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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

Quotation dates: 1725-1930

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HINDER, adj., n.1 Also hender; hinter; hinner (n. and wm.Sc.). [′hɪn(d, t)ər]

Sc. usages:

I. adj. 1. As in Eng., of place: behind, in the rear, posterior, more remote.

2. Of time: last, past, latter (n.Sc., Lth. 1808 Jam.; Ayr. 1957). Hindernight, hinnernicht, last night, the previous night.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. i. i.:
I dream'd a dreary Dream this hinder Night, That gars my Flesh a' creep yet with the Fright.
Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 122:
Whilk happened on the hinder night, Whan Fraser's ulie tint its light.
Per. 1802 S. Kerr Poems 17:
This hindernight's been gayan snell.

Hence hinnerly, adv., eventually, at the last.e.Lth. 1885 J. Lumsden Rhymes & Sk. 236:
He is juist the sort o' lad that hinnerly will ding the deil.

II. n. Gen. in pl. The buttocks, the hind-quarters of an animal (Sh. 1957).Bnff. 1880 J. F. S. Gordon Chrons. Keith 55:
Boasting of kissing, at their meetings the Devil's "hinder".
e.Lth. 1885 J. Lumsden Rhymes & Sk. 39:
His tawted hinders, lang but sma' — The glorious tail o'er-cresting a'!
Sh. 1930 Shet. Almanac 194:
"So hinney," I says, juist missin' his hinters be a lucky inch.

III. Derivs.: 1. hinderlan(d)s, buttocks [so printed in first and subsequent editions of Scott's Rob Roy and imitated by later writers, although MS. reads hinderlins]. Also found in sing. (Sc. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker vi.; Ork.5 1957); 2. hinderlets, id. (Ayr. 1825 Jam.). Cf. 4.; 3. hinderlin(g)s, id. (Sc. Ib.). See note to 1.; 4. hinnerliths, id. (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 269). See Lith.1. Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxiii.:
We downa bide the coercion of gude braid-claith about our hinderlans.
Slk. 1822 Hogg Perils of Man I. 113:
He has made my hinderlands as warm as they had been in an oon.
Sc. 1887 Stevenson Underwoods 110:
Straucht on my hinderlands I fyke To find a rhyme t' ye.
m.Sc. 1915 J. Buchan Thirty-Nine Steps v.:
Sittin' a' day on your hinderlands on thae cushions.
2. Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 37:
Her hinderlets being wickedly wet, in John Davie's well that morning.
Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick II. vii.:
She's juist like a brownie in a whin-buss, wi' her fanerels o' duds flaffin' about her hinderlets.
Dmf. 1824 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 157:
Let us dash her [cow] brains out, Rob, and "hame" with the best o' her hinnerlets on our backs!
3. Per. 1802 S. Kerr Poems 16:
His ither duds flaff'd i' the air, And a' his hinderlins war bare.
Lnk. 1816 G. Muir Cld. Minstrelsy 10:
The candidates are those wha daily moil, An' harle at their hinderlins a cart.
Sc. 1831 Fraser's Mag. (Feb.) 18:
A jacket of the same colour hung like a French coatee over his hinderlings.
Sc. 1836 M. Scott Cruise of the Midge I. iv.:
Wha will assure ye that they shall not kittle your hinderlins?
4. Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 22:
Newts . . . are always considered to have poison somewhere about their hinnerliths.

[From hind, Hint, adj. + compar. suff. -er.]

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"Hinder adj., n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 4 May 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/hinder_adj_n1>

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