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.
KET, n.2, v., adj. Also kett.
I. n. 1. A matted fleece of wool (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ayr. 1912 D. McNaught Kilmaurs 296; Clc., Lth. 1959).Ayr. 1786 Burns Poor Mailie's Elegy vi.:
She was nae get o' moorlan tips, Wi' tauted ket, an' hairy hips.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 23:
Nae mawkit kets, nae scabbit een, But ilka yowe as trig's a preen.
2. Couch-grass, quick grass, Agropyron repens, from its matted appearance (Sc. 1808 Jam.; s.Sc. 1886 B. and H. 287); a spongy kind of peat, composed of tough matted fibres (Cld., Dmf. 1825 Jam.; Kcb.4 c.1900). Hence ketty, of turf: matted, lumpy (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Uls. 1953 Traynor); of soil: bound together by couch-grass (s.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Abd. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 94). Also fig. and attrib.Sc. 1807 R. Rennie Peat Moss 176:
Ket moss is similar to this [red moss]; and that called in Ireland old wives' tow is of the same kind.Lnk. 1818 A. Fordyce Country Wedding 185:
We'll yoke our pleugh, and deeply fur Corruption's heart; Her spretty knowes, an' ketty turr Will tear apart.Ayr. 1928 J. S. Gall Muses 42:
Kett on the coulter, kett on the sock.
3. Barren, exhausted land (Cld. 1825 Jam.).
II. v. 1. (1) intr. To become entangled, obstructed by matted clumps of couch-grass and similar weeds, as a plough; (2) tr. Only as ppl.adj. kettit, with up, overrun with weeds (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 94).(1) Ayr. 1901 Burns Chronicle 34:
We once heard a farmer remark to his ploughman, “Your plough is kettin',” when the coulter was becoming fouled with weeds.Ayr. 1928 J. S. Gall Muses 42:
Their ploughs were ketting badly.
¶2. tr. Appar. to tousle affectionately or in fun. The word is glossed by the author as “to make of; fondle” and is not otherwise paralleled in this sense.Hdg. 1885 S. Mucklebackit Rhymes 219:
An' frien's to kett the lyart croon O' puir, auld Athie Graeme!
III. adj. Irascible, quick-tempered (Dmf., Gall. 1825 Jam.; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 150; Kcb.4 c.1900). See note.
[O.Sc. has cot, kot, wool matted together in the fleece, from 1375. Cf. Eng. dial. cot(t), id., to mat together, to become entangled, cotted, cotty, matted, entangled, short-tempered, E.M.E. cotte, 1531, Anglo-Fr., cot = I. 1. The change of vowel is unexplained. There may be some influence from Ket, n.1]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Ket n.2, v., adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 25 Apr 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/ket_n2_v_adj>
