Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1702-1795, 1856-1884
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BURSAR, n. Also burser. The holder of a Bursary or scholarship. Gen.Sc. [′bʌrsər]Sc. 1702 T. Morer Account Scot. 85:
There are also 50 Bursers more like our Exhibitioners than Scholars of Houses.Sc. 1755 S. Johnson Dictionary:
Bursar: students sent as exhibitioners to the universities in Scotland by each presbytery, from whom they have a small yearly allowance for four years.Sc. 1856 J. Grant Harry Ogilvie or the Black Dragoons xxxii.:
With . . . a bursar fresh from Glasgow College I came here.Fif. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XIII. 194:
In each college . . . there is also a public table for the bursars on the foundation.Edb. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife and Kinross 116:
St Salvador's College . . . was founded by bishop James Kennedy, nephew to King James I. . . . He built the College and endowed it with competent Revenues. . . . There are in it a Provost and Four Masters for teaching Philosophy, called Regents, and Eight poor Scholars called Bursars, at the Foundation.Gsw. 1884 H. Johnston Martha Spreull (1930) 34:
I have passed a good wheen bursars through my hands — clever billies some o' them were, though whiles as daft as yetts in a win'y day.
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"Bursar n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/bursar>
