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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.

RANE, n., v. Also raen, rain, rhane; dim. rainie, rennie, -y (Ags.). Cf. Rone, n.⁵, v.

I. n. 1. A repetitious utterance (Sc. 1818 Sawers; Arg. 1936 L. McInnes S. Kintyre 15; Ags. 1967); a continuous peevish insistence upon a grievance (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 263); meaningless talk (Abd. 1919 T.S.D.C.); persistent, wearisome demands; by extension: a longing, insistent desire, e.g. for some particular food (Ags. 1930).Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis:
You're like the Gowk . . . you have not a rain but one.Per. 1871 Per. Constitutional (28 Aug.):
The wee, ugly, shrunkled, bogle body himsel' at his auld rane — “O gie me my water, my honey, my heart . . .”Knr. 1895 H. Haliburton Dunbar 64:
The man's a fule that, reason or nane, Eternal seeks in ceaseless rane; Aye harping in a carping key.Ags. 1921 T.S.D.C.:
She never mindit fat I said, but juist gaed on wi' her ain rennie.Arg.¹ 1930:
“Was it a good speech?” “No, it wisna a good speech: it wuz jist a rane.”Ags. 1947 Forfar Dispatch (27 March):
I'se warrant I made a bonnie rennie o'd til lest nicht.

2. A ballad, song, rhyme.Cld. 1818 Scots Mag. (Dec.) 503:
I believe nae mare nor ye do a' the daft-like ranes whilk are tauld anent kelpies and fairies.Rnf. 1825 Fair Annie in Child Ballads (1886) II. 82:
“Fair Annie” I took this day from the recitation of Janet Holmes, an old woman in Kilbarchan. It was, as she described it, a “lang rane” of her mother's.

II. v. 1. To keep on repeating (Sc. 1818 Sawers); to complain, carp; to ask persistently (Ags. 1921 T.S.D.C.; Ags., Fif. 1967). Ppl.adj. raenin, of a child: constantly and peevishly crying.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 30:
A man juist comin' in at diet times, rennyin' aboot first ae thing an' syne anither.Fif. 1899 Colville Vernacular 55:
She tholed much from the wheengin, raenin bairn.

2. To repeat or recite in a sing-song monotonous manner as some well-known ballad or tale (Arg. 1936 L. McInnes S. Kintyre 15).Ayr. 1808 J. Paterson Contempor. Burns (1840) 60:
An' sometimes, whan our humour's frisky, I rane owre “The Effects o' Whisky.”wm.Sc. 1828 Paisley Mag. (Dec.) 661:
The anxiety [with] which youngsters had to learn the true way that some favourite ballad should be raned from the auld wife ayont the fire.Arg. c.1850 Flory Loynachan in Colville 115:
O! rhane a Yolus Cronie — quick — Across this rumpled brain!Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 26:
An' as ye're sae keen to hear the sangie I made i' my daft days, I'll raen'd owre to ye.Fif. 1886 W. Wilson Echoes of Anvil 154:
Heaven guard my five wee bairnies, fain And fond to hear me rhyme and rane.

3. To bring to a point of satiety, surfeit, sc. by repetition of the same thing.Ayr. 1935:
“Ye couldna' rane him wi' meat” said by a maid about a young child with a very healthy appetite. She said the word meant “weary” or “tire”; here evidently “satiate.”