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: 1706-1740, 1805-1935
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MIZZLE, n., v.1 Also mizle, misle. Sc. form of Eng. measle. See also Maisle. [mɪzl]
I. n. In pl.: as in Eng., the disease (Sc. 1818 Sawers, 1824 S. Ferrier Inheritance xviii.; Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 77; Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 258; Abd., Fif., Lth. 1963). Attrib. in combs. mizle-kyted, having a red blotchy belly, mizzle-shinned, having the skin of the legs mottled from sitting too near the fire (Abd. 1963). Deriv. miz(z)lie, mislie, in comb. mizlie-shins, -shin'd, (having) discoloured skin on the legs (Per. 1825 Jam.).Sc. 1706 Short Survey Married Life 13:
A Mizle-kyted . . . Bursen Body.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 86:
And there will be Girn-again-Gibbie . . . And misle-shinn'd Mungo Macapie.Rxb. 1805 A. Scott Poems 146:
And when the callans romping thick, Did crowd the hearth alang, Oft have I blown the danders quick Their mizlie shins amang.Ags. 1893 Brechin Advertiser (21 March) 3:
[She] lut them gae anower i' the bed an' a' that, but feint a mizzle will they tak.
II. v. To blotch the skin, as with measles; specif. to discolour the skin of the legs or shins by sitting too close to the fire, or by exposing them to extreme cold. Ppl.adj. mizzled, mottled, blotched, scorched (Sc. 1818 Sawers; Cai. 1903 E.D.D.; n.Sc. 1963). Hence Mizzled-shins, a jocular name for the Devil.Sc. 1740 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 462:
Sae that our mizl'd shins will shaw The venom of the frost and snaw.Abd. 1813 W. Beattie Parings 19:
May the French, for their ambition, Get mizzled shins.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 51:
Dinna mak ony body suffer by ye, as thae scranky-shanked mizzle-shinned Highlanders do.s.Sc. 1863 Border Mag. (Aug.) 117:
Syne my flesh it grew mizzled wi' fear, And I stood like a thing that was dead.Per. 1879 P. R. Drummond Bygone Days 264:
Auld Mizzled-shins was seen descend, Wi' him ae misty morning!Sc. 1935 D. Rorie Lum Hat 58:
When she's trampin' the blankets e'en gie her a scan Sin' a mizzle-shinn'd maid is sma' use till a man.
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"Mizzle n., v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 7 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/mizzle_n_v1>
