Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

SHUTTLE, n.¹, v. Also shittle (R nf. 1815 W. Finlayson Rhymes 70; wm. Sc. 1970). Sc. form and usages:

I. n. 1. As in Eng. Comb. (1) shuttle-airm, the arm with which a handloom weaver would throw the shuttle; (2) shuttle-chin, a protruding pointed chin, redembling a shuttle. Cf. (3); (3) shuttle-gab, -gob, a misshapen mouth, one in which one jaw, usu. the upper, protrudes beyond the other, esp. of a sheep. Also attrib. and in ppl.adj. shuttle-gabbit, -ed, -gobbit (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein).(1) Kcb. 1900 Crockett Anna Mark xii.:
Yon ill-set randy lass-bairn has broken my shuttle-airm. I'll never work mair a' my days.(2) Rxb. c.1885 W. Laidlaw Poetry (1901) 44:
Her shuttle-chin an' lang-lugg'd mutch.(3) s.Sc. 1900 Abd. Weekly Free Press (8 Dec.):
D'ye think I'm gaunna sit here an' see that shuttle-gabbit thing [sheep-dog] o' yours jump at my beast?Cai. 1959 John o' Groat Liter. Soc. Mag. 4:
Oh, 'ere's a “shittle-gab” sheepie.

2. “A hollow in the stock of a spinning-wheel, in which the first filled pirn or bobbin is kept till the other be also ready for being reeled with it” (Sc. 1825 Jam.).

3. See quot. (Abd. 1970).Abd. c.1890 Gregor MSS.:
When a herring net was warped, the “shottle” or mould, i.e. the square piece of wood used for fixing the size of the “mask” or mesh was steeped in whisky for luck.

II. v. 1. To weave, drive the shuttle in a loom, be a weaver. Hence shuttler, shittler, a weaver; a boy who fills carriages and bobbins in a lace factory (Ags., Slg., Ayr. 1970).Gsw. 1865 J. Young Homely Pictures 150:
I see the shop, the loom, the seat, Whaur lang I shuttl'd air an' late.Ayr. 1870 J. K. Hunter Life Studies 155:
He was the prettiest shuttler I ever saw.Ayr. 1891 H. Johnston Kilmallie II. 26:
Samsie there would rather shuttle for twelve hours than write a line.

2. tr. To throw swiftly like a shuttle, to pitch, to move quickly to and fro.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lxiv.:
He would hae shuttled me through the window.Dmf. 1840 Carlyle Life in London (Froude 1884) I. 177:
A face of most extreme mobility, which he shuttles about . . . in a very singular manner while speaking.

3. intr. To go to and fro like a shuttle, to dart about.Ayr. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize III. xxiv.:
In the clear linn the trouts shuttled from stone and crevice.Dmf. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Revolution II. vi. i.:
Their corps go marching and shuttling, in the interior of the country.