Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LAMP, n.¹, v.¹ Sc. usages:

I. n.
1. Dim. lampie, a form of the game of marbles. Edb. 1952 Edb. Evening News (9 July):
Another version was "lampie," wherein the bools were struck against the base of a lamp-post to roll along the gutter in the hope of striking the other chap's bools.

2. Comb. and phr. (1) lamp-o-leerie, a lamp. Cf. Leerie; (2) (the) lamp of Lothian, a name given orig. to the medieval church of the Franciscan priory in Haddington, appar. from its tracery and stained glass. This building has completely disappeared and the name is now associated with the high square tower of St Mary's Parish Church recently restored, which has a lantern-like appearance and is popularly said to have been used as a landmark for shipping in the Firth of Forth; (3) lamp o the water, sea phosphorescence (Abd. c.1890 Gregor MSS.); (4) lamp-sway, a movable lamp-bracket. See Swey.(1)Sc. 1937 Oor Mither Tongue (MacWhannell) 89:
My lamp-o-leerie glances sweet Upon their curly pows. (2)e.Lth. 1827 R. Chambers Picture Scot. II. 128: 
This church was anciently called, by a more than usually elegant monkish imagination, Lucerna Laudoniae-the Lamp of Lothian.e.Lth. 1907 C. E. Green East Lothian 18: 
The great church now known as St Mary's Parish Church or the Lamp of Lothian.(4)Gsw. 1761 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1912) 78:
For smith work and furnishing to the town's lampsways.

II. v. As in Eng. (poet.), to shine, gleam, glitter, specif. of the ground when “covered with that kind of cobwebs which appear after dew or slight frost” (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.), or of the stars on a frosty night, to twinkle (Abd. c.1890 Gregor MSS.).