Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1728-1779, 1837-1866
[0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
FAINNESS, n.
†1. Gladness, joy.Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems 119:
For Fainness, Deary, I'll gar ye keckle, If ye'll go dance the Bob of Dunblane.Abd. 1778 A. Ross Helenore 97:
Upon the green they lean'd them down all three, And tears for fainness ran frae ilka eye.Sc. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. ix.:
Foulon (in his fainness, as his Destiny would have it) also claps.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 303:
The young things danced round me as gin they were clean gaen gyte, and nearly grat for fainness.
2. Liking, love (Sh.10 1950).Lnk. c.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 17:
For fainness I'll bite you.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 44:
He hiz an unco fainness for the drink.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Fainness n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 3 Mar 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/fainness>
