinky so-ca'd flappers canny haud a caunle Tae a real wummin lik' you, yir too hoat tae haunle.  
  332. Trebuck v., n.If a person, on making a false move in a game of skill, calls out trebuck or trabuck me before his, wulks, biled wulks, a bawbee a jug [of a street-hawker too drunk to remember what he was selling]. A player who aimed a “dinger” at a particular bool and then changed his mind would receive permission to do 
  333. Jag n.5'Could ye go a jag?' A jag is a measure of cheap wine, a 'shot'. I like a wee jag o gin before ma drink it over breakfast met with a surprising affirmative. "After a heavy night, definitely." This struck a chord with that seasoned veteran of more than the odd morning after, our columnist Jack McLean. "A wee jag first thing, and better than flat Lucozade," was his assessment. "Well, you sure wouldn't 
  334. Keelie n.2, v.He knew of a number of lads who used to meet at the bottom of Niddry Street when they came from "keely" good-brother; and she replied he was as big a "keely" as he was. In Paisley a “keelie” (street a Cicero declaim Against a' wealth an' rank an' fame Till —, and sweeps, and keelies praise. The, or , as he called them. The defender . . . said that I was a Saltmarket Keelie, a fighting man, a thief. The Wand'rers of Dundee, Who play the game like savages, or keelies on the spree. A man that, for a' I kent, might be a common keelie (thief) or a cut-throat. She'd hae tae be braw-an cowshus wi' siccan a keely carl. Jist yin o' thae Leith Coalhill keelies oot for a nicht's batterin'. The Boss no more than a Vulgar Keelie. In the third round they had to face a crack Glasgow team; but, encouraged, shawlies, and keelies, they scraped through by a single goal scored by Elrigmuir ten minutes from the end. . . . a reductive, cowardly, timid, snivelling language cast out of jeers and violence and diffidence; a 
  335. Stime n., v.[He] drank sae firm till ne'er a Styme He cou'd keek on a Bead. When it turned duskish, he saw not a stime. I scarce could wink or see a styme. At sic an elritch time O' night, whan we see ne'er a styme. A' the hills were wrappit i' the clouds o' rime an' we coudna see a stime. His een, bein' in could see. Not a stime, they are all as blind as bats. They set up such a stoor folk could not see a styme. A saana a stime masel, bit Daavitie's clare eenies seen made oot a lowe i' that airt. You couldn't see a stime in the place for the reek. Couldnae see a stime. ( = it was very dark) There winna be a styme o' them seen again atweesh this and twal hours at e'en. Deil pick out my eyne if we've seen a stime of it again. I canna see a stime o' ye. Nae a leevin' stime o' Dod. To cut their fur kent but a styme O' the blirt that was brewin' for him. When winter nights are choak't wi' rime, An' fouk can scarcely breath a stime. At hame his wife, wi' looks demure, Beside a wee styme fire sat 
  336. Butt n.4'Ey ir great butts. She must 'a' spent her money on her butties. Me an' him wuz butties for mony a day. Ane boastit owre his butties a' That nane wi' him could big a wa'. I'll gie ye a butty hame. Ah'll gie ye a "butty" inty the toon, ... A walk in the company of an acquaintance: 'Wait a wee minute an Ah'll gie ye a buttie up the road.' I managed to flannel around this gaffe by telling her that the drunken Paddy a butty up the road. This seemed to satisfy her.  
  337. Croy n.1The body was discovered at a , about a mile below where the accident happened. It [a cormorant] frequented a croy at Benchill fishing-station very much. Per. .1940 (per Fif. ): A dam at Kirkmichael, Perthshire, stretching nearly across the R. Ardle, is called “the Croy.” There was, and still is, I think, a lower down. It is a kind of a quay which can be closed by a sluice. Fish are sometimes trapped there. There is another type of , however, projecting partly across a rushing stream, so that salmon may rest 
  338. Curly-murly n. comb.He gae a start that sent a box o' curlie-murlies fleein' i' the fluir. The ecstasy of acquiring a “Sugar Hert,” a handful of “Curly Murlies” or a bottle of “Treacle Ale” and a slab of “Gingerbread” is proper had rather a gnarled exterior. They were formed on a seed or other foundation such as , clove or almond. The nucleus of the proper was probably aniseed. It was about the size of a large pea. These sweets were popular on days when Jock was expected to give Jenny her “market” in the form of a of 
  339. Daubing vbl. n. of the house, and lay a row or two of stones, then they procure from a pit contiguous, as much clay or brick-earth as is sufficient to form the walls: and having provided a quantity of straw, or other litter to mix with the clay, upon a day appointed, the whole neighbourhood, male and female, assemble, each with a dung-fork, a spade, or some such instrument. . . . In this manner, the walls of the house are finished in a few hours: after which they retire to a good dinner . . . where they have music and a dance. . . . This is called a .  
  340. Happen v. happened Hootsman? Some o' the Drumalbin or Strathearn fo'k it may come doun at a hap'ner [ ] time wi' a drove o' nowt, or seekin' tae pick a quarrel. If it wasna for a happening visitor looking in at orra times. He might just make a remark to the Inspector. Mrs So and So was here to-day, but it was only a happening call. A happenin' visiter. A happenin' yin or twae . . . He gaed there at a happenin had “a happenin beast” at Fairnalee.  
  341. Happity adj.I've a hen wi' a happity leg, Lass gin ye lo'e me tak' me now! For a cloit o' a fa', Gars them hirple awa', Like a hen wi' a happity leg, John Frost. He was rather little, and had a happity leg. An' yon ane [song] where on happert leg The waefu' woman comes to beg. A puggie snaig'd aff wi' the cripple man's crutch . . . Och hone, och hone, grat happity John. Like a' the lave o' her kind, she'll try to look young, but a bonny happie-ti-kick ye'll mak o't atween ye. You an' her gaun to the kirk 
  342. Loit v.1, n., adv.There common sense did loit and spue. A drunk man aften loits up what he has drunk like a mill the laird of loits Sat on a stane — While a' got butter to their bites, And he got nane. Jean asked him for a wee lawyt of the cod liver oil. Lass, what's the hurry, wait and get a layt o' tea. Yonder's a cloud, too, that's wearying to get a loot [ ] aff its stamach. A big-boned, loud-voiced Amazon of a woman, who could step it out across the heather and da lyjoiks as well as any man.  
  343. Stourie n.. Just mak a drappy o' stoorum to me. A dish of “stoorack” (a hot drink made with a little oatmeal) being the last before retiring. They had bannock and stourach for supper. A coarn o' stoor-a-drink an' a bannock. “Stoorin” — Into a bowl put three tablespoonfuls of fine oatmeal, add one pint of hot water, and leave to soak for an hour. Stir well and pour off the liquid into a pan, add a pinch of salt 
  344. Barge n.2, v. , a passionate, boisterous, imperious woman. Come across the street and have a barge and a glass. , to speak in a loud angry manner; to scold. , to scold in a loud abusive way. To , scold.  
  345. Pendula n.To m alcorn till account for makeing a little pendula knock, a stricking knock, and ane old knock, a pendula and helping a watch . . . ½ a guinie. Ane pendili knock in the principle dyneing roome.  
  346. Rag v.3Ye might raag a keelin' fir a' 'at we ken. A fisherman very occasionally will strike a fish with his hook when there is an unwillingness to swallow it, i.e. to raag a fish.  
  347. Scrow n.2Sit down, ladies, till that scrow of a shower gang bye. A ‘scrowie' being as far short of a ‘shoor' as a ‘shoor' fell below ‘weet'. We haed a scrowie o' rain the streen.  
  348. Sheeg v.Whan I grow auld wi' blinkers hazy, Wi' banes a' shiegling an crazy . . . A piece of furniture ill-put together; a concern. Sheegin' a table or desk was a favourite torment in school-days.  
  349. Bake n.1 and steak, Twa red herrin', and a bawbee baik. For a dozen of bakes. . . . . . . . . . . 0. 0. 6. [An' mind] the cookies, snaps, an' bakes, That young folk like sae weel. With a glass of spirits and a bake. Refreshments . . . usually consisted of “toddy” and a hard biscuit, known as a “bake.” He, an' penny baps. , a biscuit shaped something like a twopenny pie. The line, “Cappie, cappie-bakes an' jeelie,” used to be sung to the tune of . , a kind of hard-baked scone seasoned with all-spice. , large thick biscuit; a water bake. , a soft crumbly wine-biscuit.  
  350. Bind n. gilting in a lesser then a greater bind and ther is great difficulty to procure barrell staves for a greater size. To tak' my reed, or mint to play a spring, Is baith aboon my bind an' 'yont my art. A barrel of a certain bind is one of certain dimensions. Their bind was just a Scots pint over-head, and a measure of liquor. A man of strong binn is a man strongly built and bound — crop of good binn is a good 
  351. Boucht n.1, v.1“The bought of a blanket,” that part of a blanket where it is doubled. Where the sea forms a sort of bay, it is said to have a . I'll ben the spence and dress a wee, Wi' knots and bughts sae gaudy speak about putting a “bucht” or twist on a rope. As peace is made with Denmark, will prove a great. Each sixaern [six-oared Norway skiff] was furnished with a “fleet” of lines, variably termed “tows” and “buchts,” and equalling 50 fathoms. , , to fold down. A boughting (cradle) blankit, a bolster.  
  352. Deochandorus n.. Students of Stirling, now's the day and now's the hour. Hail Caledonia! Rise now and be a nation again! Scots Wha Hae! Just a Wee Dochan Dorus! (That's enough songs - Ed) Some drouthy billies tak a tour Roon a' the bars o' Forres, An' bide beyond th' allotted oor To hae a dochan doris. Greyfriars' Bobby's suppin a plate o kail While MacDiarmid poors himsel oot a Wee deoch-an-doruis frae a bottle o peaty malt. '... Gin and Tonic, Dr Moray? ... Or a wee Jock and Doris as you hielanders say. ...' Ring the bell, an' we'll hae a “douchan-dorus” before we go. And drink, wi' heart-endearing glee, A deochandorus!  
