Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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SHARG, n.¹, adj. Also shearg-. [ʃarg]

I. n. 1. A stunted starved-looking person; a short bow-legged man, also an impudent man (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 196); a tiny mischievous creature (Per., Knr. 1825 Jam.). Dim. shargie. Adj. shargie, thin, shrivelled (Ayr. 1825 Jam.).Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 64:
Your singit shargie o' a laddie.

Most freq. in derivs. shargar, -er, †shargan, -in, a puny, stunted or weakly creature, an ill-thriving child (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Mry. 1813 W. Leslie Agric. Mry. 465; Abd. 1868 G. MacDonald R. Falconer iv.; ne.Sc., Ags. 1970), the weakest of a brood or litter (ne.Sc. 1970). Also attrib. and as a v., to stunt, arrest the growth of, to become stunted, fail to thrive or develop physically, of animals or plants (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 153), gen. in ppl.adj. shargart, stunted (Ib.; Abd. 1970). See quots.Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Shop Bill 33:
For wary-draggle, an' sharger elf.Abd. c.1782 Ellis E.E.P. V. 773:
Ye sharger-like, ill design't vratch.Abd. 1829 A. Cruickshank Poems 39:
An' here's a hunner an' seventeen Gaed out aneath the sharger stane.Abd. 1832 W. Scott Poems 76:
Fat needs us argue wi' the shargar now Ca' in a clotch o' gutters in his mou.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxxi.:
Ye wee, wearifu'-lookin', singit-like shargar.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 153:
That calf o' yours is beginnin' t' shargar.Mry. 1883 F. Sutherland Memories 162:
Ae skinny shargin Got aff wi his wamefu, I'm tauld, for a groat.Ags. 1889 Brechin Advert. (23 April) 3:
A shearger wean was little Jock.Abd. 1909 J. Tennant Jeannie Jaffray vi.:
Wad a shargar tailor daur insult an honest man in his majesty's service!Abd. 1920 A. Robb MS. iii.:
Half o' the loons are shargert wi' hard work or ever they get startet.Bnff. 1934 J. M. Caie Kindly North 49:
Some are shargars, peer an' sma'.Kcd. 1953:
Shargar tae — a toe grown by a crab or lobster after losing its original one. Sometimes these shell-fish will save their lives by breaking off a toe (or leg), and later another will grow in its place, but it is not normal and is never eaten.Abd. 1964 People's Journal (2 May) Suppl. 3:
A wee bit shargard cottar's loon.Abd. 1993:
Er's some gey shargars amon at cottar bairns.Abd. 1993:
A peer, skinny, shargart craiter.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 14:
Wi a muckle tcyauve, Curra stude up an ran tae the hedge. In his gyte flicht he caed ower a pucklie chukken's fa bedd far they war, cheepin desperately wi their shargart shanks in the air.

2. A disease in sheep causing weakness and emaciation.Arg. 1749 J. Robson Agric. Arg. 17:
The Sharg, or decline; the sheep linger a long time before they die of it.

II. adj. Tiny, mean, lean, withered (Per. 1880 Jam.).