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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.

MISKEN, v. Cf. Misknaw. [mɪs′kɛn]

1. Not to know, to be ignorant of (Sc. 1808 Jam.).Sc. 1722 W. Hamilton Wallace ii. ii.:
Sir Rannald's Servant for some Fish he sent That Errand: O! that Wallace had miskent.

2. To fail to recognise (Cai. 1903 E.D.D.; ne.Sc. 1963). Hence miskent, unrecognised, unknown, not well known (Sh. 1963).Sc. 1722 Ramsay Three Bonnets (1800) 552:
Ye're grown sae braw; now weirds defend me! Gin that I had nae maist miskend ye.Per. 1766 A. Nicol Poems 104:
In verse acrostic ye intendit To write your name, and to me send it: Maybe I might had quite miskend it.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 124:
Her change o' dress sae pat her out o' ken, That he misken'd her now wi' open eyn.Edb. 1811 H. Macneill Bygane Times 33:
I guess'd at first, he had miskent me. — Bless me! quo I, can ye forget me!Sc. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's W. xvi.:
No man fell so regularly into the painful dilemma of mistaking, or in Scottish phrase, miskenning, the person he spoke to.Lth. 1854 M. Oliphant M. Hepburn xix.:
I'm no miskent at hame. There's mony an ill word said in St Andrews, but the honest wives had ne'er a scorn for me.Sc. 1926 H. M'Diarmid Drunk Man 79:
No' Edinburgh Castle or the fields O' Bannockburn or Flodden Are dernin' wi' the miskent soul Scotland sae lang has hod'n.Abd.⁴ 1931:
Gin I haed haud o' ye I'se gar yer hips misken ither, for as lang 's they've been door-neepers.em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 182:
Ye would hear him chappin through the toun at nicht, ye could niver misken the soun o him, and when ye saw him, there was the stick oot in front, wi a lantren hingin frae it, guidin his wey.

3. Of persons or facts: to fail deliberately to recognise, to cut, shun, avoid all contact with, spurn, ignore, take no notice of (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Also fig.Sc. 1706 Answer to Some Queries, &c. Relative to the Union 4:
Their great out cry is; Misken old England, they have a Design on our Crown, to carry it up to London, and so enslave us.Sc. 1718 Scotland's Present Circumstances 45:
In that Case it's our Duty to misken and let be these Matters.Sc. 1783 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 558:
And first, misken na bonny Jean, Wha's ay, tho' haimly, dink and clean.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems II. 208:
The baron on a milk-white steed, Whose huifs misken'd the ground.Sc. 1819 Scott L. Montrose xiii.:
Were I you, Ranald, I would be for miskenning Sir Duncan, keeping my own secret, and departing quietly by suffocation, like your ancestors before you.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Proverbs 48:
Poor folks' friends soon misken them.

†4. To leave off doing a thing, to desist, forbear (Ayr. 1811. W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 693).Ayr., Rxb. 1825 Jam.:
It is still used in Tweeddale and Ayrshire, in a sense very nearly allied to this. One says to another, Misken, when he wishes him to desist or abstain from anything that he is doing.

5. To fail to understand, to mistake, to misconceive; refl. to mistake oneself, get above oneself, to form mistaken ideas of one's own importance, to give oneself unwarranted airs (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Cai. 1903 E.D.D.; Bnff. 1963). Hence miskent, misunderstood, miskennin, giving oneself airs, getting above oneself (ne.Sc. 1963).Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 266:
Ah, Jamie lad, ye sair misken yoursel', Or thans ye wadnae tell me sic a tale.Uls. 1892 Ballymena Obs.:
“You'll misken yoursel' and no' know your nibors.” Said to one who has met with good fortune.Abd. 1898 J. Milne Poems 21:
Some fowk, Ah wat, misken themselves.