  353. Hover v., n.Hover a wee. Hover a blink, my Jessie dear, Let a' the lave be gane. Just hover about a blink, and we'll soon tak' ye out. So the reader maun just hover a blink till I get some matters explained that should be explained. “O no!” said Scott, “just hover a wee.” Come, men, Foo lang ir ye gaun ta hover? Hover a blink till I light my cigar. He hovered to herrie a foggie bees' byke. Just hover a blink, the water will sune fa'. They are in a hover and suspense. Her heart for Lindy, now began to beal, An' was in hover great, to think him leal. I've been lang in a hover whether I should dedicate 
  354. Scatter v., n.“They'll scatter!” she cried gleefully. It was the custom for a marriage party to “scatter” coins and sweets (“conversations”) on the road, and the children scrambled for them. A scatter-witted kiltit loun The neebors thocht a fool. Hoo dare Ye, scatter-wut, my precious time to tak To answer ye! Fu' mony a merchant I could name Has gien a splendid scatter. The increasing volume of traffic today makes the traditional “poor oot” or “scatter” a hair-raising experience. She [a gun] wad mak' an awfu' scatterment gin she war to gang aff. A he-goat that made short work an' a scattherment o' the oul' lady. She was a great reader and was nearly always sitting amidst a scatterment of books when she was in the 
  355. Doddit ppl. adj.A rickle o' peats out-owre the knowe A gimmer, and a doddit yowe. 5 Black Dodded Cows, Two and” and “Angus Doddies.” I got bit ten pound . . . for a bony bit o' a twa yearald dudded whyoo fae a Caitness drover. Whiles fae a skep a dreepin' comb he steals, Or clips the doddit yowes for winter wheels. A hunder pund i' honest hands, An' sax an' thretty doddit yowes. Noo they've gotten a schule o' their ain, an' some day sune they may get a Kirk. Maybe it will be a dodit ane.  
  356. Keelivine n.Mr Montgomery, when lord advocate and member for Peeblesshire, made a speech . . . in the house of commons, where he mentioned his having made a note of some thing or other with a . I think we can carry the greatest part of it in our heads without a keelyvine pen and a pair of tablets. What are ye doing wi' yere kylevine and bit paper? And e'en now, wi' his keelavine, He'll draw for it a braw design jam-stane draw A horse or hoose. In Dundee a lead-pencil is a “calavine” or “keelavine.” Attention niver sen yer aal folk a bit o' a scart. The egg must be a soft one for .  
  357. Mettle n., adj.At last I took mettle, an' offer'd her battle. The daughter is a fine mettal-like lassie, and might have made a shift both for her mother and herself, had she been bred not to think it dishonourable. She has a tongue intill her head to gie a mettle answer. A sonsy mettle hizzy. I followed, and was mettler o' foot than he. That's a mettle beast of yours, freend; will you sell him? Ye're nae a beggar's brat, I'll gie my aith An' mair, I see ye're mettle to the teeth. 'Od he was a mettle bodie of a creature — far north, Aberdeen-awa like, and looking at two sides of a half-penny. Your chiels use mettle heels, When gaun to see their dearie. He is an honest and a mettle gentleman. Ye'll ken Laird Heron o' the Rathan, Jen — a mettle spark.  
  358. Laid n., v.This 'il be a Laed aboon a Burden, that will gar monny a honest Man's back crack. Ye Gods! What Laids ye lay on feckless Man! Your claith an' waith will never tell wi' me, Tho' ye a thousand led had ten horse-laids afore him o' Flanders lace, an' Hollin lawn. What a lade is lifted frae my heart. A of corn, hay, or peats: a load for a pony. When one boy or girl made a present of “sweeties: — Ane's nane, Twa's some, Three's a birn, Four's a horse laid. A load or tuo bolls of victual. In the load, or load sold to the country. The former is known by the name of the collier's load. Aft wi' a. When corn or meal had to be taken to or from the mill . . . a sack or “lade” was put across each horse's back. A laid o' coals or a pair o' buits for some puir cratur. A led of peats was what one horse could carry; three or four leds were equal to a small, and about five equal to a large cart-load. I hae brewed a lade o' yill. He has a heavy (richt) laid — he is very drunk. He has a greetin (lauchin) laid 
  359. Banker n.1, v.The “banker,” a kind of heavy stool, sometimes of wood, sometimes a mere temporary arrangement of rough blocks of stone, on which a hewer shapes a stone. The master builder, pleased with his ingenious diligence, once laid a shilling on his “banker.” Banker your stane an' show ye're a mellsman.  
  360. Bee n.2 . Also . A metal ring or ferrule. . A hoop or ring of metal, put round the handle of any thing, into which a or prong is inserted, to prevent its twisting asunder. , a metal ring round the foot of a staff. . The hollow between the ribs and hip-bone of a horse.  
  361. Loopick n.A very deep drawer, containing … a auld loopick, a muckle tully. Shu scraepit da levin oot o' da baesin wi' da mooth o' a horn loopik. Shu laid da horn luppik apo' me limb. Three crabs, of a kind called Cra's lupiks. Turned op in a lupek — wasted away, withered, emaciated.  
  362. Maschle n., v., adj., adv.Sic a maschle 's a' thing's in . . . They've made an unco meeschle o' that maitter. They're a' maschlet up thegither in that place . . . It wiz a' up thegither. Their money maitters are a' meeschle-maschle. . . . The hail toonie's a' meeschle-maschle freens through ither. The hail thing geed meeschle 
  363. Toul n.A hand Toull of hardin. He dried his Face and Hands with a Tool. Bring a tooel here as fast as ye can. Three dizen touls lyin' scattered through the hoose as black as coalpocks. A tooel as coorse as a carrot-grater. Hae ye a toal an' some sape?  
  364. Clow n.5. They would not be understood, even by the young Fifers of today, who call a gull a gull, and not a 'clow' or a 'coorie' or a 'cuttie' or a 'maw'.  
  365. Stookie n., adj.. There he stude, like a muckle stucky eemage. The wife bocht a stooga mannie this foreneen fae a foreign don't suppose ye could go very far wi a stookie though! Part of his last birthday present was a course playing football. The lobby floor was scrubbed and a border put round with white stookie, usually in a buried in a plaster cast?' I asked him. 'Like a mummy?' He shook his head, laughed. 'Naw! I want a box, but just a simple white job. And I want everybody to write on it, wee messages and that, drawings.' 'Like a stookie. Right.' 'I always mind it when I broke my arm. The things people wrote on it! So that's from the Bosnia charity shop, 2 a head, and to watch a wee red West Coast Motor chugging off to Kilmory. I was sittin' mumpin' there, like a stucco. Jamie sat like a stookey wi' a face as red as a partan's tae. Nor less renown'd for living folk than for stookies o' the deid. I juist stood like a stookie, thowless an' donnert. Rob steed like a stooka for a meenit. I was standing like a stooky 
  366. Aes n. , a large blazing fire. A es o' fire. Aes. Da woman set us a great aes o' a fire.  
  367. Caibe n.A local joiner said to me the other day: “That's a job for a caibe, no' for a joiner.”  
  368. Deighle n.A pridefu' gaste o' a body, but a wee deighle o' a puddock hoved up wi' its ain concate.  
  369. Aheat adv.So that they [ . the kye] might “get a caller mou'fu', an' win in afore they ran a-heat.” The waiter's a-heat — gey ner boilin'! Suppin' het kail keeps yin a-heat a' day efter!  
  370. Belfert n.Fat a bilfert o' a loon he's growing. He's gettin mair gin deef nits ony wy. He was a great fat bulfert o' a loon. That belfert o' a sheaf'll stan' atween's an' the win'.  
  371. Consanguinean adj.Mornipaw being come of a sister-german was preferable to the descendants of a consanguinean sister. A man . . . dies, leaving behind him a consanguinean brother elder than himself, and a brother 
  372. Maw n.7, v.2About hauf a score o' great big grey cats cam ane by ane — gaed a loud mawe — crawled thrice withershins. A neighbouring Cat ae night maw'd keen. Creepin' like a partan, mawin' like a cat.  
  373. Pud n.1Two vagabond boys called the Pods. Sic a dear pod o' a loonie. A little fat, podsy body, wi' . . . a paunch hoaved oot wi' roast beef an' maut liquor. She breisted like a puddy-doo.  
  374. Tympathy n.Some thought it was afflicted with a tympathy. With a great sough for fear instead of a bairn it might turn out a tympathy. His leddy mother diet o' the tympathy or a broken heart.  
  375. Bleg n., v. . Wooden wedges for keeping the hoe securely fixed to the haft. If the head of a hoe is loose and you push a piece of wood between the handle and the head to keep them firm, the piece of wood is called a . A wedge for a window is also called a . Da twartree piltiks i' da skjo [shed] ar noo faan upun [getting high], bit dey'll do fir saide bliggs. [ ] , to drive a wedge into a hoe in order to 
  376. Clip n.1A colt was a clip and not the usual “staig.” A fairmer's wife it's fine to be, 'mong cauries an, an' oot o' it he's chosen a clip, an' he's made her Mrs Spicebox. That Meg's a rale wee clip, . a pert child. He wuz the greatest yung clip a iver cum across, but raelly a cud not fin' in my heart tae 
  377. Murgis n., v.An' gin a' the folk i' the coort been shot tae the he'rt, they wad no' meed sic a murgis is they deud. Dogs bark, men halloo, women “raise a terrible skrach; an' sic a wark, an' sic a murgis, thoo never saw a' thee born days.” This is no verra canny, bit I'll be bund I'll see what a' this deil's murgis is. Bae dis time da gang waar maakin' a bony murgis dunderan an' brogan at da ald door, aneuch 
  378. Rab n.2, v. sic a rabbin soul, nane can believe him. Hit wid a vexed da hert a' a saant oot o heeven, far less a bursen mortal, ta see a lock o' folk comin' dryllin behint a', an' raabin a lock o' nonsense ta ane 
  379. Riglin n.1Your fader wiz a riglin and your midder wiz a witch. A Riglen Ram, an' thirty yowes. One kind are called , having one stone in the scrotum, and another in the back, a little behind the kidneys. Nae country will follow a practice which will let loose such a horde of amongst their herds. A makar is a 
  380. Steak n.MacIntosh, then [1454] residing in the Island of Moy, sent to ask a , or , . a Road Collup; a custom among the Highlanders, that, when a party drove any spoil of cattle, through a gentleman's land, they should give him part of the spoil. What the people of old used to call a “steakraid”, that is, “a collop of the foray”, or in plainer words, a portion of the robber's booty, paid by him to the laird or 
  381. Band-stane n.I am amaist persuaded it's the ghaist of a stane-mason — see siccan band-stanes as he's laid. Such a stone helps to give strength and solidity to the part of the wall in which it is built. There may be a number of band-stones in one wall. Dat's a guid baand-stane; dunna brak him. . A stone extending the thickness of a wall; a bond-stone.  
