Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

EEL, n.¹ Sc. usages. Also ell, il (Sh.).

1. In combs.: (1) eel-ark, an eel-trap; see also Ark, n.¹, 3; (2) eel-beds, the water crowfoot, Ranunculus aquatilis; “also extended to several species of pond weeds, prob. from a supposition that they harbour eels” (Rxb. 1886 B. & H. 165); also found in Nhb. dial.; †(3) eel-drooner, -drowner, lit. one who can drown an eel, i.e. perform the impossible; hence, an exceedingly clever fellow, used ironically and gen. with neg. (Rxb. 1825 Jam.²; 1923 Watson W.-B.); (4) eel-graip, a small fork used for digging up or spearing sand-eels. Cf. note to Eel-stab; (5) eel pot, the Sandy Ray, Raja circularis (ne.Sc. 1903 G. Sim Fauna of “Dee” 277); (6) eeltow, a line laid inshore for catching eels for bait (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; 1914 Angus Gl.; Sh.¹⁰ 1949, obs.); (7) eel-ware, Ranunculus fluitans (Bwk. 1853 G. Johnston Botany E. Borders 26); (8) eve-eel, evil-, see Haivel; (9) guffer eel, see Guffer; (10) hairy eel, the hair worm, Gordius auqaticus (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 161); (11) haivel eel, see Haivel; (12) nine-ee'd eel, the lesser lamprey, Petromyzon fluviatilis (Sc. 1808 Jam.; ne.Sc. 1903 G. Sim Fauna of “Dee” 282); (13) ramper eel, see Ramper.(1) Ags.¹⁷ 1942:
The eel-ark was common in ancient Angus, and still exists. I know of one in Balmadies now.(3) Rxb. 1825 Jam.²:
Atweel, he's nae eel-drowner mair than me.Abd. a.1879 W. Forsyth Sel. from Writings (1882) 25:
O wha but you the heuk cu'd bait, An' a' to get mair room to steer - Sen' these eeldrooners o'er the gate To brak the tent comman'ment here?(4)Wgt. 1877 "Saxon" Gall. Gossip 111:
Putting in the eel-graip, as he thought, behind it, he cut the toe half off.(12) Sc. 1811 P. Neill in Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. I. 555:
The popular name Nine-eyed-eel arises from the spiracles being taken for eyes. Lesser Lamprey, . . . abundant in the rivers Leith, Almond, and Esk.

2. A stripe, esp. a stripe along the back of a horse (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), eel, ell, il). Also eel-back used attrib. ; hence (1) eel-backit, “a term applied to a horse of a light colour, that has a black line on his back from the mane to the tail” (Sc. 1808 Jam.); (2) eel-stripit, id. (Kcb.¹⁰ 1943).(1) Sc. 1741 Caled. Mercury (26 Nov.):
A Dun Galloway, 13 Hands high, Eel-backed, Black-headed.Hebr. 1811 J. Macdonald Agric. Hebr. 476:
The eel-back horses (those generally of a dun, or more rarely of a light bay colour, with a black line along the middle of the back, from the mane to the tail,) supposed to have come from Norway.