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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Quotation dates: 1786-1863, 1922, 1979-1995

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DELEER, Delire, v. Also delier, deleir, deler. To intoxicate, to render delirious. Rarely found exc. as ppl.adj. deleerit, etc., delirious, mad; temporarily out of one's senses (Per. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 238, Fif.10 1940; Rnf. 1948 (per Abd.27); Ayr.9 1949; Rxb. c.1920 Mr Clelland W.-L.). Delire = to be delirious or mad, was in use in Eng. in 17th cent. [də′li:r]Sc. 1824 Scott St Ronan's W. I. xii.:
The woman is delireet.
Mry. 1824 J. Cock Hamespun Lays 79:
An' whiles her rhymin' pate grows dizzy An, maist deliriet.
Abd. 1995 Flora Garry Collected Poems 30:
Deleeriet drunks wid lift it, fechtin mad, ...
Fif. 1991 Tom Hubbard in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 143:
The gless slips fae my haund, stramashes, finds
Raskolnikov mair disjinit an deleerit.
wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 21:
Guid kens yir da's deleerit ower yon!
But whit Valère's done wrang, Ah fail tae unnerstaun.
Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 94:
Even they you rin agroun deler't.
Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 219:
The whisk[y]'s been in my pate, And that's deleer't me.
Edb. 1979 Albert D. Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 42:
Deleerit or in dreams I lippen til
Mair mervellous ferlies nor the Nazarene wrocht
Gsw. 1863 J. Young Ingle Nook 59:
For when I thocht hoo that my folly Had stown my siller, watch, an' jolly, I grew amaist dounricht deleerit.
Lnk. 1922 T. S. Cairncross Scot at Hame 10:
Whaur an auld wife delieret, sick, Has nocht to leeve on for next week.
Ayr. 1786 Burns Halloween xiv.:
For monie a ane has gotten a fright, An' liv'd an' di'd deleeret, On sic a night.
Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 47:
In despair your fingers eatin', Clean deleiret a'thegither.

Hence delirietness, delirium.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail II. iv.:
My mother did na send word o' the nature o' this delirietness o' Charlie.

[O.Fr. delirer, to dote, rave, do things against reason, Lat. delirare, to be deranged, to rave.]

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"Deleer v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/deleer>

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