Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GUNNER, n.¹ Sc. usages:

1. One who shoots game with a sporting gun (Ork., Ags. 1955). Also in Eng. dial.Sc. 1752 Scots Mag. (March) 144:
A gunner met them in the vale.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov Encycl. 264:
Neil Wulson, the fisher, and Wull Rain, the gunner.Ags. 1833 J. S. Sands Poems 87:
But here they come — they'll see a wonner Was ne'er shown aff by ony gunner.Bnff. 1876 S. Smiles Naturalist 142:
Daylight brought . . . two gunners from Banff, striding along the beach on a shooting excursion.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 222:
The glyed (squinting) gunner never made a fat pot.

†2. Specif. An attendant in a wedding-procession “whose special function it was to fire blank shots from a musket at regular intervals” (Sh. 1931 J. Nicolson Tales 45). Cf. Send.

3. A noisy talker, a blusterer (Ayr. 1880 Jam.). Cf. Gun, v., 1.

4. The yellow-hammer, Emberiza citrinella (w.Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 349).

5. Comb.: gunner-fleuk, see Fleuk, n.¹, 2.