Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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LIG, v.¹ Also ligg.

1. To lie, recline, rest (Abd. 1825 Jam.); to have sexual intercourse (Cld. Ib.); of sheep: to bring forth lambs (s.Sc. Ib.). Pa.t. ligged. Rare and now only liter.Sc. 1720 Broadside:
As sweet as the Morn Dew that ligs on the grass.Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 91:
Whan Phoebus ligs in Thetis lap, Auld Reikie gies them shelter.Ags. 1824 Literary Olio (10 Jan.) 3:
A bield, where mind may eithly lig in For threescore years.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 299:
The Duke of Kent doth yawning lig.Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce II. viii.:
To lig down on a battel of oat-straw behind Black Leddy.wm.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan App. 507:
A second wife ligs wi' him neist the wa'.Hdg. 1889 J. Lumsden Lays Linton 25:
Nanny an' you maun ligg an' lair thegither i' the backside o' the machine — but ye maunna fecht.Knr. 1895 H. Haliburton Dunbar 100:
Gin ye list to lig into the laft, There's a braw flure-head.Sc. 1926 H. M'Diarmid Penny Wheep 33:
The Day loups up (for she kens richt weel Owre lang wi' the Nicht she mauna lig).n.Sc. 1950 Scots Mag. (July) 264:
An the little fite rose ligged laich on the grun, wi her unquit love for fee.Sc. 1979 Sydney Goodsir Smith in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 34:
Hap your heid sweet reason,
Logic, ligg at ease.
Mense, this is nocht your season, m.Sc. 1986 Ian A. Bowman in Joy Hendry Chapman 43-4 165:
The starling's nest, weel derned ablow the foreshot,
gars her eggs ligg secure. m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 9:
A wheen o heathen Vikings liggan thare,
eftir some wid gilravigin affair. Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 42:
Syne I gaed wi the licht
ay its turnan,
doun frae yon smoory hill,
the day's aince-erran aa bi wi,
ae sang liggan
caul i the daurk. Dundee 1994 Matthew Fitt in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 177:
Owre in the coarnir, ther wus hauf a deid cou liggin oan its syde an a boy in a whyte peenie wus layin intae it wi an aix. m.Sc. 1996 John Murray Aspen 9:
the fern's emprent lifeless liggs
atween leifs o shale.

Hence agent n. ligger, -ar, a newly-spawned salmon, a foul fish (s.Sc. 1825 Jam., “as fishes of this species become foul by lying too long in the fresh water”; Gall. 1960).Kcb. 1830 Perthshire Advert. (18 Feb.):
It is a curious fact that otters, unlike human poachers, never pounce on liggers, if they can possibly procure a fresh run fish.

¶2. To lay, cause to lie.e.Lth. 1885 S. Mucklebackit Rural Rhymes 34:
Should e'er blind Fortune's chancy wheel Ligg us thegither.