  382. Toog n.Eastward to the north Stony Pund to two tuicks on the height. A green towick or hillock. I toucht dat I dang mi fit in a peerie toog. One old fellow, staggering homewards along a smooth and level road, remarked to a more youthful companion, “I wad deu fine if hid wisna for a the tuacks.” A rabbit ran fae its bul in a heddery toog on the slope below.  
  383. Brook n.2A b[ruk] o' fok. A good Brooke of Ware att Sparigoe. The crofter . . . has secured a good stack of “tangles” in winter, and a big share in a “brook of ware” . . . The “brook” — as he calls a drift 
  384. Brow adj.“He wis a browe aul' man, Maister Getherer,” said the goodwife. Weel, ye was a tricky loon, an' a browe loon, an' a guid loon! I never thocht tae mak' ye oot to be ony waur nor ye are, some grippy kin, and the like, tho' a brow stock for a' that.  
  385. Cab v.1Cabbing a pension in these times is like hunting a pig with a soap'd tail, monstrous apt to slip through your fingers. He pretended to kab a hen. A' this hillibaloo they were raisin aboot the kirk bein in danger was juist anither o' their dodges to cab a wheen Leeberal votes.  
  386. Graduwa n.'Deed, my lad, an ye gang on in that deleerit manner, I'll no only gie you a bed, but send baith for a doctor and a gradawa, that your head may be shaved, and a' proper remedies . . . gotten. For mair than a month he was thought beyont the power o' a graduwa.  
  387. Bunch n.1, v.He stud higher, at laste be a half, Than the sturdiest bunch av a Michaelmas calf. , to go about in a hobbling sort of way; a term applied to one of a squat or corpulent form.  
  388. Buryin n.A man . . . wha, by a' appearance, wad offeeciate at a' oor buryins. He was stretched out accordingly; a carpenter being summoned to measure the body for a coffin, and the funeral cakes (called 
  389. Riva n.He proceeded towards a riva, or cleft in a rock. Rivvik. A rift or deep fissure in the ground made by the continued action of the weather. A muckle rivvik i da face a da banks.  
  390. Rugfus adj.Sheu wus as rugface a slut, an' as hardened a limmer as iver pat a pettico't ower her heed. A rugfis pleunkie hid wass teu for a lad tae play aff apin ony bit o' lass.  
  391. Terrification n.She was a terrification to me. It was a terrification to hear her sometimes. Fat a terrification Bailie Wichtman's kye got in their byre. Aye in a terrification that folk 'ill mak a fool o' ye.  
  392. Vermin n.A countryman told them that the Enzie was all in a ‘Vermine of Red Quites.' The blint'rin' stars were a' sae wee, And then there's sic a vermin o' them. I saw a vermil [ ] o' them.  
  393. Blooter n. , a wet mass or jelly, a mess of some soft wet substance; . “it was a' lyan i' a b[looter].”  
  394. Breek n.2, v.3 , a piece of cloth sewed over the hips, etc., of a hog, to prevent copulation: “A breek for a hog.”  
  395. Crumch n.Gee me a crumch paper. “Gie's a bit o' that candy, Willie.” “No, A winna.” “Oh! jest a wee 
  396. Cursour n.A fey man and a cursour fears na the deil. He nickers like a cursour at a caup o' corn.  
  397. Pairtisay n. A fell melee, A pairtisay O' eager eident han's. A partisay wob an' a lovedarg mak mair faes than 
  398. Gliff v., n.Now haud ye cheerie, neebors a', And gliff life's girnin' worriecraw. Fu' lang he glower'd at dreams, and whiles gliffin' a buik. Maggie pits oot an airm, the cauld tae gage, While Peter gaunts, and their lives. And gin ye meet, amang yere glens, A wreath o' snaw, Be sure to tumilt into drains, An fields “tattie-bogles” to “gliff” the “craws”. A “heid yin” of the harvest field approached the a gliff o' something white before me. If ye canna get a gliff o' the wunner, juist tak' an inwick aff yer ain stane an' cuddle intae the back o' her. I catches a gliff o' Mr Mitcham staundin' a wee thing back in his parlour yonder. We should juist catch a gliff o' the manse up there through the trees the first glif a hantle tryit To see yoursel' in sic a station. There were twae birkies on a day, Gade out to tak a wee glif play. And then if ye're dowie, I will sit with you a gliff in the evening mysell. I hadna a gliff o' leisure till this mornin'. After just a little bit gliff of a prayer for the 
  399. Saft adj., adv., n.Oh quite the philosopher! Well that's me told. A solomon! A dominie! you're no' saft - A peety that a' body but yirsel' is daft. Fyles ye myurr-myurr to me ma leen, Yer quaverin myowies thin an smaa, Sae saft they're scarce a soun' avaa. Ye're couthy in yer fraisin teen. Seein the saft white bairnie-clouts Trummlin at their ain bleat or a cushat's cry. A bleezard oot aff Bennan, lan nae langer seen; the Firth a swirl o saftness lik blossom o the gean. Should it happen to be at the time, it'll be impossible for to leave my garden. We've hid a lang sair time o't, bit it's a gueedeness, it's saft the day. If the ice still held, Ezra would put a gingerly toe upon it by ejaculating “She's a wee saft”. If they [slugs] be attacked , where they are every soft morning in search of food. “A drizzling morning, good madam.” “A fine saft morning for the crap, sir.” [We] arrived just in time for escapin' saft weather. No one will admit the Scotch mist. It “looks saft”. She has a sair fecht wi' thae 
  400. Besom n.An aul' fiddler wi' a heid like a heather bissum. An aul' beezim maks a hard skrubber — meaning when a beggar gets up in the world he is a worse master than a gentleman born. A small hearth bisom. I'll blouter their nebs on the clean close wa' an' gie them a taste o' heid the ba', I'll gar them-airns, . . . forbye tins, an boosums, an bee-skeps. That the hair o' his heid micht staun' oot like a whalebone besom. The two words [ , a broom (′bʌzəm), and , a low woman (′bɪzəm)] are quite distinct in southern Scotch. A muckle blawn up red-fac't-like chiel, wi' a besom o' black hair aboot's mou'. is still used as a term highly expressive of contempt for a woman of an unworthy character. Some tinkler. ..." 'Haud up, ya bissom,' he muttered to one recalcitrant yowe, a large, old one, a leader of the flock, who was afraid of neither man nor dog and regarded him with a glittering, yellow eye. a thowless bizzem wi' nae spunk in her. "You're a bonny wee bizzum - the spit ae yir mither!" . A handless besom 
  401. Lintie n. whids amang the whins. Miss Jean … could sing like a linty, loup like a maukin, and play on the piano, the whin lintie, the brown lintie, and so on. He was sittin' by his lane in a bit bouroch … whistlin' like a lintie. When the lintie sings, an' the roadside's sweet Wi' the sicht an' scent o' the whin. He might curse and complain in the early hours of a wet morning but long before midday he would be singing like a thrush or whistling like a lintie. So Mrs Mac. came strolling back And issued out a skintie, And in a twinkling everyone Was singing like a lintie. I sang out the numbers like a lintie and enjoyed it from beginning to end. I'm gleg as a flech, spinnin like a peerie, singin like a lintie an' oh, I canna weary. "He minds me a bit o' Jackie O'Connell that used tae be in C Company, ye mind him? Irish boy, sang like a lintie,..." "A long term benefit from this group will be to enhance Orkney's farmland biodiversity," said Rachel. "Laverock, Lintie and Heather Lintie are just a few species which will 
  402. Yammer v., n.Sae wil a sucking Weanie yell, It to its Yammering faws again. The lasses yamour frae their wheel before ony o' that family dies. The whaup yammered abune the flower. Another Inf[ant], a yaumerer, not a yeller. I will not cross a tavern doorstep, however the bairn yammers. A yammerin' wind comes oot the east. The fearsome chance o' death That droons the silly, yammerin' breath. The yowl o a wolf in the vast Siberian nicht, A blin bairn's yammerin for the licht, A beggar's chap on a tuim mansion's door, Or a candle in the mirk, is aa man's lore. My yaumer youl, which used to share Ilk cursing i' the bottomless pit. If I wi' a cronie be takin' a drap, She'll yaumer, an' ca' me an auld drucken chap. E'en wee buffy Jock, an' his daft titty Bess A' yaummer for Patie the Packman. The tongue o' a yammerin' woman's just as bad. Da street is foo o' Dutchmen waerin' clogs, an atween der, but joost keepit yammerin awa. She yammered on the hale wy, so that Jock cudna get in a cheep 
  403. Neck n., v.Sum broo fae a joug wis melled in an e mixter poured intae an auld porter boattle wi a bittie cloot stucken in e naick fir a tit. A dram he took to cheer his heart, Whilk spite o's neck now fell a beating. The sowens will be ower the head o' the pat, an' a' i' the fire, in spite o' my neck! That nowte wull neckbind o his sark I tak a hadd. A few people had a “neck bit” — a piece of wood fitted to the neck and shoulders — from which the pan and pitcher were suspended. One of the worst houses ever I saw, and a dark-fast. Wullie stood on the neck furr. “Fat aboot a feering noo?” he said. Oot lep the neck-jogg fae the wa,. Their master does na mind the cost A single neckless button. Making a lang neck to win down to her. There's no a young leddy i' that kirk o' yours but'll be makin' a lang neck after ye. Here, get this ower your neck. A head is the lowest part of a club, and possesses, among other mysterious characteristics, a , a , a or , a , and a ! To Putting a Neck on your big Coat . . . 1s. 0d. The richer 
