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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

GLABBER, n., v. Also glauber. Variant forms of Clabber, q.v.

I. n. 1. Soft, liquid mud (Rnf. 1947; Fif., m.Lth., Lnk., Ayr., Rxb. 1954).Ayr. 1880 J. Tannock Poems 18:
A'e caul and dreary winter day O' sleet, and wun', and rain, It doon among the glauber lay.Gsw. 1910 H. Maclaine My Frien' 26:
Scrapin' the glabber aff me wi' his putter.Slg. 1929 W. D. Cocker Dandie 37:
The hailstanes like plunkers cam' stot, An' the fields turned to glaur, an syne glabber.wm.Sc. 1950 M. Hamilton Bull's Penny xxvii.:
The Glasgow area was sinking in a kind of glabber as we used to call the wet mud on the ill-made Ramma roads.

Hence glaubery, glabbery, muddy, dirty (Ayr.⁴ 1928). wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 164:
He would hae gone down on his knees if I hadn't stopped him: it was a wet day and the ground was glabbery, and he'd his best suit on.

2. A wastrel (Id.). Cf. Clabber, n., 4.

II. v. Found only in ppl.adj. glaubert, covered with mud (Id.).