Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1790-1898
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CUTTIE, CUTTY, n.1 The common hare, Lepus timidus (Sc. 1819 Edb. Mag. (July) 507; Per., Fif., Bwk. 1825 Jam.2).Sc. [1832–46] R. P. Marshall in Whistle-Binkie (1878) II. 245:
Wat's aye guid to the puir — aft a farl o' cake, Wi' the leg o' a pheasant or cutty they get.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 56:
There was a little cutty seen rin', rinnin', an' fan ony ane tried to catch it, it gaed awa in a fire-flaught.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xvii.:
He discovered four dainty cutties, wi' the brass wire girns still roond their craigs.Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 102:
Our great big gentry's bluffs o' sons, They're good for nought but riving buns . . . Or spoiling cutties, making muns, 'Mang whins or heather.
Comb.: cuttie-clap, cutty's —, "the couch of a hare, its seat or lair" (Per. Knr. 1825 Jam.2).Fif. 1898 D. H. Fleming in Folk-Lore IX. 286:
It was also believed that if a pregnant woman stepped over "a cutty's clap," . . . her child . . . would have "the hare-shach," or hare-lip.
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"Cuttie n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 2 May 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/cuttie_n1>
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