  404. Doocot n.They lie as thick as doos in a dooket. A new solicitor-general who's a fortysomething serving procurator fiscal and mother of two young sons rather than a high-profile QC will certainly cause a flurry in with a distinctive Dutch gabled facade with two doocot eyes in the head of the gable for pigeons 25th Oct. Allan Grant in Auchnagatt for killing the ducat dowes of Patrick Grant of Dewey is fined £50. A wad seener believe Maister Baldwin stoppit the pipe nir see you enter a lawyer's dookit. "An affa big doocot was rather like a miniature broch, a fifteen foot round-tower with a wide base, tapering to a small grassy top, on which two or three adventurers might stand, as if on a bastion, and take a survey frae my nest a little by, The dow-cot o' a laird. He had reason to be happy, for he owned six pigeons mak a fool o' mysel whan the laird's duket was bigget. They'll be here that had a better claim than you to the dowcate an' the dow. Gang into the desk-head, and ye'll fin' a bonny sewt pocket-book in 
  405. Jamb n. the sad day he was kisted, A wheen o' his jamb freen's insisted That they'd come stappin' yont that nicht. There I saw Twa jam stanes stanin'. I take my keelievine, An' on the jam-stane draw A horse or hoose. In that case — and invariably where the front door is adjacent — there may be a draught screen by them adjacent to the said tenement. Appoints Andrew Muirhead, toun treasurer, to cause furnish a chalder of coalls to the grammar school for drying the jamm or addition lately built thereto. A Body of a Room. Two small Puncheons. Item in the Back-house or Jaum, a Kitchen, a Coal Cellar. The church . . . has a large , very commodious for dispensing the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Your drawing rooms” neatly furnished and carpeted. John Craig had a joiner's work-shop in a back jamb under Charlie Porter's dwallin'-hoose. His [a fox] places himself in a jamb or chink, that they [terriers] cannot get behind him. It's sic a muckle jamb, an' mair nor the tae half o' 't 'll hae to stan' teem. It's a muckle 
  406. Selch n., v.Many of the Countrey People wear a piece of a Skin, as of a Seale, commonly called a Selch, Calf or the like, for shoes. Giving ther assistance some weeks ago on the Lords day to the takeing out of a whamble. A , that is a sealgh, as you call it. I am a man, upon the lan An I am a silkie in the sea. He kens nae a selgh frae a salmon. Sheu callowed twa bonnie selkie calves. I'll mak a pair oot o' the skin o' a silch that was shot at the Auld Ha'. In Shetland folk-lore the Finns, both men and women, were supposed to possess a skin or garment like the covering of a . . . . In old times there was an aversion to and superstitious dread of killing a lest it should be a metamorphic Finn. Under the tower [Wine Tower of Fraserburgh] is a cave called the Selch's hole. Her hide wis glis'nin' laek a sylkie. I saw nocht but a bit fite sulky Wi' a sea troot in her moo. Jean was now splashing ashore. She took off her cap and shook her hair. The sun glittered on her as it would have on a selchie 
  407. Laddie n.I am grown a laddier. I hate any man that's above sixteen. I trou, my mettl'd Louden lathie, I maun ca' thee. Our Jock wha wis a little gabby gaun laddock, cry'd ay, mither mither. I hae a wife and twa wee laddies. When I was a laddie langsyne at the schule. We've been able to . . . get eddycation for the lathie. A gey guid-lookin' bit laddikie aboot saxteen years auld, dressed like a common ghillie. You were a bit royt loon and fond o' tricks like the lave o' the lathies. And I've a bonnie lane doun a toom an clartie close, 'Aye, lauddie, it's no a bad wee boat, that it's no,' Davie. Laddiehood life's joyful dawnin'. Nae far awa' a laddie loon Was waitin' on her. Naething wid sair 'im but to stop at Forfar an' pay a veesit till an auld laddie-paddie acquantance o' his. A wife wi' a widden leg, an hauf a dizzen o' laddie bairns. An' oor wee laddie-herd — he rins Skeer nakit. I love to be thus backward cast To laddiehood in heart. Feech! I wudna be dodled wi' them; juist a lot o 
  408. Carfuffle v., n.Dinna curfuchel my apron. Tell Jenny Cock, an' she jeer onie mair Ye ken where Dick curfuffl'd a' her hair. Twis his first job, straucht frae schuil, though 'straucht' wisna a wird fowk hung on the peg that was hissel, for he wis a kerfuffled kinno a craitur, wi mair neuks an furliegorums than an octopus's oxters. He's a' curfuffled i' the wurr — The least Thing gars him greet. My brain hath been sae, strugglin' like the steam in a tea-kettle to find an ootlet, imparted a visible carfuflement to his ootward conduct. He's aye curfufflin' on something. The worset wis a' in a carfuffle. An' Jeanie's kirtle, aye sae neat, Gat there a sad carfuffle, An' rug, that day. To dauner awa into the moss, far frae the carfuffle and idiotry o' a thochtless worl', . . . that is to me a happiness indeed. They're constantly tumblin' owre chairs, and chasing the cat, and makin' sic a carfuffle. I still hear the children in their little curfuffs pause and ask, “Whae begoud it?” There's an unco curfuff ta'en place atween them. a 
  409. Sneeshin n.Thy vile snichen, and thy brose . . . We chanc'd to take a glass, And in its rear a snichen soon took place. The auld wife aboon the fire, She died for lack of snishing. A little provision “of the snishon.” Meal and salt, bread and snishen. It does not signification a pinch of sneeshing. His “sneeshinie” habits were a sort of pulpit novelty. I mind o' auld Charlie Belford [a weaver] bein' fined a shillin' for twa sneeshnie draps. A boxfu' o' Maister Cotton's Dutch sneeshin'. A constellation's jist a sneeshin horn. With his in his hand. When wi' Eve he'll had a crack, He'll teuk his sneeshin' horn. To mill. Tam lugged out the snishing mill. I could take my aith to that sneeshing-mull amang a thousand sneeshin-mull And gae his nose a special full. I must buy the fill o me sneeshan mill. My sneeshan pen and sneeshan mill. Sneeshin' pens to prime stuff noses. Her specs an' sneeshan pen. A Snichen good ye may have out of it. Will you tak a sneeshin out o' my box? But Donald says, No not a snishing 
  410. Docken n. me, A docken till a tansie? The draught was regulated by filling up a part of the open doorway . . . by a flaikie made of heather or dochan stems woven very loosely. They caretna a docken for the price te pey. It disna maitter a doaken to me wha I sell till. But MacBurnie assured them - and in a manner that left no room for doubt - that neither a cheese-maker nor a dairyman was worth a docken leaf Jesus my back's killing me! - and - slap some docken on it, there's nothing like the docken leaf for a a docken what he looked like when He cast him into the furnace. He'd gat a yokin' . . . that wou'd hae . . . garr'd his head hing like a doken. Lang had the an' the been In use to wag their taps upo' the green. James Batter's e'e-bree became as green as a docken leaf. In his braid tail he bore a lance, Wad pierc't through ony dockan. My sennins turned as supple as a dockan. When a boy gets stung by a nettle he searches for a dock leaf, and rubs it on the wounded part, repeating the charm 
  411. Peuch interj., n., v.When, peugh! a wastlin' soogh Garr'd a' oor faples fa'. Uch, och, pooch-pooch, o' my stamick. [It] gaes peuch, peuch, like a pair of smith's bellows. Difficulty in marrying a maid with light blue eyes! — Pugh, pugh! Puch, no' man. I'm but a young lad; it's no my time yet. “Peugh! Willie man,” quoth my faither, . . . “juist a wheen pennies an' bawbees ye've gotten, for twa or three ells o' stringin'.” Words are but peughs o' wind, they'll no blaw far, that's ae comfort. He raxes for a puckle dilse and scoors his back an front Wi mony a haach an pyocher, wi mony a pech an grunt. I am like a madman at my stories, and can make nothing of them. Dod, I didna ken a bit o' him: he used tae be thin, an'noo he's a snifter-dichters. Her ain braith, in the cauld kirk, wis like the wee plufferts o rikk frae a stemm kettle. That peuchlin' body never wuns off the bit. Peer Geordie — he's a gey pyocherin' craiter ben. Blawin', pyoochin', hachin', sneezin', Fullin' chaumer-beds o' caff. He had a habit of clearing 
  412. Bleeter n.2, v.1“A bleeter of a shower,” a wetting shower. Och it'll be like a'thing else, a bleeter o' win' — it'll come t' naething. There's a right bleeter comin by the look o't. It's begood to bleeter on again.  
  413. Dark-avised adj.After a glass or two had been drunk, the chairman of the company, a “dark-advised,” pleasant-looking gentleman, called for a toast. Sho wis a peerie, dark-advised body, slim-biggit an kerryin a 
  414. Fum n.1When Long Tam nixt appeared in public the grey shoot was dyed a kind of a brown colour nearly the shade of a fum turf. Ane of them . . . was a great muckle haurl of a dirty fum.  
  415. Blab v.1, n.2A Dutchess on her Velvet Couch reclin'd Blabs her fair Cheeks till she is almost blind. We still wi' toddy, O. O wildly there the blue-bells hang Their cups a' blabb'd wi' dew. A blab of ink. Porridge, which throws up “blabs” or bubbles, which burst and emit steam. O flow'ret, bloomin' a' alane the siller hang. . A pustule, a blister. “A burnt bleib,” a blister caused by burning. (n., nw.). A blister; a pustule. ‡ (n., w.). Also (ne., s.). A blister on the skin, as by burning. . A raised blister. A bee's , the little bag of honey within the body of a bee. My Lord has had the blybes it is an outstryking something lyk the small pox, but does not keep so long out. A single-end in a waalie close, wi mirle, sclaffert, bleibs, and a kirkyaird hoast. . An eruption to which children are (nettlerash), the scaw. I'll gie ye a blab on the mouth.  
