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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STRIDDLE, v., n. Also stridle. [strɪdl]

I. v. 1. intr. To set one's feet and legs apart, to stand or sit in this way (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 268; Fif., Lth., wm., sm. and s.Sc. 1971). Also tr. to straddle, bestride (Watson). Also ppl.adj. striddled. Obs. in Eng. exc. dial.Rxb. 1805 A. Scott Poems 55:
Here's kye that gie twall pints a-day; Thair udders gar them striddle.Sc. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (June) 288:
Sax kye — a' as famous milkers as e'er striddled a goan.Edb. 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 11:
A wean I striddled on their backs.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 10:
Hoop'd roun' wi' girs till ye can hardly striddle.Abd. 1987 Sheena Blackhall in Joy Hendry Chapman 49 56:
Their byewyes niver jine - as nicht, wi day
Her baurdy, langin ee can anely luik
She kens the futterat rives its striddled prey
Yet fain wid lay her doon, an lute it sook

2. Specif. To stand on a corn-stack while it is being built and pass the sheaves from the cart to the stack-builder (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein). Hence striddler, the farm-hand who does this (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Bwk., Rxb. 1971).Rxb. 1920 Kelso Chronicle (18 June) 2:
A “striddler” might be nominally employed for more than eight hours. You all know what “striddling” is — the boy passing the sheaf from the centre of the stack, after the carter forks it to him, to the stacker.

3. To walk with long straddling steps, to stride, to step out (Uls. 1953 Traynor).Ayr. 1785 Burns 2nd Ep. to J. Lapraik ix.:
Sin' I could striddle owre a rig.Rxb. 1807 J. Ruickbie Wayside Cottager 185:
When H—k bonnie brigg ye cross An' up the muirlan' striddle.Sc. 1821 Scott Pirate iv.:
Nae pleugh of the flesh that the bonny lad-bairn sall e'er striddle between the stilts o'.Sc. 1823 Scots Mag. (July) 28:
Lightsome 'twas to see the lasses Upon the green, in gloamin's striddle, A' dancin' to their father's fiddle.Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 4:
Striddlen o'er hillocks and stanes.Ayr. 1892 J.C.C.B. A. Boyd's Cracks 18:
The body striddled on in his red jacket, like a bantam cock.Kcb. a.1902 Gallovidian No. 59. 109:
That gushloch like, scarce ower a stave can striddle When skill his heid has left to swall his middle.

II. n. 1. A standing or sitting with the legs apart, a straddle (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 268); the spreading apart of the legs in walking, dancing, etc., a wide stride or pace (Id.). Also fig. and, by extension, of something of no consequence. Cf. Stroddle.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 189:
With cutty Steps to ding their Striddle, And gar them fag.Rnf. 1813 G. Maclndoe Wandering Muse 147:
Ben comes he prancin like a stag, Wi' straining strut an striddle.Rxb. 1821 A. Scott Poems 3:
Parnassus . . . Where some to climb, mak sic a striddle.Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 42:
He lamps at the rate of four yards at a striddle.Dmf. 1855 “Poet Tam” Curliana 1:
My purse as empty as a fiddle: My credit not worth half a stridle.Fif. 1883 W. D. Latto Bodkin Papers 118:
The haudin' upsides wi' the fashions is a thing that may be accomplished wi' a great striddle.

Combs. stridle- (also striddlie-)leg(s), striddle-leggit, straddle-wise, with the legs set apart, esp. in riding, with one leg on either side of the horse (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., striddlie-leg(s), striddle-leggit; Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 40, stridle-legs; Rxb. 1971, striddlie-). Also in n.Eng. dial.Rxb. 1901 R. Murray Hawick Char. 13:
Sometimes he would ride striddle-legs on the one stick.

2. = striddler in I. 2. above.Rxb. 1920 Kelso Chronicle (18 June) 2:
A “striddle” — a small slight boy of 12 . . . catching those sheaves and pitching them to the stacker.