Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1750-1901
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JILLET, n. Also jellet, gillet; jilly (Sc. 1844 J. Maidment Ballads (1868) 14). A giddy or flighty girl, a jilt (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Also used attrib. and fig. Found in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1750 Scots Mag. (March) 113:
Sure some mad freak's possess'd the jillet's head, To leave poor Allan's, and tak your's in stead.Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 74:
Tho' jillet Fortune scoul and quarrel.Ayr. 1786 Burns On a Sc. Bard vi.:
A jillet brak his heart at last.Sc. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxi.:
And, hark you, were it not well to receive that coy jillet with something of a mumming?Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 102:
The wiles o' knaves, and gillets' lures, Blackguards and cheats.Gall. 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 190:
A min' yin o' them, a great muckle jellet o' a byrewoman.
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"Jillet n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/jillet>
