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: 1875-1932
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0]
FALDERAL, n., v. Sc. usages. Also falderall, faldarall; faltheral (Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 189); and extended forms fallderalloe (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 202), falderumdal.
I. n. 1. An idle fancy; a vagary; a fuss about trifles; a trifling excuse (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 223).Rxb. 1875 N. Elliott Nellie Macpherson 36:
Your fine young leddies, wi' a their braws, and pianies, and flirds, and falderumdals.Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. viii. 320:
Wir M. Pay jeust daves folk teu wi' 'is clatters aboot . . . ither poleetical faldaralls.Abd. 1932 R. L. Cassie Scots Sangs 40:
Oh, fat is a' the falderal Aboot oor Scots o' days sae aul'?
2. “A pedantic giddy person” (Gregor).
II. v. To make trifling excuses; to behave “in a giddy, pedantic manner” (Ib.). Hence falderallin, ppl.adj., “giddy, pedantic” (Ib.).
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Falderal n., v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 12 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/falderal>
