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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TILL, n. Also tull (Lnk. 1845 Stat. Acc.² VI. 645). [tɪl, ‡tʌl]

1. (1) A stiff clay, usually occurring in unstratified deposits of glacial origin and forming an unproductive sub-soil, gen. impervious to water (Sc. 1808 Jam.), now adopted in Eng. as a geological term for boulder clay.Sc. 1765 A. Dickson Agriculture 222:
They [ploughmen] are so inattentive, as to leave good soil in some places, and turn up till in others.Sc. 1776 Kames Gentleman Farmer 341:
It is this hardened earth which is named till.Abd. 1794 J. Anderson Agric. Abd. 24:
There are two opposite extremes of clayey soil; one is of a tough gluey coherent nature, which in the extreme of this sort is called Till.Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 27:
Clay when it is nearly void of other earths or admixtures, is of a blue colour, and steril, it is generally denominated (in the western parts of Scotland) “till”.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary iv.:
Placing paving stones beneath the tree when first planted . . . a barrier between his roots and the unkindly till.Sc. 1835 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) IV. 218:
The substratum is a cauld till, that keeps the vegetation shiverin on the surface in a perpetual ague.Per. 1841 Trans. Highl. Soc. 30:
The soils of this quarter consist chiefly of tlree varieties of clay, known in the district by the names of till, end-clay, and carse-clay.m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 45:
Yon's the dourest land that ever I was on; it's a' till thegither.

Combs. and deriv.: (i) till-airn, a crowbar, sc. one for making holes in till for posts, drainage or other purposes (Ayr., Wgt. 1972). See Airn; (ii) till-band, pudding-stone, conglomerate, breccia (Sc. 1807 J. Headrick Arran 245); (iii) till-bottom, a clay subsoil; (iv) till-hole, a hole from which clay has been dug, a clay-pit; (v) tillie, -y, tiley, adj., composed of till or boulder clay (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Comb. tillie-clay, cold, stiff, unproductive soil, also fig., and in reduced form †tillie (Sh. 1880 Jam.).(i) Kcb. 1898 T. Murray Frae the Heather 42:
Then aff gaed the plaid, . . . The till airn applied it rebounded again.(iii) Dmf. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XIV. 101:
Clay on a till bottom, which retaining the wet, is not favourable to vegetation.Sc. 1884 Trans. Highl. Soc. 258:
A cold clay subsoil, or what we in Scotland would term a “till-bottom.”(iv) Wgt. 1718 G. Fraser Lowland Lore (1880) 36:
To Discharge any persone to Steep hemp, or Lint in the quarrell houll and till holes therabout.(v) Dmf. 1772 Weekly Mag. (2 Jan.) 30:
A vast quantity of water getting in between the mossy and tilly grounds in the winter season.Fif. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ IX. 217:
The soil in general is thin and sharp, except in some places where it is tilly.Per. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Per. 13:
The houses of the farmers and of those in the lower ranks of life were formerly composed of this mortar or tilly clay.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 449:
A heart tlat never felt love is said to be a piece of tillie clay.m.Lth. 1845 Stat. Acc.² I. 135:
A tusk of a Mammoth was found, nearly five feet long, about twenty-five feet under the surface of the ground, firmly imbedded in blue till, or tilly clay.Sc. 1871 Trans. Highl. Soc. 436:
The soil in general is a very stiff poor clay, with a hard, tiley impervious subsoil.

(2) fig.: the earth in gen., “the cold clay.”Ayr. 1790 J. Fisher Poems 63:
To die an' be laid i' the till.Sc. 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ iii. xiv.:
Sall the till splore again Him wha schupe't it?

2. Mining: a hard laminated shale formed from till, a kind of fire-clay or blaes (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 67).Sc. 1701 R. Wodrow Early Letters (S.H.S.) 143:
I hope to furnish you with some till or coal slate with impressions on it.Lnk. 1793 D. Ure Rutherglen 253:
The most uncommon variety of till, in this country, is one that, by the miners, is called Maggy. It is incumbent on a coarse ironstone, or doggar, at Mauchlanhole and Torrance.Ayr. 1845 Stat. Acc.² V. 213:
Various dikes of shale or “till”, as it is provincially termed, also cross the strata.Lnk. 1864 J. Greenshields Lesmahagow 243:
Craw Coal and Tills, . . . 6 ft. 4 in.Rnf. 1920 Econ. Geol. Central Coalfield IV. 19:
Not all of this, however, is good coal: — there are occasional partings of blaes (“till” or “indurated clay” in the old terminology).