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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STANNER, n. Also stannir; staner, -ir, stainer-, stenner, stenor-; ¶stander. Reg. in pl.: shingle, the rounded water-worn stones, pebbles and gravel in the bed or on the banks of a river or on a sea-beach (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.; wm.Sc. 1880 Ib.). Sometimes with def. art. as a place-name (Abd. 1798 Session Papers, Burnet v. Earl of Aberdeen State of Process 3; Abd. 1971). Cf. the Stannergate in Dundee built on a gravel bank at the side of the Tay. Hence adj. stannery, stainery, gravelly, shingly (Slg. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XV. 316). Combs. stanner-bed, a gravelly river-bed (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.), stanner-steps, stepping-stones in a river (Ayr. 1880 Jam.). [′stɑner, ′sten-]e.Lth. 1699 Countrey-Man's Rudiments 8:
Where their grounds are very light and stenory.
Sc. 1719 Lude Court Bk. (Atholl MSS.) 19 Nov.:
She fell amongst the Standers of the burn.
Dmb. 1794 D. Ure Agric. Dmb. 8:
A light stainery soil; so called because it is full of small fragments of the whin, that have not mouldered into earth.
Abd. 1795 Session Papers, Leslie v. Fraser (29 March 1805) 109:
It lies upon a stannery and sandy bed.
em.Sc. 1801 J. Leyden Complaynt 374:
Stannirs, the rough projecting stones on the shore of the sea, on the banks of rivers, and the braes of burns. It is in common use on the east coast of Scotland.
Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick III. ii.:
I harl't ye out tae the stenners, as wat's a beet o' lint.
Abd. 1872 J. G. Michie Deeside Tales 148:
We threw it ower the bank, on to the stanners.
Per. 1889 Sc. Naturalist (July) 290:
All rapid rivers have a tendency to form the accumulations of water-rolled stones known as shingles or stanirs (staners or stanners). The latter term, though applicable to all collections of small stones and gravel on the margin of a river or lake, is perhaps more generally used for those island-like beds — frequently or occasionally dry — which lie in the channel of a river.

[O.Sc. stanneris, id., a.1508, stanerie, gravelly, 1501, O. North. stǣner, a stony place, deriv. of O.E. stān, stone. The long vowel has been shortened in the trisyllabic oblique cases.]

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"Stanner n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/stanner>

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