Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1919-1931, 1990-2003
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LOUCH, adj. Also looch, loogh, loochie, loochy. In a depressed state of health or spirits, languid, not very well, dejected, dull (w.Lth., wm.Sc. 1961). Also of an illness, severe, debilitating. Also fig. [lux]Ayr. 1919 T.S.D.C.:
A could see he wiz gie louch aboot it. She was that louch she widnie luk up whan A spak ti 'er.wm.Sc. 1925 D. Mackenzie Macmorro's Luck 31:
In some fire he'd lost his temper true, An' steel was slokit, looch as leid a' through.Sc. 1931 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 419:
Always there was snow in the back of their minds — snow that makes the ewes lean and loogh.Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 105:
She reacted tae him, and then he kissed her passionately on the lips. He wis a very handsome laddie, and Frugal deeked like a half-droont rotten loochie rat beside him. Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 151:
The scabby fish nearly killed her cos she developed the Loochy Jaundice: it wis a very dangerous disease. Edb. 2003:
She thocht aw she had wis a loochy cauld but it turned oot it wis flu.
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"Louch adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 16 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/louch>
