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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

BYOUS, BIAS, BYAS, BYUS, adj. and adv. [′bɑɪəs]

1. adj. Wonderful, extraordinary, exceptional (Ags.¹, Kcb.⁹ (obs.) 1938).Bnff.(D) 1918 M. Symon Wir Roup 2:
The ane he lent, ae byous day, Till's frien', douce Auchnagyle.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 254:
She dreided some herschip in the byous weather to her auld guidman.Gall. 1912 A. Chalmers in Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 291:
He was a maist byas man.Kcb. 1894 S. R. Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet xxxvii.:
There's a byous heap o' things has happened since then.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 261:
It's no' because its boughs are bus't in ony byus green; For simmer sairs it little now — it's no what it has been.

2. adv. Exceedingly, very (Bnff.², Ags.¹⁷ 1938).Mry.(D) 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. viii.:
Fat pleases me wi' the souter's play, lads, is the wy 'at he shifts withoot ever thinkin' aboot it. He's byous knackie at the shifts.Abd. 1808 Jam.:
Bias bonny, very handsome; bias hungry, very hungry.Abd. 1936 F. Hendry in Huntly Express (10 Jan.) 6:
McCulloch hid a pair o' cowtes in byous kittle bonn.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake, etc. 162:
I held mysel' as braw's the best, An' thocht me byous big.Gall.(D) 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 399:
They say Selkirk's a byous gude kin o' man for a Yerl, though.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
A byous clever callant.

Hence byouslie, adv., extraordinarily.Lth., Cld. 1825 Jam.²:
He was byouslie gude this morning.