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

†KNAPSCAP, n. Also napskape. A helmet or headpiece. Liter. or hist.Sc. c.1800 Jamie Telfer in Child Ballads No. 190 A. xxxi.:
But Simmy was striken oer the head, And thro the napskape it is gane.Sc. 1830 R. Chambers James I. I. iii.:
We find in this case vassals secretly assembled, knapscaps privately burnished up.Sc. 1903 Chambers's Jnl. (11 July) 511:
Other curiosities are a “knapscap”, a leathern cap covered with thin crossed straps of steel, worn by the Borderers under the blue bonnet.