  416. Rickle n.1, v.1What the Deponent means by a Stone dike, was a Rickle of Stones thrown in to stop People's Passage. They're a' but a rickle of sticks. A rickle o' useless boxes and trunks. We got all our rickle of things put on board. There is a rickle of loose stones around the shore of the island. And the spoutfish hidlin's skulk Underneath each sandy ruckle. A great ragged rickle of peats and stones. Such a rickle of furniture I never saw! A rickle of stone-grey sticks, the bones of a man of antique time. There wes a dunt, a shuggle, an a rickle o flames teirin out o the rocket's dowp, an up intae the hivvens it gaed ... The poor tenant patches up a miserable rickle, with a damp earthen floor, more like a humble sheep moan is soon made for the auld black ruckle. See naething but that rickle o' a house. Speke Hall Hoose o' Grenoch. An auld done rickle o' a place! Ere this year is ae mune aulder Dunbar's ruckle laigh sall be. What a rickle o' a dike. Aathing conters ye. Weety weather, the oot lichts, the auld 
  417. Hearin vbl. n.She aye ordered a dram, or a sowp kale, or something to us, after she had gi'en us a hearing on our announced to Miss Pratt, who immediately left the room for the purpose, as she said, of giving her a good hearing. [footnote: A good hearing in Scotland signifies the very reverse of what it expresses, and means neither more nor less than a downright scold.] He went up to the stable, and gave old Broadcast a hearing for not keeping his mare well enough. The next thing I heard was her gi'en Simon a hearin' for breakin' the crystal an' crockery ware. Bring them in, Elspeth, or a' gie them a hearin, — they've juist been the torment o' ma life. I got a hearin last nicht but I didna listen tae it. She got a hearing. He [it] wid be a job an' a hearing. What if the Monkshaugh family should countenance Mr Gideon, by giving him a day's hearing? The children's panel received a record number of referrals in 2001-2002 with nearly 40,000 children dealt with by the hearings system. Just three months earlier a report by Audit 
  418. Maud n.A tall middle aged man, with a bonnet, and a shepherd's madd or blanket. A round Hat or a large old Bonnet, and a blue and white Maad. The minstrel should wear over his dress what we call a Maud or Low Country plaid. It is a long piece of cloth about a yard wide wrapd loosely round the waist like a loose something like a Spanish Cloak. It is not of Tartan but of the natural colour of the wool with a very small black check which gives it a greyish look. Lying sleeping at ither's sides, baith happit wi wore a maud, fixed on his shoulder with a buckle. There was . . . an auld herd wui a maud on. A maud 
  419. Pellock n.Little Whales . . . which they call spout-whales or Pellacks. A Palach, a great Destroyer of since the days of yore, if indeed there is any similarity between a mermaid and a pellock. The pellochs turned as fat as a tiestie, and as round as a pellick. His lomos wap like pallo fins. A lass that the maister's awfu' taen up wi', or I hae nae mair gumption than a pullock. He shot a big pellack when he wis afloat. A “Paillag” came up an' awa' wi' wur nets. "Noo me legs is ferly numb afore thoo're been sittin' ten meenits. If thoo dinno watch theesel, thoo'll be as fat as a pallack. Or as fat as thee sister Bella," he added. Syne, glentin doun at our fore-fit I saw A pellock racin on afore the ship The second chiel was a thick setterel swown pallach. Yon pellac swo'n, powsoudy wife Wha brews the fusky. “A pallek o' a seth”, a plump coalfish. Might as weel try tae meuve a hill As trail yin pallo roond 
  420. Sourock n.It produced a fine crop of red surak. Though round thy lum the sourick grows. Ye hae been eating sourrocks instead o' lang-kail. Sour as a sourack, and round as a neep. A bunch o' surrock seed in his sourocks. Dock and sourag are yet in the land. For organs, me, I dinna care a sourock. This dumplin' tastes like sourocks. Whaar no a girse pile, or a soorik, Fir a muldy-hadd need try. Sourock leaves can very well as “Gowk's Meat,” or “Cuckoo Sourocks.” Ye Sourocks, hafflines Fool, haf Knave, Wha hate a Dance or Sang. , was the appellation of a mild-tempered, kindly-milching beast; , of a sulky cow. What a shame it was that folk should be shamed nowadays to speak Scotch — or they called it Scots if they did, the split-tongued sourocks! She's a right soorock. Your mouth ony time I see't, is either wide open, wi' a' its buck-teeth in a guffaw, or as fast as a vice, in a dour fit of the sourocks.  
  421. Begeck v., n., adj.' a bluffert i' the ribs. , a “sell,” an unlooked-for disappointment. , , a trick, a misfortune, a disappointment. What a begaik he got, and him sae sure to win. Aye, he got a gey begick about so and so. The cleverest Callant that was there, Play himsell sic a slee Begeck that day. Oh! sic a begeik — it's jist you. I got another begeck at the dance when I met David Young, a game dealer, who is writing a book about the deserted island of Stroma in the Pentland Firth. He is lost for one fascinating piece of the island's history. I got an affa begeck fin e quine didna turn up. Weel, Davie got sic a begeck that he did fit the boolie telt him an it skytit alang like a curlin steen, richt tae the verra taes o the Blackbrae gang. After he's raised a needless reek, Syne he begins to grow mair meek, For he meets wi' a great begeek Frae empty binks. Frae east o't to wast o't there's no' a young blade But's 
  422. Pupit n.There's maybe naethin' wrang wi' a denner, but the next thing'll be an exchange o' poopits. A body wad think I had never seen a christenin', far less stood at the poopit-fit four times already. A' his claes an' poopit-goon were aye withoot a speck. He might ha' made a tolerable poupit-man. Jamie, my man, wad ye like to fill a poopit tae? Their Beards may all wag in the Pulpit. The poor parents were encouraged to hope that their bairn . . . “might wag his pow in a pulpit yet”. The time would yet come when he should “wag in a poopet like the best.” The Rev. Jonathan Tawse was not destitute of a desire to wag his pow in some particular “poopit” which he could call his own. [He], honest man, had a great desire to see his son “wag his pow in a poopit”. The time had been when Pryde had looked forward to being the first and not the second man in a parish, “to wag his head in a poopit”. On Sawbbaths in the poopit he wagged his auld white heid. Provost Renwick mann hae established a record, an' bei th' first 
  423. Smuirich v., n.Young Sandy kiss'd them ane an' a', An' Harry smoorich'd mair than twa. Yon nicht I juist hed a nae ane there tae leuk. I saw them smoorichin in a corner. Does a lass laek a smoorikin ony da less intil a dumplin o' a waitress half his age, his sporran heist till her apron - an her kecklin like a kittlin. To lay my lips to hers, by way o' imprintin' a smurach thereon. . . . An awfu' smoorich o' a kiss as if he had been gaun to wirry her. A smourock or a cheeper. Wad ye hae ony objeckshuns tae me takin' ye in o' my oxters an' gien' ye a bit smearich o' a kiss? [He] syne ga' her the idder smuirich o' a kiss. Young Jockie an' the lass frae Gicht, Hae mony a smoorach oot o' sicht. Twas aye afore her 
  424. Drap n., v.But we'll aye get a bit bread and a drap kale, and a fire-side, and theeking ower our heads. He responded by saying he now maintains a clean sward by having a "wee drappie" of lawn sand always to hand. She measured oot a' thing sae preceese, doon to the puckle o' sugar and drappie milk. The tenant's swackened the latch Wi a jeelip o Grassic Gibbon, A swatch o Scott, A drappie Stevenson An lick an spit o can my dream betoken? - My dearie, are ye deid? Ah'll hae a wee drop sugar. Would ye like a wee drap mair cake? In truth! the drap ink in her pen Seems frozen wi' distress o't. A wee drap parritch, naething mair. Though she likes a drappie, I dinna think she would invent a lee, or carry ane. Can you give us that whisky so we can give him a reviver. A wee drappie? C'mon just a wee one. "A dinner or supper of vendace, with other combinations of fish or fowl, is a feast for gods and men. They melt in the mouth as a sweet, and a wee drappie from the town cellars to wash it down is the height of gastronomic 
  425. Bicker n.2, v.2Now settled Gossies sat, and keen Did for fresh Bickers birle. Tell Peggy to gi'e ye a bicker o' broth. . A wooden cup; drinking-vessel; round wooden vessel with an upright handle on one side. I saw trenchermen, and can right nobly “claw a bicker” and “toom a stoup” with any man. It canna grind a bickerfu' of meal in a quarter of an hour. Wi' a brown bickerfu' to quaff. Give plowmen's heads the bicker-cut for a penny. . The name given to an indecent frolick which formerly prevailed in harvest, after the labourers had finished dinner. A young man, laying hold of a girl, threw her down, and the rest covered them with their empty bickers. I am informed that, within these thirty years, a clergyman, in at a sacrament, debarred all who had been guilty of engaging in the . A little apart sat a boy, whom the woman seemed to favour, having provided him with a plateful of porridge by himself, but the fact 
  426. Laip v., n. diedis of weir, Quhill he lepit the blude to the kyngdome deire. The red low, laipin' up a' green thing. His bed the yird, his drink just as it ran, A lape o' water in the heel o's han'. To see gin I could get a leap or twa o' sowens. What a hungry lape it [sea] has a' alang the bottom o' the bit toon whar they get the haddies. An' a lick oot o' that wife's puock, An' a lick o' the mutur, an' a laep o' the dam. In some districts a certain sound given by the sea, when a storm is brooding, is known as the “deid lapp o' the sea”, and is believed to foretell disaster. A laep o' porridge is a small quantity taken out of a bowl. Gie yer face a bit lape. You would not have known that this thing had been, but for the small pools, or lappies, as they are called, which now glittered in the sun. A street in 
  427. Lumber n.For the tiresomely fashionable, it is not a place [the disco], if you will excuse an old-fashioned phrase, "to get a lumber". Perish the thought, gauche as it would appear, that these bright young things even need to be good-looking. With a face like a melted Wembley Size 5, they can still get a lumber. is to meet and establish a relationship with a member of the opposite sex: 'How'd ye get on at that party ... did ye get a lumber?' a person is to chat her or him up successfully: 'That guy you're hingin aboot wi wis tryin tae lumber us last night.' "When males spot a 'wee stoater' (good-looking, and they might get a 'lumber' (pick-up) ... Here courtship rituals run apace, as the boys do their best to get a lumber. A glamorous Glasgow-based hackette has been swanning around Prague on her hen night with a posse of sexy pals. But tragically for her and her mates, not one of them managed to get a 
  428. Boar n.We [the Scots] confound Boar and Bear. A bear is a rough, shaggy, unwieldy animal. A boar is a male 
  429. Bullister n.O! sourer than the green bullister, Is a kiss o' Robin-a-Ree. He hasna a heart bigger than a 
  430. Frail n.1, v.The implement for this [ ] being a sieve composed of a wooden frame and a sheepskin bottom which was called a “frail.”  
