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.
Quotation dates: 1785-1830, 1914-1929
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BUTCH, v. “To slaughter, to kill for the market” (Sc. 1825 Jam.2). [bʌtʃ]
Hence (1) butchin(g), vbl.n., butchering; known to Bnff.2 1937; (2) butching-gullie, a knife used by butchers.(1) Sc. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) II. 363:
The sight of a slaughter-house . . . excites in me uneasiness . . . likely to happen to a' men unaccustomed to see butchin.Ayr. 1785 Burns Death and Dr Hornbook (Cent. ed.) xiii.:
Sax thousand years are near-hand fled Sin, I was to the butching bred.(2) Ork. 1914 J. Firth in Old-Lore Misc., Ork., Sh., etc. VII. i. 33:
When relating the circumstances to some friends she jocularly remarked that she was sure the gullie (a large knife used for butchering pigs or cutting cabbages and hence called the butching-gullie or kale-gullie) was not far off.
Comb.: butch-hoose, slaughter-house (Abd.9, Fif.10 1937).Sc. 1929 C. S. Black in Scots Mag. (Nov.) 135:
It's doon in the butch-hoose they should be, the baith o' them.
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