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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STOT, n.1, v.1 Also stott, stoat (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 180). Dim. stottie. [stɔt]

I. n. 1. A young castrated ox, a steer, bullock, gen. one of the second year and upwards (Sc. 1869 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 726; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson). Gen.Sc. Also in n.Eng. dial. Occas. †applied to a bull (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).Per. 1726 Edb. Ev. Courant (21–25 April):
Milk Cows and Calves, yeld Cows, two and three Year old Stots, Queys, Stirks, and a good Bull.
Gall. 1742 Session Bk. Penninghame (1933) II. 377:
Grass meal for two stots.
Rnf. 1745 W. Hector Judicial Rec. (1878) II. 125:
Three stotts or head of black cattle.
Slk. 1751 Border Treasury (17 Oct. 1874) 144:
Kiley stots that I am to winter till the 1st of April.
Ayr. 1786 Burns The Calf iii.:
Forbid it, ev'ry heavenly Power, You e'er should be a stot!
Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel ii.:
My cantle will stand a clour wad bring a stot down.
Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 63:
Another slice of the stot, James.
Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs 283:
The man may eithly tine a stot that canna count his kine.
Arg. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Evid. IV. 3048:
Young animals under three years, heifers, stots, and queys.
Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden (1922) 117:
He flew at Sandy like a rased stot.
Sc. 1893 Stevenson St. Ives ix.:
You had best be travelling with the stots.
Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 1:
Doddies an stirks an queys an stots.
Cai. 1930 John o' Groat Jnl. (23 May):
He wid buy a stottie fae any sma' fairmer.
Edb. 1940 R. Garioch 17 Poems for 6d. 7:
A makar is a rigglin amang stots.
I.Sc., Abd., Per. 1968 Scotsman (14 Dec.) 15:
Orkney stots to £84 10s; Shetland stots to £81 10s. ... Black-polled stots to £106; black-polled stot stirks to £85 10s; black-polled stot calves to £56 10s.
Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 16:
Listenan tae the uncoguid an aa their havers
wi'oot a vision loupan up o puttan stots.

Combs.: (1) Hieland stot, a bullock of the Highland breed. Gen.Sc. See Hieland, II. 6.; (2) stot beef, bullock beef. Also attrib. = tender; (3) stot-calf, a young male calf under one year old; (4) stot's-milk, unboiled flummery, Sowans, “ludicrously so named because it is a substitute for milk when it is scarce” (Lnk. 1825 Jam.); (5) stot-sticker, a slaughterer of cattle, a butcher. See Stick, v.1, 1. (1); (6) stot-stirk, a bullock in its second year (Lnk. 1955 Scotsman (20 May); Cai. 1971). Also in n.Eng. dial.; (7) wark-stot, a bullock used for yoking in a plough. See Wark.(1) Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel v.:
I canna gang rowting like an unmannered Highland stot.
Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxxv.:
There was a drove o' ramstaugerous, camsteerie vagabonds o' Heelan' stots.
(2) Edb. 1819 Edb. Ev. Courant (1 April) 1:
For Sale, at their Stand, No. 1. Low Market, Edinburgh, superior Stot Beef.
Edb. 1895 J. Tweeddale Moff 53:
A sort of stot-beef affection for the laird.
(3) Sc. 1849 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 256:
A castrated male calf is a stot-calf.
(5) Abd. 1900 Weekly Free Press (18 Aug.):
A mere stot-sticker bein' particularly gifted in guessin' heids.
(6) Dmf. 1848 Eskdale Advert. (1 May):
2 Stot Stirks; 4 Calves.
Inv. 1872 Trans. Highl. Soc. 45:
The “stot stirks”, as the breeders call them . . . are annually sold when about eighteen months old.
Per. 1956 Scotsman (11 Feb.) 3:
Stot and Heifer Stirks.
(7) Abd. 1903 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 90:
A pair o' gran' haims for his wark-stot.

2. Transf.: a stupid, clumsy person. an oaf, a blockhead (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc. Also in Eng. dial.Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xv.:
Shentlemans, ye hielant stot!
Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders v.:
The great stot of a farm lad.
Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant ii.:
A fair stot at the uptak' o' oor guid Lallan!
sm.Sc. 1979 Alan Temperley Tales of Galloway (1986) 104:
It made the old woman impatient; in fact she grew quite angry. But at last he managed to tell her that he would like to do a great deed of valour, so that everyone would respect him in the town, instead of looking down on him as a great stot and an idiot the way they did at present.

II. v. Of a cow: to take the bull (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).

[O.Sc. stot, a steer, c.1390, Mid.Eng. stotte, id., a horse, O.E. stott, a nag, poor horse, prob. cogn. with Norw., Swed. stut, O.N. stútr, an ox, bull. For fluctuation in meaning between horse and ox, cf. Staig.]

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"Stot n.1, v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/stot_n1_v1>

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