Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BONABÄG, n. (See quot.)Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); 1914 Angus Gl. s.v. bônabag:
Bonabäg, dwindling; languishing; miserable state, esp. of cattle lean from hunger; come to b[onabäg], miserable; skinny (of cattle); sometimes in the expr. “gane to b[onabäg],” vanished; gone away; lost, both of living beings (animals) and of objects.