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 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†FLAB, v., n.

I. v. To flap, to wag.Ayr. 1817 D. McKillop Poems 107:
It sets their tongues to flib and flab.

Deriv. flabbing, intermittent flashing (of sheet lightning).Ayr. 1832 J. Galt Tait's Edinburgh Magazine Oct 57:
The day had been very warm, and that flabbing of the fire was but a natural outcoming of the same cause.

II. n. 1. Something big and showy, esp. something that hangs loosely. Also used of a person (Mry.¹ 1928).Mry. 1865 W. H. L. Tester Poems 108:
I coff'd a gowd watch, an' a flab o' a chain.

Hence flabby, ostentatious, dressy.Per. 1900 E.D.D.:
He's flabby (he is foppishly dressed).

2. A mushroom (quoted by Jam. as below but phs. not genuine Sc.). Also in Eng. dial. in the form flap.Sc. a.1825 Receipts in Cookery 45:
To make Catchup. Gather your large flabs, cut off the root ends, and take off the rough skins.