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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.

TRUFF, n.¹ Also truf, trouff. Pl. truffs, †troves. Sc. met. forms of Eng. turf. [trʌf]

1. As in Eng. sward, or a piece of it, a sod. (1) in gen.:Sc. 1706 Funeral Accts. MSS. (Reg. Ho.) II. 7:
To the Truffe upon the grave . . . £5:16s.Sc. 1761 Magopico 31:
A green guse that can grow fat upon a green truff.Abd. 1777 R. Forbes Ulysses 38:
The froathin' bleed fa'n o' the truff Did change the violet's hue.Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 37:
Through truffs an' stanes sought a foundation To build a dyke.Bnff. a.1829 J. Sellar Poems (1844) 28:
Neither whin, nor yet freestane, Brun't brick, nor marble, lime, nor nane But just a guid black truff.Ags. 1840 G. Webster Ingliston xxviii.:
They cut the truff across the middle o' the graft.Abd. 1863 G. MacDonald D. Elginbrod xii.:
We'll hae truff aneuch for the wa's in a jiffey.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 269:
Twa powls laid across't, wi some truffs on them, for a brig.

†(2) Specif. the turf over a grave; the grave itself.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 62:
She sits her down, an' thinks her truff was there, An' never thought to see kent face nae mair.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 190:
Sic drinks Will hap some Deacons in a truff.Edb. 1801 J. Thomson Poems 29:
Here lies interr'd below this truff.Per. 1816 J. Duff Poems 38:
'Twad mak his heart to jump wi' glee, And e'en his truf ly lighter.Ags. 1850 A. Laing Wayside Flowers 17:
Her grave wasna sad, an' her truf wasna green.

2. A piece of turf used as fuel, a peat, esp. a surface peat (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 200; Rs., Bnff. 1973).Kcd. 1700 Black Bk. Kcd. (1843) 130:
He hid the said web amongst a rickle of truffs.Sc. 1709 Household Bk. Lady G. Baillie (S.H.S.) 77:
For 8 darg troves casting at 6 pence per day.Bwk. 1725 R. Gibson Old Bwk. Town (1905) 139:
The priveledge of casting truffs and fewall in Greenlaw Common.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 137:
Sods, peats, and heath'ry trufs the chimley fill.Abd. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XV. 456:
Cutting up the sward into turf for fuel, which they call troves.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xix.:
Ootower a bit frae the dancers bleezed a fire o' sticks an' truffs. Abd. 1865 G. MacDonald Alec Forbes xviii.: A truff, or sod cut from the top of a peat-moss — a coarse peat in fact, more loose and porous than the peat proper.Ags. 1888 Brechin Advert. (21 Feb.) 3:
The owners of the said kye cuist truff for winter fuel.Abd. 1900 C. Murray Hamewith 5:
There's truffs aneuch at the barn gate To reist a' the fires till simmer.Mry. 1969 L. G. Rich White Rose 8:
She cuist an' ca'ed the peats an' truffs.

3. Combs.: (1) truff dyke, a wall built of sods (Gall. 1955); (2) trouff-gate, a right of way for the transport of peats from a common moss (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). Cf. Moss, n., 3. (31); (3) truff-laft, a loft in which peats are stored; (4) truff-neuk, a corner at a fireside where the daily supply of peats is stacked. Cf. Peat, n.¹, 3. (63); (5) truff-seat, a seat or bench made of turf or sods; (6) truff-spad, a spade for digging peats; (7) truff-stack, a peat-stack.(3) Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 329:
It found the way to an old sooty truff laft, and there caught plenty of mice for itself.(4) Ags. 1850 A. Laing Wayside Flowers 24:
The truff-neuk is toom o' its evenin' supply.(5) Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch i.:
Resting himself on the truff seat before our door.(6) Bnff. 1930:
Tak the truff spad an cast some fails to hap the tatties.(7) Ags. 1723 W. M. Inglis Angus Par. (1904) 100:
They saw Thomas on his truff stack on Sabbath.