Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1852-1963
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PERFERVID, adj. Very fervid, ardent, enthusiastically patriotic, adopted from Buchanan as a standing epithet for this type of Scot (see note). Now also in Eng.Sc. 1852 North British Review (Aug.) 286:
Without maintaining at present that all Scotchmen are perfervid — that Scotchmen in general are, as we have seen it ingeniously argued, not cool, calculating, and cautious. but positively rash, fanatical, and tempestuous.Sc. 1889 J. S. Blackie Sc. Song 162:
The perfervid genius of the Scot.Sc. 1935 A. F. Murison Memoirs 145:
Much more perfervid remonstrance came from all the ends of the earth about the strictures I had made on the patriotism of Bruce.Sc. 1963 Gsw. Herald (19 Aug.):
Any Scot who has travelled and met his fellow countrymen abroad knows that there is no more perfervid Scot than the exile.
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"Perfervid adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/perfervid>
