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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HIND, n.1, v.1 Also hynd(e), hyne (Ayr. 1926 Wilson Dial. Burns 168; Sc. 1930 W. Bell Rip Van Scotland 138), hin(e). [həin(d)]

I. n. 1. A farm-servant, a ploughman (Sc. 1808 Jam., hyne; Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; m.Lth., Bwk., Kcb., Dmf., Rxb. 1957); occas. used derogatorily (see Sc. 1816 and Rxb. 1920 quots.). Specif. in s.Scot. and n.Eng. applied to a married skilled farm worker who occupies a cottage on the farm and is granted certain perquisites in addition to wages (Sc. 1812 J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. II. 120; Rxb. 1957), a Cottar. ¶Adj. hindish, like a hind, rustic.Lnk. 1708 Minutes J.P.s (S.H.S.) 18:
His wife is to shake the straw, shear in harvest and work att all manner of work as a hynds wife.
Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 222:
Nor Hynds wi' Elson and hemp Lingle, Sit solling Shoon out o'er the Ingle.
Lth. 1772 Edb. Ev. Courant (1 Aug.):
Wanted . . . a hind, or principal operative servant, for a Farm about five miles distant from Edinburgh.
Ayr. 1791 Burns Lament of Mary iii.:
The meanest hind in fair Scotland.
Hdg. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 III. 197:
The wages of these cottagers, or hinds as they are here called, is nine bolls of oats, two bolls of barley, two bolls of pease, a cow maintained summer and winter.
Kcb. 1814 J. Train Mountain Muse 40:
And yon old hind, who taught him how The run-rig of his sire to plow.
Sc. 1816 Scott B. Dwarf vii.:
“Out, hind!” exclaimed the Dwarf; . . . “home to your dwelling.”
Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 273:
Here I give . . . a few hindish speculations respecting this mystic phrase.
Slk. 1824 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) xii.:
Several young boobies o' hinds, threshers, and thrum-cutters.
Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 100:
The hinds did wi' the hizzies hoise, An' a' the country news Recount that day.
Rxb. 1920 Kelso Chron. (27 May) 4:
Town folks looked upon ploughmen as a distinct class, a sort of peculiar people. To them the word “hind” was something of a synonym for a social pariah, not far removed from serfdom.
Bwk. 1947 W. L. Ferguson Makar's Medley 21:
The smell o' neeps is i' the wund; Hinds roond the doors are crackin'.
Dmf. 1955 Dmf. & Gall. Standard (1 Jan.):
Married Man Wanted as Hind for Heads Farm for February 22nd, to occupy farm-house which has been recently modernised and redecorated; must be able to take full charge.
m.Sc. 1991 William Neill in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 48:
Flee, flee, sire, spak the Regent's hind
in Sillersecks left lug;
yon sauvage Clan hae taen a mynd
tae gie yir thairms a rugg.

Hence comb. and phr.: (1) barn-man hind, see quot. (m.Lth.1 1957); (2) double hind, one of two farm-workers employed on equal terms on a farm; (3) hyndrooms, rooms in a farm-house for accommodating married farm servants; (4) hinds' raw, a row of cottages occupied by farm-workers (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; m.Lth., Bwk., Rxb. 1957).(1) Bwk. 1794 A. Bruce Agric. Bwk. 113:
There are also barn-man hinds, who, except in hay and harvest time, are constantly employed in threshing, for which they are generally allowed the twenty-fifth part of the whole produce, for their labour.
(2) Sc. 1799 G. W. T. Omond Arniston Memoirs (1887) 51:
Item for 16 bolls of oats, 2 bolls pease, 1 boll bere, for a double hynd's boll £82 Scots.
(3) m.Lth. 1725 Woodhouselee MS. (Stewart) 76:
He . . . lived quietly with his mistres and child in hyndroumes in the farme house at Fulfoord.
(4) Rxb. 1922 Kelso Chron. (18 Aug.) 3:
When the big farm made up the scene about the only houses visible were those in the “hinds' raw” and the residence of the farmer.

2. A youth, a stripling. Only used attrib. and arch. in ballads, as in hind-chiel, -greeme, -squire, -squar. Obs. in Eng. since 16th c.Sc. 1783 Gil Brenton in Child Ballads No. 5. li.:
By there came a jelly hind greeme.
Sc. 1827 G. R. Kinloch Ballads 229:
Till up started the Hynde Etin, Says, “Lady, let thae alane!”
Abd. 1828 P. Buchan Ballads I. 6:
By it came a young hind chiel, Says, Lady lat alane.

II. v. To work as a hind (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Gen. found only as ppl. or vbl.n. hindin(g), acting as a hind, the work of a hind, a situation as a hind (Ib.; m.Lth., Bwk., Rxb. 1957). Hence dooble (double)-hindin(g), a farm where two farm servants are employed (Rxb. 1957). See also Dooble, adj.Slk. 1875 Border Treasury (27 March) 394:
He offert to let me ha' a dooble hyndin' wi' my uncle.
Hdg. 1887 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) X. 337:
Ye'll get wages like the lave when your hindin'-work begins.
Rxb. 1920 Kelso Chron. (27 May) 4:
“It disna do to make them a' slaves” — hinding in her opinion being slavery.
s.Sc. 1936 Border Mag. (April) 52:
Hindin's had their bows o' meal, An' raws o' tawties tae theirsel.

[O.Sc. hyne, stripling, from 1375, farm-servant, 1456, hind from 1535, hynd from 1568. M.E. hyne, hine, from hī(ȝ)na, gen.pl. of O.North. hīȝu, O.E. hīȝan, domestics, members of a household.]

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"Hind n.1, v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/hind_n1_v1>

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