  431. Keechle v.1, n.What's a' that keechlin' about, Sairey? Unco-like on-goings in a manse kitchen. He gae a kind o' a 
  432. Lepp n.A skin-lepp, a auld lepp o' a kessi, a pokilepp. Girzzie said, as shu huved hirsel' apo' da kishie 
  433. Pile-fish n. comb.A fisher may have a visit from a hammer-headed shark or a pile-fish which adds greatly to the 
  434. Skert n.A ewe with a skirt on the right nose. A bit before on left lug, and a skirt in right nose.  
  435. Binner v., n.1 , , to knock loudly, to rumble. There was a lass binnerin' at the door. As I binnered back the bed door To see what 'twas o'clock. A wheel is said to , when going round with rapidity, and emitting a humming sound. Syne — whare's the hearth, and whare the chips — Ye [Robin Redbreast] binner to' binnerin' in tae the close, as if he had run awa. Binthers o' thunner. He'll hae's fling, an' kick up a gey binner or he gets his nichtlins waucht o' Rhenish. , a rattling or rumbling noise, like that of cart wheels on a frost-bound roadway. The win' wis i' ma back, an' dreeve ma afore't at a binner nae mowse. Dyod, ye cam in wi' sic a binner 'at A thocht a' the warlicks i' Buchan wiz at yer tail. Aye, if he wis comin' in his fite claes, bodybulk, I doot ye wid be a' in a binner, as weel's the horses. . . . I kent fin ye wis in sic a binner 'it a' wisna richt.  
  436. Bode n. gaen, if he doubles his bode that gate. I took da coo back fae da roop, fir I niver got a bod for her. The first bode o' marriage is laden wi' luck, An' the lassie was gyte for a man. And what a voice! it rings ower a' the closs “Bring oot the filly,” an' he asks for bodes. I refused fifty-five shillings for her, which was the highest bode I could squeeze for her. Ye should never tak a fishwife's first bode. Expounding dreams, and bodes of every sort. I wad like to ken if I am to be a married woman. I'll hae a'e mair bode at ony rate. If ye miss a kind reception up stairs, ye may come down again, and gie a poor body a fleein' bode. Did du get a bod ta da weddin? . A personal invitation; distinguished from , which denotes an invitation by means of a letter or a messenger. I'll be lookin' for a 
  437. Grassum n., v. in use to pay every eleventh Year, at a Medium, a Grassum of a Year's Rent. Till he can lend the stoitering state a lift Wi' gowd in gowpins as a grassum gift. Grassum are now almost unknown in Ayrshire. The lease stipulated a grassum but it seems such grassum was not ultimately exacted. The Deans of the Chapel Royal . . . generally take a grassum for nineteen years. One of the lords of Findlater . . . gave . . . a life-interest in the knows as “ ,” as a grassum or compensation, in consideration of his erecting a “Beating-Mill” on Isla side. Nowadays grassum is used generally to denote any lump sum payable under a contract in addition to the periodical payments thereby stipulated, . the payment or duplication stipulated in a modern contract of ground annual is often referred to as a grassum. If any grassum is paid by a Tenant, or any consideration other than the stipulated rent, the nature and value 
  438. Hochle v., n.My auld, ga'd gleyde o' a meere has huch-yall'd up hill and down brae. Some hunk'rin at a lee dyke can scarcely hougel. When a kintra wench or yochil Doun to the City for the first time hochil. A wee, lang-faced, weaver-looking cratur ye could hae stappit in your breek-pouch, an never hochled a bit the kinrik whase puir king Hochled his lane ti walcome us ashore, Thou'rt not a hochlan scleurach, dear, As. I heard a woman say to her mother who was bed-ridden, “Give yourself a hoikle”, . Try and lift yourself up in bed. He was a houghal to look at — most unlike a runner. He had a limping way of walking, . . . was round shouthered. He's a sore of a craithur. I wonner whaur that glaikit hochle o' a lassie 
  439. Maik n.Wee toddlin callans hain their orie maiks. But first they toss them up a maik, To learn what course they ought to take. The Soger lads or navy blades, Should ay be recompens'd wi' makes For't a' their days. An' that was ca'd threepence, twa maiks frae a groat. At weddings it was the custom (until commonly shouted, “Maiks, maiks, maiks”. Please, a make box o' skaillie. A body that has nayther maikin's or mailin's, hoose or haud. They're as daft as a maik watch that gie's you the chance, Jean. The directors who control its every movement, Know its value as an antique to a “make”. She looked at the toys, but she hadna a maik. Even when he was having ecstatic reviews and I either none or frivolous ones, when his books were making pounds and mine maiks,... "A meek, a meek," the boy repeated. "You're not another of them. Do you not know what a meek is?" "No," said Iain who was beginning to get a little frightened. "A meek is a halfpenny."  
  440. Mant v., n.There was a manting Lad in , Wha cou'd na for his very Life Speak without stammering very lang Yet. I'll rather take a manter like your man Geordie, than be left a single leddy. Demosthenes, a mauntin bit didna say't. He . . . tell'd you a' his sermon down Without a maunt. The former having what we call in Scotland a , a sullen visage, and a brawling temper. This ane said he had a squaky vice, an' that ane said he had a mant, an' the tither ane that he clippit his words. 'Tis my little sister sic a mant, an' ae clog-fit as weel. It's no for makars to upvant Themsel's; lat mummers mak a mant O' a' their makins.  
  441. Porr v., n.For a stoif chimney without back tangs, show, and poring iron . . . £7 8 0. A chimblow, toaings, chuffel, and purring jorn. Ay my boys, that's ploughmen for ye, That ye're kings an' a' may pur ye. I got purred with a thistle. A've purred ma finger. A . . . very thin casten behind, with a little white Spot on her Face, and a Pore Mark on or above her right Thigh. A simple pur wi' a bodie's fit, Maks 't rin a most prodigious bit. , as its name implies, is also a school game. It consists in pair smith tongs and a porr and Skivell. Dockans, skeollag, carran, an' purrs. 'Puddex', often shortened to 'dex', is the Loretto name for small cricket. It is played with a tennis ball and a porringer 
  442. Wig n.3 . Take a Quarter of a Peck of Flour, rub into it three Quarters of a Pound of Butter, something more than Half a Pound of Sugar, a little Nutmeg and Ginger grated, three Eggs well beaten; put to them half a Mutchkin of thick Barm, and a Glass of Brandy, make a Hole in your Flour, and pour all in, with as much warm Milk as will make it in a light Paste. They were leaving all the significance and splendour and gaiety of the Metropolis, and were . Whig is likewise the name of a leavened wheaten bread, with thin crust, brown and round above, and white and flat below, gradually contracting to a point at each end. Taking up a farthing whig for her afternoon tea. Wi' shortbread, whigmen, toast, and buns its various forms for small buns containing currants. The name is still used for buns of a triangular shape, set in a circle, with their apices toward the centre. The name is also still used for thin 
  443. Divide v.There wuz lots o' work in it, bnt the work wasna richt divid. And bocht a bit heifer at ane o' the mairts, Whilk was kill't and dividden in three equal pairts. A divid it in twa last nicht; A hae divid it in twa just noo; A hae dividen it in twa just noo We divvid them as well as we cud. There happened to be in the kitchen two silver jugs, one dozen table-spoons, a divider and a fine table-cloth. Silver soup divider, fiddle pattern. A pair o' small dividers. A large spoon of green horn of dimensions equal to the rapacity of an ogress. It is called by the Lowlanders a “divider” . . . its mouth was rimmed with silver, the shaft ornamented with the same, terminating in a whistle. He gave it [the punch] with a pewter dividing-spoon which had served the broth. Stealing from thence two dozen of silver table-spoons, a silver dividing-spoon, three silver tea-spoons, two punch-spoons. A divideing Silver 
  444. Moch n.1, v.1Half ate'n wi' the mochs. A monster o' a mouch, dat lang, 'at fell oot o' da faulds o'm apo' da flor. Jeruslam is a bony piece Nae mouch or mooswab thare. So I runkit oot the aul' portmanty pyoke, shook the dist an' the mochs oot o't. Like mochs aroon a caunle-flame, the mirlin mem'ries heeze: “It's a' moch-eaten,” Jeemie said, crumbling the edge of a board between his finger and thumb. In the neuk fornent the ga'el winnock (sat) a moch-aeten kist. Ye moch-aiten, gabbin' gawpus. A heap of hose is a mochy pose. Gin mochie kirks wad teach us mair O' nature's arts and graces. Jist shut yer mochy office desk, An' spen' a day at Dinnet, man. Nae lowpin jauds, bit driddlan slaw - wi skeel an-men. The caterpillar or moch worm had made that tae hap itsel in a' winter. A great gaitherm o claes lyin mochin in a kist. My gansey's aa mocht.  
