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 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BORDER, n.¹ Used as in St.Eng., but note the following.

1. “The furthermost limit to which one permits oneself to go” (Abd.²², Ags.¹ 1935).Ayr. 1786 Burns Ep. to a young Friend viii.:
But where ye feel your Honor grip, Let that ay be your border.

2. Combs. formed with St.Eng. border: (1) Border-day, the period when the Borders were in their glory, and were much celebrated in Scottish song; (2) Border marriage, an irregular marriage performed acc. to the Sc. practice, now invalid, of declaration by the parties before witnesses, by self-appointed persons at various places on the Borders, esp. at Gretna in Dmf., usu. for the convenience of runaway couples from England; (3) border-warrant, a warrant issued by the sheriff of one of the border counties to detain in Scotland the effects of a stranger domiciled in England, for debts owed in Scotland (Sc. 1773 Erskine Institute i. ii. § 19).(1) Sc. 1805 Scott Lay of Last Minstrel v. vii.:
Was nor unfrequent, nor held strange, In the old Border-day.(2) Sc. 1934 "Claverhouse" Irreg. Border Marriages 131:
Scots historians find Border marriages cited as troublesome so early as 1639.Bwk. 1859 Proc. Bwk. Nat. Club (1863) 124:
Passing through Ross, we observed a curious notice affixed on the door of one of the herring curing houses, to this effect: "Border Marriages. Andrew Lyon Begs respectfully to intimate, that he can be found . . . by parties visiting the Hymeneal Shrine on the Scottish Borders."(3)Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xxxix.:
There's Border-warrants too in the south country.

3. the Borders, the area lying between the Scottish-English border and Lothian. Comb. Borders (Region), From 1975-96, one of the nine regions of the two-tier system of local government. From 1996, as Scottish Borders, a local authority created from the former Borders Region.