Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1880-1953
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LIB, n. Also love-. A charm, magic potion. In combs. lib-for-spoken, a potion against the evil eye. See Forspeak; love-spoken, bewitched, under a spell. Now only hist.Bnff. 1880 J. F. S. Gordon Chron. Keith 58:
When a person was "Love-spoken", a drink was given out of a Cog in which was immersed a silver coin crossed with a fasting spittle.Cai. 1921 Old-Lore Misc. IX. i. 18:
The cure for "forespoken," or affected by the evil eye, was a drink of water off silver or out of a vessel in which silver had been placed. A mixture of oatmeal and salt, called the "lib-for-spoken," was then poured down the throat of the animal. Previously some skilly person had stirred the mixture with a steel needle and muttered over it some incantation.Cai. 1953 Edb. John o' Groat Lit. Soc.:
Old James Cook of Freswick could make "lib-forspoken".
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"Lib n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/lib_n>
