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 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GALLOWAY, n. 1. A small, sturdy type of horse, originally bred in Galloway. In gen. use also in Eng. since late 16th cent.Sc. 1705 J. Spruel Accompt Current 19:
I can averr as a truth a Scots Galloway of 40 or 50 shil-ster per piece will ride farder, and kill, beat and founder an English Geldin of 20, 30, 40, 50 lib-ster price.Sc. 1763 J. Boswell London Jnl. (1950) 309:
Now my Lord Bute, instead of getting upon one of his own Highland shelties and then upon a Galloway and so training himself by degrees, he must mount the great state-horse all at once.Sc. 1771 Weekly Mag. (29 Aug.) 287:
Mounted upon a whitish grey galloway.m.Sc. 1934 J. Buchan Free Fishers v.:
A broad chaise, drawn by two stout galloways.

2. A stocky, hornless breed of cattle, gen. black in colour, orig. peculiar to Galloway. Also attrib. Comb. belted Galloway, a breed of the same having a broad white band round a black body, sometimes called beltie (cf. Beltie, n.¹).Abd. 1769 Abd. Journal (21 Aug.):
Two very handsome Bulls, of the Carrick or Galloway Breed.Sc. 1772 Edb. Ev. Courant (4 Jan.):
Sixteen fat Highland cows and two three year old Highland galloways.Sc. 1805 R. Forsyth Beauties Scot. II. 373:
That famous breed of cattle known by the name of galloways.Dmf. 1867 W. McDowall Hist. Dumfries 840:
The dusky Galloways have long figured most prominently at the Dumfries market.Kcb. 1897 Crockett Lads' Love xvi.:
But neither black Galloways nor yet reddish-brown white-flecked Ayrshires were to be seen.Gall. 1916 C. H. Dick Highways & Byways Pref. xiii.:
Galloway cattle are hornless and have rough, glossy, black coats. There is also a White-Belted Galloway breed representing an ancient stock.Sc. 1953 Abd. Press and Jnl. (25 June):
The Belted Galloway Cattle Society are to ask the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society to provide a class for yearling heifers of the Belted Galloway breed at future Highland Shows. . . . The annual sales of Belted Galloways . . . have been in abeyance since 1931.sm.Sc. 1997 Herald 6 Jun 26:
A page in Scottish farming history will be turned tomorrow as one of the world's most famous Belted Galloway cattle herds goes to auction.
For more than 140 years and four generations, the Boreland herd has produced "Belties" which have won championships and been exported world-wide.

3. Combs.: (1) Galloway cape, the coping of a Galloway-dyke; see (2) and Caip, n.¹; (2) Galloway-dyke, a wall of peculiar construction, see m.Lth. quot.; (3) Galloway hedge, a dry stone wall built on sloping ground, where hedge plants growing in the soil on the upper side of the wall are taken through holes in the wall to form an additional barrier on the other side; (4) Galloway packmen, = Coldingham packmen, q.v. (Kcb.⁹ 1937; Dmf. 1953); (5) Galloway-whin, the moor whin or needle furze, Genista anglica (sw.Sc. 1884–96 Garden Wk. XIII. 112); †(6) Galloway-whites, a kind of woollen material.(1) Gall. 1811 Farmer's Mag. (Aug.) 374:
The Galloway cape upon a well built stone wall is known to be unassailable by stock of any kind, if the wall is built five, or even four and a half feet in height before the cape is constructed.(2) m.Lth. 1793 G. Robertson Agric. m.Lth. 38:
A . . . formidable looking fence . . . used in the moor-land parts of the county . . . is called the Galloway dike, built of whinstone, usually 5 feet high. . . . To the height of 2½ feet, it is built neatly, but without mortar; in breadth from 20 inches to 2 feet. Upon this is laid a thin course of flat stones, which project three inches over the under part. Above these are placed . . . a set of rugged round stones, which in building are brought gradually to a taper, ending at last in stones of three or four inches diameter at the top; . . . cattle of all kinds are shy of approaching this kind of barrier. . . . Being well founded, and having little top-weight, it stands well.s.Per. 1794 J. Robertson Agric. s.Per. 62:
At Glendevon, and in some other high ground, the fences are for the most part Galloway-dykes.Sc. 1814 Scott in Lockhart Life IV. xxviii.:
4 Aug.: It would be easy to form a good farm by enclosing the ground with Galloway dykes.Rs. 1819 R. Southey Tour Scot. (1929) 164:
In Strath Garve . . . the . . . walls are called Galloway Dikes.(3) Gall. 1957 F. Rainsford-Hannay Dry Stone Walling 46:
Another form is a combination of dyke and hedge. It was first invented by Hamilton of Baldoon in 1730, and copied extensively by Lord Selkirk of St. Mary's Isle. It is called a "sunk fence" or a "Galloway hedge".(6) Sc. 1706 Essay upon Industry and Trade 6:
It's known in Galloway, there has been exported a sort of Manufacture called Galloway-Whites, to a considerable Value, perhaps six hundred Sea-Packs in a Year, and now not one Pack exported.Sc. 1706 Acts Parl. Scot. (1824) XI. 355:
The clause mentioned in the tuenty seventh dayes minuts anent the makeing and exporting of Plaiding, Fingrams, Galloway-whytes, Sarges . . . to England dominions and plantations.