Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1724-1733, 1842-1850
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GOUF, v. Also †golf. To underpin a wall (Sc. 1952 Builder (20 June) 1942); as e.g. in putting in a damp-course where none had previously existed (wm. Sc.1 1955); "to remove soft earth from under (a structure), substituting sods cut square and built regularly" (Ogilvie Imperial Dictionary of the English Language (1882)).Gsw. 1724 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 203:
Unless these houses be taken doun and the street carried throw the same, and . . . if not these houses most be gouffed, the street falling to be lower then the ground stone.Gsw. 1733 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 400, 404:
Digging the Ladywell deeper and gouffing of the same . . . gouffing of clay about the Spout wells.Sc. 1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit., Gl.:
Goufing Foundations, a Scotch term [for] securing unsound walls by driving wedges or pins under their foundations.Gsw. 1850 Gsw. Past & Pres. (1884) I. 162:
A petition was presented by Mr Allan Carswell, for authority to "goff." or under-build the gable of a tenement.
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"Gouf v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gouf>