  445. Slaiger v., n.Wi' bauchles a' slaiggered owre. [We] whiles gat a lickin' for slaig'rin' oor claes. Himsel 'll gang ower wi' a slaigerin soss, Heid-ower-heels, in the sheuch that his ain hauns howkit. Slaigger yer breid weel wi' jeely. Some o' ye slaigered the baith ends o' it. A bunnet, auld an' slaigered wi' pent oot o' a jar. Whit Ah widnae gie fur a fish supper, slaiggered wi salt an vinegar. His hair wiz slaigert doun wi brylcream. I'm tired gaun slaigerin' through a place like this a' morning. Wi' slorpin earth being all turned mire and slagger. A slaiger o' dirt; a slaiger o' cauld parritch. To clap a slaiger o' mustard on't. A callan that splairges an ugsome slaiger on his ain name. An illdeedie, muck-th'-byre slaeggur! The saecond last pock was sae slaiggery. A slagger o' blaeberry pie an' ream.  
  446. Swack n., v.1, interj.The taties come out wi' a swack. The fell auld lord took the whig such a swauk wi' his broadsword that he made twa pieces of his head. The steeple rock't at ilka swack. A small dog has less command over the sheep than a large one, which comes round with a heavy swack. A' the langboard now does grane. Syne swacked they swords in deidly wroth. Used of a person carrying on a business in a hap-hazard fashion. Of a man who made a great show to start with but became insolvent: "He gaed hackan an swackan about a while but cam doun afore i the end." Thor't the road till a midden peel, Did dook and dabble 
  447. Trollop n., v.Fat's a blash o' tea an' a fluff o' loaf-breid to a lang, teem trallop like you? The first o' a breed o' buists and trallops. A lang treelip o' a fite horse. The chackit daidle, or bit brattie, That hings in trollops on your dawtie. His kilt wiz a' in trollops. A lang trallop o' a fite dud. Ah eywis look trollopie in a skirt an blouse. Initially, Sauce Burd confined herself to comments about the wear the kilt in such a "trollopy" fashion. That's a right trollopie coat ye're wearin. The bairn cam in ass caul's geal, wee 'ts frockie a' trollopin' aboot it's leggies. And there in the middle of 
  448. Curpin n., v.Oh had I but Ten thousand at my Back, And were a Man, I'd gar their Curpons crack. Sicklike, when gentles fa' in a mistake, Or in their curpin sud there prove a crack, That sair, wi' a' our art, will never heal. Your paid, your skin paid, you got a drubbing. Cupid, the little sinner, wi, bow in hand, an' quiver on curpin. Now Eppie had a daughter, called Lingletail'd Nancy, because of her feckless growth, her waist was like a twitter, had nae curpen for a creel. The he for a harrow taks, An' haurls at his curpan. The fool fearlessly managed to keep his seat on the curpin of the sow. Syne aff in a call this the “curpin.” It passes under the tail and keeps the “saiddle” in place. Without a curpin, bit, or saddle, Upon a broom-stick ride astraddle.  
  449. Doonset n.By my faith, but you have a bein downset. A bien dounsettin', and a sufficiency o' gear. I wad judge she's past the cooin', cushiedoo stage, an' will sensibly consider this chance o' a guid doon-settin'. I tell you Martha has got a fine downsetting there! [after visiting his sister and her husband] This is a very dandy doon-settin, Robert. [Referring to a Burns supper.] Nowise disconcerted at the she had received. She'll hae maybe seen the doonsettin' I gied Bark-at-a' about the Seat rents. She would hae been nane the waur o' a down-settin' frae auld Inchfernie. Was not yon an awfu' speech? . . . Ay, it was a downsetter. , such work as overpowers with fatigue. It is also applied to calamitous' beir And cleeve their heads fram ear to ear, Wi' terrible down-sett. Hit's just a doonset a time.  
  450. Fillebeg n.He thought fitt to make a present of his Feelybeg this morning to the boy Maclain. No Man or Boy plaid, An' guid claymore down by his side. The country dress . . . is a bonnet, a short coat, a little kilt, or philebeg, tartan hose, and a plaid. As if she had never seen a shentleman in a philabeg pefore. Others, again, still wore the highland philabeg. Its capital [Inveraray] become a Lowland town in all except the language, with a philabeg or weapon scarcely to be seen upon its causeway, save on a fair or market day. Roun' his hairy form there was naething seen, But a philabeg o' the rashes green, And his knotted knees played ay knoit between: What a sight was Aiken-drum!  
  451. Mercal n.A square hole is cut through the lower end of the beam, and the , a piece of oak about 22 inches is affixed. But what manners are to be expected in a country where folk call a pleugh-sock a markal? This sewchar soc or digger is fastened on a piece of wood of triangular shape called the markal pin; the sewchar is fastened on this markal pin with two nails, but before being fastened finally, a little hair out of the tail of a mare that has had two foals and a little of the hair of a cow that has had two calves, and also a little wool from a ewe that has had twin lambs, must be put round the point of 
  452. Peat n.2You're dear to mammie an' to dad Oor ain wee peetly pailwur. I wis jist a wee bit peat o' a quine auld fule! to mint sic madness. The folk aboot the place thocht her a prood peat, and left her very, Pray him, and pay him to bespeak the Judge. As like being a kin to a peatship and a sheriffdom, as a sieve is sib to a riddle. . . . Formerly, a lawyer, supposed to be under the peculiar patronage of any particular judge, was invidiously termed his peat or pet. Each lord [of Session] had a “Pate” — that is, a dependent member of the bar (sometimes called Peat), who, being largely fee'd by a party, could on that 
  453. Scailie n.Blew Sclate, or Scaley of several sizes. 8000 scailyie to the tolbooth. Slates of a gray colour, ordinarily made use of for covering houses, and those of a blue colour, which they call Skelley. A skallie table, with tressts and four sconces. The Earle of Cathness waints a parcell of Isdalle scalie sclate, which are certainly the finest in Britain. To a new Mullet [ muller] for a Skailiebroad . . . . . . .3s. To thatch the foreside of the Tolbooth with Scailzie. Finding no Coal but a black skailly, or “skeelie”. A skartin skeelie on a skuil sklate. Chawin' at his skalie, Mummlin' ower a sum. That's skilie, hen; slate pincil — ye yase it whin ye gae t' skail. "Never a calculator or computer in sight. Just a skilly (slate pencil) and slates."  
  454. Sneevil v., n. his nose. The kilt he exchanged for a braw pair o' breeks, The Gaelic nae langer did snivel. Ye wud think ye wur amang a ship-load o' Cheenamen, sneevelin that wey. One who talks through a cleft palate ilka word o' that. Sneevellin hypocrites. Do you mean yet to gang sneevling after a lass whase folk gie out that you want nought but her tocher? A body that wad sneivle doon to cheat. Snaivlin', sneck-drawin', key-hole-keekin' hypocrisy. A weegle in her walk had Kate Darymple, A sneevil in her talk. One of the girls had a burr, and the other a snivel. A sneevil he had contracted from an extraordinar' love o' snuff. Mr Grant, who had a sort of sneevil when speaking. A kind of “sneevle ” in his speech.  

