Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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HIDDLE, n., v., adv. Also hiddil, hidle; heddle. [′hɪdl]

I. n. 1. A hiding place, a sheltered spot (Ags. 1957). Freq. in pl. hiddles, hiddils (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Mearns² 1925).Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxxv.:
As I keepit in the hiddles o' the coach he didna see me.Sc.(E) 1868 D. M. Ogilvy Willie Wabster (1873) 10:
Garred ilk troot and saumont whiddle, Ilk kamper [sic] eel to seek its hiddil.Ags. 1894 F. Mackenzie Cruisie Sk. 2:
The houses cowered down into the hiddles behind a clump of trees or broom-clad brae out of scathe of the East and North winds.Mearns⁵ 1956:
She bade i' the hiddles o' the close.

2. Used to mean a cluster, small group of buildings, etc. set close together, by confusion with Eng. huddle.Kcd. 1933 L. G. Gibbon Cloud Howe 49:
And what's that to the left, that hiddle of houses?

II. v. 1. To hide, conceal (Per., Fif. 1825 Jam.; ‡Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Sh., Ags. 1957).Edb. 1811 H. Macneill Bygane Times 22:
O man! they hiddled close the story, But Friends kent a' — and a' war sorry!Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick III. xiii.:
Aye ye may hide the vile scurrivaig, it ye may, an' hiddle an' smiddle the deeds o' darkness!s.Sc. 1847 H. S. Riddell Poems 11:
"Atweel dear sir," said the guidman, "The thing we need na hiddle."Ayr. 1891 H. Johnston Kilmallie ix.:
Beenie was hidling the guid things intended for the minister's wife into the press.Ags. 1928 Scots Mag. (May) 143:
The tears poored frae his een, he hiddlt his face in his hauns.

Hence hid(d)lin(g), hidden, secret (Ags., m.Lth., Bwk. 1957); secretive, underhand, furtive. Also used adv. and in form hid(d)lin(g) ways, -wise, secretly, by stealth (Dmf. 1957).Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 216:
Ask her, in kindness, if she seeks In hidling ways to wear the breeks?Ags. 1819 A. Balfour Campbell xxxiii.:
He barked — approached our hidlin lair.Sc. 1827 Literary Gazette (8 Sept.) 589:
I'll get in heddlingwise, when his back's turned.Slk. 1829 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) xii.:
Slippit that into the potatoe-pot hidling ways.Ayr. 1835 Galt in Tait's Mag. (Nov.) 744:
They had resolved to be privately married before he went abroad . . . I said that there was no reason to be so hidling about it.Dmf. 1863 R. Quinn Heather Lintie 57:
Had Daniel na drawn back the screen, Syne hiddlin' pranks Appeared. . . .Abd. 1867 W. Anderson Rhymes 104:
This her neebors manna ken — 'Twas sippit hidlinwise.Mry. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 78:
The lemans fair wi' joes repair Tae hidlin neuks unseen.Fif. 1957:
He's gaun hiddlin aboot it — he's doing it in an underhand way.

2. intr. To nestle closely, take shelter (Kcd., Ags. 1957).Ags. 1894 A. Reid Songs 31:
Frae far an' near the neebors come, An' roond the hearth they hiddle.Kcd. 1932 L. G. Gibbon Sunset Song 59:
Sometimes they hiddled in the lithe and the sleet sang past.

3. tr. To take into the shelter of one's arms.Per. 1904 R. Ford Hum. Sc. Stories (Ser. 2) 91:
As she hiddled the weeist o' the twa wee chaps on her knee.

¶III. adv. In a mysterious fashion.Ayr. 1789 D. Sillar Poems 154:
Gae fool, an' what you've said recal, An' own you've sair mistaken P[au]l, Wha from his very inmost saul Did speak sae hiddle.