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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.

TOBACCO, n. Also tabacca (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 188), tabacha (Sh. 1898 J. Burgess Tang 35, Sh. 1972), tibaaca (Abd. 1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick xxii.), tibacca (Abd. 1932 J. Leatham Fisherfolk 23); †toback (Sc. 1756 M. Calderwood Journal (M.C.) 166). [tə′bɑ:kɑ]

Sc. forms: Dundee 1989 W. N. Herbert in Joy Hendry Chapman 55-6 95:
aa ma leir is like a wheen tibacca
an thi pare-sized buts o wid ye find
flochtin in thi waatir o thi bath, an ma raison,
eftir these refractitory cromags, is
lyk guddlin minnows wi a lampie,em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 29:
The boy, hunkered in the sun on a grassy hummock pockmarked with burrows, picked up yellow-brown pellets from the dirt and cut open a couple with his thumbnail. 'Tabacca's low,' his uncle had said. 'Awa up on the hill, James, and fetch us mair rabbit purls. Mind that they're no full dried oot, but crotlie - like this, see.' He handed him a twist of brown leaf, breaking it up with his fingers.

Sc. usages in combs.: 1. tobacco fleuk, the lemon sole, Solea lascaris (ne.Sc. 1930 Fishery Board Gl.; Mry., Abd. 1972); ¶2. tobacco flour, snuff; 3. tobacco leaf, a fossilised oyster shell found in coal-seams; 4. tobacco lord, a tobacco-importer, specif. one of a number of such who made large fortunes in the trade in Glasgow in the mid 18th c. See Virginia. Hist.; ¶5. tobacco meal, = 2.; 6. tobacco nicht, a lykewake or vigil with a corpse (see quot.) (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 188); 7. tobacco reek, tobacco-smoke. Gen.Sc.; 8. tobacco-snipe, a juvenile worker in a tobacco-factory; 9. tabacha-speel, the bast or fibre with which tobacco twist is tied in coils (Sh. 1972); 10. tobacco-spinner, one who spins or twists tobacco. See also Spin, v., 2.1. Abd. 1968 Abd. Press & Jnl. (9 Feb.):
The “tobacco fleuk” is another name for the pricey lemon sole.2. s.Sc. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 113:
'Tis hardly i' a body's pow'r, To buy this fine Tobacco flour.3. Clc. 1819 Wernerian Soc. Mem. III. 134:
[This coal] has bituminous shale in the roof, with numerous compressed impressions of oyster shells, named, from their colour, Tobacco Leaves by the miners.4. Gsw. 1832 J. Cleland Enumeration Inhabit. Gsw. 258:
When any of the most respectable master tradesmen of the city had occasion to speak to a tobacco lord, he required to walk on the other side of the street till he was fortunate enough to meet his eye.Gsw. 1899 H. G. Graham Social Life I. 143:
Those Virginia traders — known as tobacco-lords.Gsw. 1934 G. Eyre-Todd Hist. Gsw. III. 248:
Soon after the declaration of independence by America the “tobacco lords” ceased to lead the social life of the city.Gsw. 1965 J. House Heart of Glasgow 82:
The Glasgow Tobacco Lords were among the biggest slave-traders in Britain.5. s.Sc. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 113:
The price o' this Tobacco meal, Has ruin'd mony a dainty chiel.6. ne.Sc. 1874 W. Gregor Olden Time 141:
There was a plentiful supply of new pipes and tobacco, procured specially for the occasion, and hence the irreverent sometimes spoke of the lyke as the tobacco-nicht.7. Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xi.:
But is not the tobacco-reek disagreeable to your honour?8. Lnk. 1895 J. Nicholson Kilwuddie 181:
He was sent to work as a “tobacco-snipe.”10. Gsw. 1722 Minute Bks. Inhibitions Lnk. MS. (Reg. Ho.) 29 Jan.:
Henry and Ninian Glen Tobacco spinners in Glasgow.