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Results prior to 1700
From A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue
Showing results of the first 46 results

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  1. A indef. art.A man A sone, … a litill page A martyre, … a thousand A gait, a gymer or a dynmont At a fest [He] hid him in a busk A warians Scotland was a kinrik A clos volt For a tyme To beir a croune A bald battel A ballet sett out in print against ministers A vnwemmyt virgine Sic a ydiot A oracyon A abell persoun A euill end A yle A afald mynd A occasione A othir ring Half a onc[e] of tobacco A eight dayes A twenty chosyn men A xxx [= thretty] saill of men of war About a twa and twentie … yeirs Sonday come a fyveten days A sextie saills of warre A fourtene ȝeir syne Onc[e] a thre 
  2. A num.A thing will I to ȝow say In a nycht and in a day On a day Of a mylk and of a clath The grettast a schype off thame all Thar salbe rasyt a general ȝelde or ma He has bot a citee in his contree Sen al gais a gait to the erde The harpare with the a hand Within twenty a dayis … folowand Thy a son Under a mind Baith of a blude The sacrament of a breid and a coupe Paull … At a kirk did not ay remane Suppose Christ be ea thing in himselfe Scho schew me a day … a ballet Befoir ae baillie 
  3. Truphane n.A trumpour a trvcour A hangman a hasardour A tyrant a tormentour A truphane a tratlour  
  4. Sautouer n.A chefe, a bend, a fes, a pole, a cheueron, a wnde, a geron, a croix and a sautouer [F. ] And giff ȝe will wit quhat is a sautouer [F. ] luk in this buk the armes of Boudeuille There bene in armes callit two pynyons. One is quhen the feild is a sawtry Saynt Andrewes crosse  
  5. Labial adj.A labiel symbol can not serve a dental nor a guttural sound; nor a guttural symbol a dental nor a labiel sound A labial letter  
  6. A prep.1Land awest half the Cors A south the toun A eistell the wostell end Tua legues a this syd off … Being a schipboord He … went to Ely, a purpois to embarke Not … lang a doing That nathing be … a seiking The armies are near a-yocking The ludgeing was a faling  
  7. Tharm n.The tharmys and the bowellys rent A wide tharme had never a lang arme Stolen out of a house in Edinburgh … a gold watch moving with a thern, made by Richard Baker A plain silver watch … with a shagarin pin'd caice, goes with a phern  
  8. Bald n.A skeg, a scornar, a skald, A baldstrod and a bald Skaldis, baldis  
  9. Clouter n.A tornament … Betuix a talȝeour & a sowtar, A priklous and a coble clowtare [ . clowttar, . cloutter] Colonell Stuart was (as is constantlie reported) first a cloutter of old shoes  
  10. Prikett-hatt n. And at ilk man … be bodyn at the lest with … a sellat or a prikit [ prikett] hatt a suerde and a buclar a bow and a schaif of arrowis  
  11. Hemmyr-stand n.A brewyne fat, a hemmyr-stand, a bukket A mask fat … , a hammerstande ij hamerstandis and an 
  12. Bisom n.For water & bisomes to dycht the kirk , … a bissom A new bissome soupes clean A terrible comet … [with] a lang teall … lyk unto a bissom or scurge maid of wands Two bisemis, vj d. A comet of that kind, which … the vulgars [call] a firie bissome For 4 bissomes to the Towbuith Thesse 3000 years, ther was not a comet seen with such a … prodigious byssome and taill For 4 broom bissomes  
  13. Truffur n.A tyrant a tormentour A truphane a tratlour Truffuris  
  14. Res n.& to the pressone in a rese Went Men says that Hercules … a stage in a rese [: pes] Vald ryne, sa taking on reasses wp and doun the publict streitis A horse reace for a sadell, … and a foot reace for a bonet, and a paire of shoes  
  15. Graip n.The wrangus haldin of ane graip, a schul, a cowp, and ane sled The thre granyt ceptour, … lyk a crepar or a graip wyth thre granys Sleddis, crelis, forkis, spaid, graip, schewill, carseddillis Irone graippis with thair schaftis 2 muk graipis, a schuill Ane graipe, ane fute spaid, and ane peit spaid [He] with a graip kuist down a great part of the thack and divetts of the said hous Stryking the said Helen with ane graip Ane iron graipe, ane iron coall raick A surd, a grap, a fader bed, a cruk, a Chak, a forks, grapes, &c. Two irone graps and ane wyne hogeit To John Cars, smith … , for a grap  
  16. Frusch n.Quhill men mycht her … A gret frusche of the speres that brast Thar wes of speris sic bristing, … That it a veill gret frusche has maid A sudane thud maid sic a frusch, That all the wyndois at a brusche … Brak vp He and all his cumpany … In-till a frusche all tuk the flycht In a frusche … Thai schot apon thame hardely Than in a frusche assemblit thai  
  17. A interj.A, quhat thai dempt thaim felonly A! wysely luk, I pray the til And said, ‘A! A! gude Arreste’ Aa, Schir, mercie! A, ȝon is he  
  18. Libbar n.Scho callit to hir cheir … A libbar and a lyar [In Crook of Devon,] Ye confessed … that ye was a witch, a charmer, and a libber  
  19. Coble Clowtare n.Betuix a talȝeour & a sowtar, A priklous and a coble [ . hobbell] clowtare  
  20. Treper n.A rost irne a treper a creill A trepper for the kettells  
  21. Brogit adj.The ȝeman that is nane archere … sal haif … a gude ax or ellis a brogit staff ij hand ax, a brogit staff, ij swordis Thre hand axis, a brogit staf Ane Dense ax, a broggit staff with a spere A respit 
  22. Quhim-quhame n.It stall fra peteous Abrahane Ane quhorle and ane quhum quhame A whum whan to a pair of wakeris sheiris A whim wham for a goos brydel This is [sic] a pretty whimwham good for nothing. Oh a serious solid zealous minister should have been ashamed to have substituted such whity whaties in the place of a 
  23. Hart-horn n.Ane hart horne heirs A jowell … maid in form of a heirse of a harthorne na mair nor a mannis hand A prettie hart horne, nocht exceiding in quantitie the palme of a manis hand, was arteficiallie 
  24. Fariar n.Scho callit to hir cheir … A fond fule, a fariar, A cairtar, a cariar  
  25. Lantter n.A pot, thre qwarttis, a spet and lantter, a peudar chader, a dis [etc.]  
  26. Souse v.2Kisse a cairle & clap a cairle & tyne a carle douse a carle and souss a carle and win a carle If 
  27. Bunwed n.The ja, as a juglour, … couth cary the cowpe of the kingis des, Syne leve in the sted Bot a blak bunwed To mak a wicht hors of a wand, … A bunwed tyll a burly spere Sum buklit on ane bwnwyd Ane beist bund with ane bunwyd Marion Hunter … declaired … that she was in Gallowberriehill, and rode vpon a 
  28. A prep.2Quhat kynd a man Of men a weir By aliuin a clok For finding a coall  
  29. Skettso n.A skettso where the kinge sitts under a throne reachinge out a sceptre to a woman  
  30. Chapin n.The kow [to] give a chapin [ . choppin] was wont to giue a quart A chapine of aqua vitie Ane chapine oilie … to the new bell Thair was spent that tyme four chapines wyne Half a muchken of aquavitie, … 3 chapineis of wyne The session … inhibited all drinking after both sermons endit, save of a chapon of ell drinking Tuentie pynts of clarett wyne & a chapine 3 loves and a chapin aill The Duchemenis Fyve chappenis seck … ane chappein at tua merk and a half the pynt A chappine of secke Infuse in a a chapping can Ane pint and chapeine stoopes A peuther chappin stoup … A English chappin peuther 
  31. Rane n.Bot ay the bischope in a rane [ arane] Beheld hyr bewte, and nocht fane He … cryit ay in til a rane [: Damyane] [The Howlat] Rolpit … in a rude rane Euer spendand in ane rane, Quhill all that he hes is quyte gane Quhair suld be rest, thay rattill ay in a rane A fule … Cryis gif me gif me in till a rane The ky … rairing ran rid wood, rowtand in a rane [ raine, reane] Swa suld I dulle hale yhoure delyte, And yhe sulde call it bot a rane [ arane] Sa that the fors al of my dyt In til a lumpe to be our-tane And to be defamyt as a rayne To tell the al how mycht befall, To lang a ran men wald it call Sa come the ruke with a rerd and a rane roch Thow barrant wyt … Schaw now thy beggit termis and royt ressons baith roundalis and ryme This is our auld a rayne [: gane, wane]  
  32. Sesam n.Then with a daring boldnesse thou reviles That sacred name, and with base skurrill stiles (Though in a roguish, comick, jesting sort) Thou makes of it a sesam, a skuff, a sport  
  33. Mash n.A quarrell mell, a pick, a mattock, 4 wadges, 3 mashs A great quarrell mell, 2 mashes  
  34. Birthing n.Of a byrthyng on a manis bak of brede or lekys a farding Of a byrthing of mercery a farding Tak 
  35. Remording ppl. adj.As quhen wee say, a peaceable conscience, a remording or a byting conscience A consort sweet … By organs of mine eare, allayes All mind-remording cares O what a terrour wounds remording soules  
  36. Prunella n.[A gown of] black prunaly A black prinaloy gowne 1 ell of blak silk prunella A prinnaly gown Silk prinella gouns For … his grace's prinella sad breetches 3 drope silk 16 d. A drope of sad silk to dress a pair of prunella bodies Dressing a prunaly petticoat A night gown of prunely 1 prunaly 
  37. Mychar n.A wich and a wobstare, A milygant and a mychare So mony theiffis and mycharis richt weill kend  
  38. Halflin n.A man servant of younger years, commonly called a halfling, being a domestick servant, is to have yearly for fee and bounteth twenty merks Scots Thomas Abel, a haflin John Adam, tailor, a halflin  
  39. Stepe adj.A steipe, round and heigh toped rockey montaine A steip and rough hill The sea rocks are very steep and high A steep hill, hardly (if at all) rydable Lintoun Linn, which is a steep downfall of water from a rock I cam away from Lanerick in a very steep raine  
  40. Muft adj.A muft cat was never a gud raton taker [ (1721) A mufled (= mittened) cat was never a good hunter]  
  41. Ȝarking Fat n.A mask fat, a wort stane, price 15 s., a saa, a yarking fat, price 4 s. 8 d.  
  42. Wynd n.3A quarter of beif takin for a penny of custum, a cabok of cheis takin for a halfpenny of custum, a wynd off quhite claith for a penny of custum Wynde of white linen … [spoke … of the approaching event 
  43. Yssen v.The best way to mak a kow to yssen is that shoe be weill wintered and not hungered A forrow kow is a kow that is yssen'd or gives milk anes in the two year A nuckle kow or a teadie kowe is a kowe 
  44. We n.‘May I traist in the me to waik Till ik a litill sleping tak' … The king then wynkyt a litill wey twyst Rycht thane, as vyse & sle He bethoucht hyme a lytil we That scho mycht neuir his nam kene Vlixes … With drawand woce a litill we, Richt fast falȝeand in-to strenth … all waikly Spered The king smirkit ane litill wee Crawfurd leit draw the saill a litill we Than quod the king a lytill wei and leuch, ‘Sir fuill [etc.]’ Dido, astonyst a litill wie At the first syght [etc.] With a burdon … The poynt scharpit and brynt a litill we The cloude ane lytill we Discouerit wes, that tha micht better se Thairon [ a knife] scho straik hir hand a litill we Amaist ane drop of blude that ȝe micht se Wy He a lytil we Of the fresche blude, & vet his ee The Scottis archeris alsua Schot emang thame so sturdely … That thai vayndist a litell we Behynd hir a litill we It fell We sal fenȝhe ws as we walde fle, And withe draw us a litil we Quhene he … wist that [in] a lytil we For falt of met the barne suld de 
  45. Braid n.Quhene the angel had this sad, The fellone fende mad a brade, & … held his gate In his walknyng, wytht a brayde, … thai twa rapys … He brak The cok start bakwart in ane braid Till that the pig brak fra thame in a braid Scho … rais wp with a sudand braid Vnto the nimphe I maid a busteous braid With a braid I turnyt me about To se this court Wyth a braid, to Laocon infeir Thai start atanys Sum … Ruschit on thar fays with a feirfull braid Vnto my bed scho maid a braid Of his band he maid a bred, And to the danceing son he him med The sun … was abowe our hemisphere vplifted with a braid Then a brok shal make a braid on a braid field He gaue ane braid with his brand to the beirne by The wale [= veil, Quhen he wes brankand in his brayd To presume vpon the prerogatiue … were a braine-sick brade  
  46. Naysay n.A good asker should have a good naysay They cannot take a nay-say I sau God's providence neyther totally dejecting me by ane absolut naysay nor [etc.] When Christ seems to give you a nay-say He sent out other servants & they got a nay-say, yet he will not take a nay-say  

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