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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.

BLUDIE, BLUIDY, Bleedy, Bluid, adj. Also bludey (Lnk. 1880 W. Grossart Shotts 28), bliddy. Sc. forms of Eng. bloody. Also informal as intensifier. For phonetics see Blude.Abd.(D) c.1760 J. Skinner Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn in Amusements, etc. (1809) ix.:
But thus, poor thing, to lose her life, Aneath a bleedy villain's knife.Abd. 1996 Norman Harper and Robbie Shepherd Anither Dash O' Doric 37:
'Gawa back and tell them ti wug their airms. It'll mak nae bliddy difference.' m.Sc. 1939 James Barke The Land of the Leal (1987) 428:
' ... The bliddy Fifers hae got me corrupted a'thegither.'
'But the bliddy Fifers haven't done you much harm by the look o' you, Sanny?' m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 31:
Swats made nae bliddie corses oniwey,
in boattle, tankard, tassie, gless or joug. m.Sc. 1997 Tom Watson Dark Whistle 58:
Well fuck yer sangs an' fuck yer crack,
Thir nae bliddy guid, thir jist the slack
Tae damp doon the dander o' folk oan the rack, ... em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 22:
'Whit's she findin sae bluidy funny?'
'Nothing,' said Hugh. 'Look, I definitely don't know you.'wm.Sc. 1974 Roddy McMillan The Bevellers 27:
Honest tae God and Jesus, Rouger, you're a needle o the first bliddy mettle. wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 25:
Hoi, Ah niver heard sich bliddy nonsense.
You're a daft pair o' articles, ah don't know! Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 138:
An' bludie sportsmen, owre the dale, Brought birrin pairtricks down.Lnk. 1998 Duncan Glen Selected New Poems 47:
all men will leave me
if I love them
name: faither sun: faither mune: faither bluidy mars:
faither.

Combs.: 1. bluid(y) alley, -ally, “a boy's marble, used for pitching . . . [gen.] painted with blue and red lines” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D. Add. s.v. bluidy alley). E.D.D. says “in gen. dial. use”; 2. bludie-bells, “foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, an herb. Dead-men's Bells, synon.” (Lnk. 1825 Jam.²); 3. bleedy doctor, (a) the ichneumon fly, Ophion purgatus, from its blood-red legs and its penetrative ovipositor (Abd. 1954); (b) the male three-spined stickleback, Gastrosteus aculeatus, whose underparts turn red during the breeding season (Abd. 1940); 4. bluidy-fingers, (1) as 2 (Gall. 1825 Jam.²). Given in E.D.D. for Bwk. and also for some counties in Eng.; (2) “the laburnum” (w.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); 5. bluidy-, blood(y)-puddin(g), bleedie puddin, “a ‘black pudding' of blood, suet, onions, and pepper in part of a sheep or ox gut” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D. s.v. bloody-pudding; bleedie puddin Sh., Ork., Bnff. 2000s, Abd. 1993); given as obs. in N.E.D. under form blood-pudding, with quots. 1583 and 1741; 6. bleedie Tam, a boys' game (see quot.).1. Slg. 1914 T.S.D.C. I. 23; Ayr.⁴ 1928, bluid alley:
Bluidy ally, a small white marble with red marks.3. (b) Abd. 1963 Press and Jnl. (20 July) Suppl. I:
Little dams into which minnows and bleedy doctors strayed.4. (1) Lnk. 1928 W. C. Fraser Yelpin' Stane vi.:
Looking into a clear pool, that reflected like a looking-glass the waving ferns and gaudy “Bluidy-fingers,” he saw that it was alive with beautiful speckled trout.Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 63:
Frae rankly-growing bri'ers an' bluidy-fingers.w.Dmf. 1899 J. Shaw Country Schoolmaster 344:
Bluidy-fingers, fox-gloves; in Renfrewshire called Dead-men's bells.5. Sc. 1706 First Earl of Cromartie in Earls of Crm. (ed. Fraser 1876) II. 1:
Vnless wee be a part each of other, the vnion will be as a blood puddin to bind a catt, i.e. till one or the other be hungry, and then the puddin flyes.Sh.(D) 1918 T. Manson Humours Peat Comm. I. vii.:
Puddins? Dir no comin wi bluidy puddins ipu da tap o aa dis, ir dey?Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Sc. Poems (1925) 57:
And white and bloody puddins routh, To gar the Doctor skirl, O Drouth!6. Abd. a.1890 Sc. N. & Q. III. 178:
A boys' game known by the sanguinary title of Bloody Tom. . . . A number of boys joined hands and formed themselves into a ring, with one as keeper in the centre, and another as Bloody Tom, who takes his place outside. . . . He touches [one in the ring] lightly on the shoulder, and starts a race round the ring, the one touched dropping out and following him. If the pursuer fails in touching B.T. before he passes the part of the ring he left he becomes the prisoner of the marauder.