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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

RIP, n.² Also ripp; †ripe; ¶reip (Jam.).

1. (1) A handful of stalks of unthreshed grain, such as would be grasped by a reaper before severing them with a sickle (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.; Cai. 1904 E.D.D.; Abd., Ayr. c.1930; Ork., Cai., Bnff., Bwk. 1968). Also in Eng. dial.; a larger bundle used to feed animals (Uls. 1953 Traynor). Comb. maiden-rip, the last handful of corn to be cut in harvest. See Maiden.Sc. 1776 Kames Gentleman Farmer 189:
A rip of oats [must] be hung up within their reach.Ayr. 1786 Burns To his Auld Mare i.:
Hae, there's a ripp to thy auld baggie.Abd. 1801 W. Beattie Parings (1873) 35:
We'll gie the sheep a rip o' corn.Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot I. 381:
Two small rips or handfuls of straw, twisted together or tied at the ear-ends.Slg. 1818 W. Muir Poems 65:
Wi' sweet rips o' hay I will treat a' my wethers.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 304:
The rip left is three plaited, the reapers range back a few yards, and fling at it with their hooks, and he or she who flings, and cuts it, is accounted the cleverest in the boon or banwun.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 132:
A rip o' weel smelt clov'ry rye.Clc. 1882 J. Walker Poems 12:
She grips some stalks and twists the maiden-rip In triple strands. Then in her walie grip She taks her heuk and clears an open space Around the rip. Then at its root she lays Her sickle doon.Mry. 1898 Weekly Free Press (25 June):
The mare got a rest Wi' a rip o' a sheaf.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 27:
It's no for men that nicht and day . . . Ken themselves but ripps o' strae Afore His wind.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
Gie's a rip o' gerss (corn, strae, etc.).

(2) Sc. Law, in poinding corn: a wisp of the crop carried to the market cross, as a symbol of the right to poind it, and as a sample of its quality.Sc. 1707 Fountainhall Decisions II. 400:
[He] not only apprised them on the ground of the lands, but also carried a rip of the corn, as a part and symbol of the whole, to the market-cross of Dumfries.Dmf. 1784 Session Papers, Petition R. and J. Ramsay (17 July) 4:
The growing corns were also poinded at the same time, in the usual manner, by ripes or samples.

2. A single stalk of unthreshed grain (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., 1914 Angus Gl.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; I.Sc., Cai. 1968). Also fig.Sh. 1897 Shetland News (4 Sept.):
Dat's no ae rip, afore doo brings pruf.Ork. 1920:
The field's been clean raked: there's har'ly a rip left.Ork. 1931 J. Leask Peculiar People 132:
Lootan at id an' hintan rips fill tings wad mir afore me e'en.

3. In gen.: a handful, a small quantity (Dmf. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 261). Dim. rippie, id. (Abd. Ib.).