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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

SYPE, v., n. Also sipe, seip, seyp, ¶scipe. Freq. form syper. [səip]

I. v. 1. intr. Of liquid: to ooze, seep, leak, filter through (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.; Sc. 1880 Jam.; Per., Fif. 1915–26 Wilson; I., n.Sc., em.Sc., Lnk., Rxb. 1972). Also fig. Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1707 Morison Decisions 10086:
The wine had syped out, and so was all lost and spilt.Per. 1751 Session Papers, Coopers of Perth v. Davidson (28 Jan.) 17:
This would occasion a slackening of the Girths, whereby some of the Pickle will sype out.Ags. 1795 Session Papers, Arbuthnott v. Scott State of Process 265:
The water sciped mostly through the dike where a breach had been lately made.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xvii.:
She wears her corpse-sheet drawn weel up to hide it, but that canna hinder the bluid seiping through.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Notandums 17:
A sma' bit inkling of the case must have been seipin' doon into my mind.Bwk. 1899 Sc. N. & Q. (1st Ser.) XII. 160:
Water, syping down from the surface through the looser texture of the imperfectly solidified moss.Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 197:
I juist drank the whuskie and luit it sype t'ee sair.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 19:
Losh sakes mei! the thochts that come seipin.Bnff. 1953 Banffshire Jnl. (17 Nov.):
The fusky that hed seypit intill the widden staves.

Hence vbl.n. sypins, deriv. s(e)ipage (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.), oozings, leakage, what can be drained off at the last from an emptied container, the dregs, the last drops or drippings (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.; Gall. 1920; Ork., ne.Sc., Fif. 1972).Sc. 1832 Chambers's Jnl. (Aug.) 219:
The elder's rafters being sair dazed wi' sypings o' rain and auld age.Dmf. 1903 J. L. Waugh Thornhill 24:
Clats of porridge, herring bones, pot sypings and other odds and ends.Sh. 1918 T. Manson Peat Comm. 193:
He held the bottle up between him and the sky and saw with regret that he was coming very near the “sypins”.

2. tr. and absol. Of a vessel, etc.: to drip, discharge liquid in drops, leak (Sc. 1825 Jam.; I., ne., s.Sc. 1972); to dry out, of wet clothes, ground, etc. Ppl.adj. seiping, leaky.Abd. 1739 Caled. Mag. (1788) 499:
A snype . . . gart his swall'd een sype Sawt tears that day.Sc. 1761 Magopico 36:
A seiping dish, a dish what winno' hald in.Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan III. x.:
I streeked him [drowned man] out to sype in the morning sun.Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 38:
That meada has siped weet the day efter the rain.Ork. 1968 M. A. Scott Island Saga 72:
It [corn or bere] was left to “sipe” until evening.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 54:
A pauchle o bleck steered aside me. "Ma?" said ma loonie. His face wis that birssled, I cudna makk oot far his een war. His hauns war swalled like puddens, sypin pus.

3. tr. To cause to drip or ooze, to drip-dry (clothes, etc.), to draw off liquid from (boiling potatoes) (Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 38), to drain to the last drop (I.Sc., Cai., Dmf. 1972), also in n.Eng. dial. Also fig. Ppl.adj. sypit, of washing: half-dried (Dmf. 1920). Phr. and comb. at the sypin, of boiled potatoes: ready to be drained; sipe-the-teapot, a confirmed tea-drinker (Kcb. 1930).Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 125:
Sae than he beur the auld wife in, A' draigled ower wi' iper, Apo' twa steuls tae sipe her.Sh. 1900 Shetland News (Dec. 15):
I wis sypid da dregs o' me second cup.Dmf. 1915 J. L. Waugh Betty Grier 70:
Sittin' clatterin' here an' the tatties at the sypein'.Bnff. 1937 E. S. Rae Light in the Window Dedic.:
The stootest hert war waefa sypes.

4. (1) tr. To soak, saturate, percolate, also fig.; intr. to be full of water. Ppl.adjs. sypin, sypit, soaked, soaking, wet through (Sh., Abd. 1972).Sc. 1871 P. Waddell Psalms xx. 3:
Seip yer brunt-offrans.Ags. 1894 A. Reid Songs 11:
I'm fair drookit, Saft an' sypit, throo an' throo.Sc. 1897 L. Keith My Bonny Lady xiv.:
He'll be seipin' wet, an' his feet never changed since the morning!Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. 97:
“Is yer feet weet?” “Sypin',” said Jeames.Abd. 1945 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 378:
Girss to hap them fae the sypin' caul'.Kcd. 1956 Abd. Univ. Review (Spring) 295:
Never a day but the rain's dung doon An' sypit an' laid the corn.Abd. 1993:
Ma claes wis aa sypit wi at hivvy shoor o rain. ne.Sc. 2004 Aberdeen Evening Express (26 Jan) 22:
I used to have fun with friends in Aberdeen when over a few drinks we would come up with the daftest words that we could remember from our early days in Torry. My favourites include: Sypin' ( soakin ), ... ne.Sc. 2004 Press and Journal (28 Jun) 12:
My legacy o the day, though, is a sypin pair o kilt sheen. It wis like lowsin the pynts o a pair o sponges fin I got hame an ony mair drookit games will connach them aa thegither.

(2) tr. To soak up, absorb (n.Sc., Per., Rxb. 1972); “to sip or drain up, to wipe” (Sh., Cld. 1880 Jam.). Freq. form syper, to simmer, boil gently (Ork. 1929 Marw.).Per. 1964:
A sponge sypes up moisture.

II. n. 1. An oozing or leakage (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh., ne.Sc., Ags., Fif. 1972).Bnff. 1777 W. Cramond Ann. Bnff. (S.C.) III. 97:
By the general sipe of the slating there is no mending of the slating.

2. A small trickle of water, a slight spring (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 424; Per. 1825 Jam.); a drip (Sh., Bnff., Abd., Ags. 1972).Abd. 1886 Trans. Huntly Field Club 3:
The genesis of peat moss on this hill I am inclined to ascribe to a spring, or rather “sipe”.

3. A small quantity of liquid, what drips from an emptied bottle, dregs (Dmf. 1825 Jam.; I.Sc. 1972). Also in Yks. dial.s.Sc. 1897 E. Hamilton Outlaws xvii.:
A stolum o' bread, and a seip o' milk.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (21 Jan.):
Luik if der a sipe i' da bottle.

4. A wet mass, a puddle of moisture (Cai. 1931).Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 62:
Your slaiver-brewin' cutty pipe Hauds a' your hearth-stane in a sype.