Show Search Results Show Browse

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCOURIE, adj., n. Also scoury, scoory, scowrie, -y. [′skuri, ′skʌuri]

I. adj. 1. Scruffy, disreputable or nasty in appearance, broken-down, unprepossessing, of persons (Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. Gl., 1787 J. Elphinston Propriety II. 160; Slg., Ayr. 1969).Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 184:
To a puir scowrie loun like the painter.
Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 154:
A “scoory-looking blade”, a broken-down looking tramp whose face creates sinister suggestions.
Ayr. 1913 J. Service Memorables 5:
What a ragged regiment o' scowrie-leukin tinklers.

2. Of clothes: shabby, worn, threadbare (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Hence scouriness, n., shabbiness in dress.Sc. 1812 The Scotchman 58:
Twa chaps wi scourie black coats on.
Sc. 1814 C. I. Johnstone Saxon and Gael III. v.:
Castin' up our poortith, an' your scouriness.
Dmb. 1846 W. Cross Disruption xxix,:
What care I for toil, or a bare, scoury coat?
Wgt. 1877 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 318:
I wha stan' here in this bare scoory coat.

3. Of ground: having a dry, parched or wasted appearance, barren (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poet. Gl.; Sc. 1808 Jam.); of a sea-bed: over-fished, yielding poor catches (Sh. 1969).

4. Of character: mean, ungenerous, shabby, niggardly (wm.Sc. 1808 Jam.); also as an epithet of more gen. scorn or disapprobation.Rnf. 1813 G. MacIndoe Wandering Muse 91:
To think on Fortune's scourie gait, Frae ony poor tyke in a strait, Her een to steek.
Dmf. 1825 Jam., s.v. Unsell:
Scoury unsell is a contemptuous designation applied to a child, by one who is in bad humour.

II. n. 1. A scruffy, disreputable-looking person, a blackguard, rascally fellow (Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. Gl.; Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 693, 1904 E.D.D.).Slg. 1788 R. Galloway Poems 208:
For a' his grace, and honest face, Fox thought him but a scowrie.
Slg. 1804 G. Galloway Luncarty 57:
Some vile thing tripp'd her o'er, the scolding scowrie.

2. A drudge, an odd-job man.Sc. 1741 Scots Mag. (Nov. 1817) 336:
The gardener was kept there for a scoury to dress the garden and the trees.

3. ? A worn obliterated coin, one that has had the inscription worn away. The definition is uncertain and the word may not belong here.Ayr. 1852 M. Lochhead Poems 118:
To disburse One scourie from my scanty purse.

[Orig. doubtful. Phs. from Scour, n.3]

You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.

"Scourie adj., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/scourie>

23153

snd

Hide Advanced Search

Browse SND:

    Loading...

Share: