Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SLAB, n.¹, v.¹

I. n. 1. The first slice cut off a loaf of bread, having one side crusty (em.Sc.(a), w.Lth., Lnk. 1970), an extended use of Eng. slab, the first bark-covered plank sawn from a log, a slice of anything.

2. A thin person with a broad frame, a lanky lad (Bnff., Ags. 1921 T.S.D.C.). Also in deriv. slabber.Abd. 1898 J. M. Cobban Angel of Covenant xix.:
A lean slab o' a chiel, wi' a gude lang neb.Bnff. 1970:
A lang slabber o' a chiel.

†3. A nickname for a pupil of Arbroath High School, poss. an extension of 2.Ags. 1887 J. McBain Arbroath 271:
The “slabs” and the “dossies”, as the High School boys and the Parochials were respectively nicknamed.Ags. 1909 P. C. Carragher Arbroath 49:
The “Slabs”, the nickname of the youths of the then High School.

II. v. To embroider (shawls) with leaf motifs (Ayr. 1956).Ayr. 1912 G. Cunningham Verse 46:
They wrocht baith at e'en and at morn, at the slabbin o' shawls.