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 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LOOP, n., v. Also loup (Sc. 1818 Sawers). Sc. usages:

I. n. 1. As in Eng.; specif. a stitch in knitting (Sc. 1787 J. Elphinston Propriety II. 75). Gen.Sc. Also fig. Comb.: loop-stane, a stone at the eaves of a house round which the thatching-ropes or simmins were looped and tied down (Sh. 1961). Phrs.: (1) to connach (one's) loops, to make a mess or muddle of (one's) life (Ags. 1961); (2) to hae one's finger in the loop o', to have the knack of, the art of doing (a thing), to know expertly about (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis); (3) to put a loop in one's life, to change the course of one's life, turn over a new leaf; (4) to tak a loop, to take up one's knitting, to knit (Sh., n.Sc., Dmf. 1961), — o' the shank, to knit stockings (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.Add.).Sc. 1826 A. Cunningham Paul Jones I. vii.:
He knitted hose as he went and the most perilous speed he thought prudent to exert never prevented him from lifting a loop.Abd. 1880 W. Robbie Glendornie iv.:
“Tint loops” and “hingin' hairs,” irregularities in the “oot-lattin's” or “in-takin's,” in the setting of the heel or the closing of the toe.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (7 May):
“Aandrew hed on yon auld Willinton buits.” “Laekly 'ithoot da loop o' a sock.”Sh. 1949 P. Jamieson Letters on Shet. 31:
The number of “loops” or stitches they had knitted on their wires.Abd. 1954 Banffshire Jnl. (26. Jan.):
If it wis only the heel, a body cud tak' up the loops at the sides.(3) Ayr. 1892 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 245:
In trouth our guidwife put a loop in her life, An' turn'd out a right decent dame.(4) Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xii.:
Tibbie an' Peggie wha war sittin' at the cheek o' the fire, takkin a loop o' their stockin's.Sh. 1900 Shetland News (12 May):
A'm dat toughtfil 'at I canna sit ta tak' a loop i' me haand.

2. Any natural bend or configuration like a loop, the winding of a river or its valley (Lnk. 1825 Jam.); the channel of a stream that is left dry when the water has changed its course (Id.). Gen.Sc.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. ix.:
A wild clauchan, situated in the “loop” of some wild moorland glen.Ayr. 1892 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 315:
To some loop in the loch Where the wave gaes to sleep.

3. A piece of deceit or cheating, a trick, a dodge. Hence loopie, -y, loupie, deceitful, shifty, crafty (Sc. 1818 Sawers; Fif., Ayr., sm.Sc. 1961), also used subst., a cheat; loopy-links, toils, snares.Sc. 1787 W. Taylor Poems 10:
Some lawyers may be loopy dogs.Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet xx.:
When I tauld him how this loopy lad, Alan Fairford, had served me, he said I might bring an action on the case.Ayr. 1824 A. Crawford Tales Grandmother 192:
Peter the loopie — for who ever saw a packman that was not loopie?Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 51:
Quoth Willie Watt our loopy laird.Ayr. 1848 J. Ramsay Woodnotes 104:
Ready he Was aye (when gain was in the case), Wi' loop or lee.Sc. 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms cxli. 9:
Kep me frae the grip o' the girns … an' eke frae the loopy-links, o' them wha wark at ill.Kcb. 1897 T. Murray Frae the Heather 30:
Since I'm a failure at this loopie trade.

II. v. 1. To tie up in a loop, to hang in a noose.Ayr. 1892 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 191:
Like mousie thrappl't in a fa', Or loon that's loopit by the law.

2. To knit, stitch. Hence loopin weir, a knitting needle. Cf. n., 1.Bnff. 1869 W. Knight Auld Yule 114:
And aften whan the simmer nichts grew lang, She there wad sit, and ca' the loopin' weir.

3. Of a stream: to form a loop, to wind, meander; to progress by a looping movement like a caterpillar. Hence loop-linkie, a kind of caterpillar found freq. in heather (Abd. c.1890).Dmf. 1810 R. Cromek Remains 303:
It was watered with fine looping rivulets, and yellow with corn.