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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BRENN, BREN, Brend, v. [brɛn(d)]

1. To burn (Fif.¹, Arg.¹ 1935).Sc. 1991 John McDonald in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 88:
I lou the unkent virr
that brenns me as yon caunle brenns - lowe an tallie yin rummle.ne.Sc. 1884 D. Grant Lays and Leg. of the North (1908) 16:
The flame that brent within his briest — His first for maiden fair.Abd. 1882 W. Forsyth Sel. from Writings 17:
There simmer walks through fertile fields, An' brenns nae mair the nakit heath.

ppl.adjs. brenning, brendin', brent. See also Brunt, v.Ags. 1924 A. Gray Any Man's Life 45:
Tammas, wha can eat brent bread?Edb. 1928 A. D. Mackie Poems in Two Tongues 23:
Hap step and lowp she was owre the Cairns Wi' her claws in John's wame like brendin' airns.Hdg. 1905 J. Lumsden Edb. and Country Croonings 17:
The weel-kenn'd house . . . stude brent afore my een in the gray dawn.Ayr. 1847 Ballads and Songs of Ayrsh. (ed. J. Paterson) 27:
To beg my bread from door to door, I wis, it were a brenning shame.

2. To brand, fig.Sc. 1864 P. M'Neill Poems (1882) 49:
His brow was brent wi' the wecht o' years.

3. Comb.: brent new, brand new, quite new. Known to Abd.⁹, Fif.¹⁰, Lnk.³ 1935.Sc. 1822 A. Cunningham Trad. Tales I. 189:
But bide ye, let us lay our heads together, and build a brent new meeting-house.Sc. 1921 R. Bain James I of Scot. 3:
And here's another brent new ballad.Gsw. 1991 James Alex McCash in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 14:
Vital, brent-new, wind buff'd intill the
cauldrife, hyperboreal licht;
Sterling-midwived by the ferme-yaird's scaudin,
self-assignit muezzin.Ayr. 1793 Burns Tam o' Shanter (Cent. ed.) ll. 115–116:
Warlocks and witches in a dance: Nae cotillion brent new frae France.