Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1824-1935, 1989
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BLINKER, n.1
1. The eye.Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
Occas. as a tabu-name, sea-term, occas. of a child's eye; de blinkers is doon (in sleepy children).Sh.7 1935Bnff.2 1935Abd.22 1935Arg.1 1935Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake, etc. 83:
Snug amang the ause, Auld baudrons dozed wi' sleepy blinkers.Ayr.8 1935
2. A heavenly body.Sc. 1824 R. K. Douglas Poems, etc. 43:
See where hauf-clouded sinks the moon! Fill, lads! we'll drink the blinker down.Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
Blinker. Star, tabu-word, used by fishermen at sea.Sh.7 1935, obs.Ags. 1867 G. W. Donald Poems, etc. 159:
As norlan' blinkers through a storm, My grim companion changed his form.
3. pl. "The eyelashes" (Bnff.2 1935; Lth. 1935 (per Lnk.3); Edb. 1898 E.D.D.; Bnff. 2000s).Gsw. 1989:
He'd take the eyes oot yer heid an come back fur the blinkers.
4. One nearly blind, or one blind of one eye.Sc. 1825 Jam.2:
Blinker. A person who is blind of one eye.Abd.22 1935em.Sc. 1912 W. Cuthbertson Dykeside Folk 153:
Although I'm blind I've a dail to be thankfu' for . . . whan I was a blinker I used til think that the trees, an' the stars, an' the Lammermuirs, was ill til bate; but ma een begood to get bad whan I was aboot seeven 'ear auld.
Used attrib.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake, etc. 24:
So blinker Rab said, "Freen's I troo We're a' near-han' the greetin' noo."
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"Blinker n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 12 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/blinker_n1>
