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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WIMPLE, n., v. Also wymple, wumple; whimple, whumple. Sc. forms and usages:

I. n. 1. A twist, turn, winding or meandering of a road or stream; a twisting, turning movement, a convolution, a ripple (I.Sc., Ags., Slg., Fif., Lth. 1974), the sound of rippling. Also fig., approximating to sense 3.Sc. 1723 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) III. 174:
Adown clear Nyth wha does his Wimples guide Throw Meadows parks and woods on either side.
Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck xi., xiv.:
Over hill and dale, as a shepherd always does, who hates the wimples, as he calls them, of a turn-pike. . . . He had as mony links and whimples in his tail as an eel.
Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 88:
Nae music, exceptin' the clear burnie's wimple.
Abd. 1832 A. Beattie Poems 131:
He could a' their wimples see.
Dmf. 1913 J. L. Waugh Thornhill 223:
I hear the wimple of the winding Scaur.

2. A curl, ringlet of hair.Kcb. 1902 Crockett Dark o' the Moon xxxix.:
When ye think on the wimples o' the silken hair that curls aboot her brow.

3. A tangle of material objects (n.Sc. 1974); .fig. a complication, intricacy; a wile, ruse, piece of craft or trickery (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).Sc. 1704 J. Maidment Pasquils (1868) 382:
Hugh and David Dalrymple's, Who plague the whole nation with your damn'd tricks and whimples.
Abd. 1748 R. Forbes Ajax 19:
A' his wimples they'll find out.
Dmb. 1817 J. Walker Poems 98:
Till tir'd thro' many a loop an' wimple, They quat the plea, or cut its rumple.
Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xxiv.:
There is aye a wimple in a lawyer's clew; but it's a wee bit of a secret.
Ayr. 1819 Kilmarnock Mirror 16:
An' put a lang farrago o' whigmeleerie wimples on ae word.
Abd. 1949 Buchan Observer (23 Aug.):
I've clean ca'd the edge affen her wi' a confounit wumple o' weir.

II. v. 1. To enfold, enwrap, entangle (Sc. 1808 Jam.; ne.Sc. 1974). Obs. in Eng.Abd. 1957 People's Jnl. (14 Sept.):
Ae wee vratch [mouse] hid gotten wumple't in aboot's claes.

2. intr. To wriggle, writhe (Cai. 1905 E.D.D.; Sh. 1974); to whirl, pirouette; to curl, twine; to pursue a sinuous course. Rarely tr. Hence wympler, a curl, lock of curly hair; phr. wimpling worm, the spiral “worm” or condensing tube of a still.Sc. 1724 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) III. 83:
Doun his braid Back, frae his quhyt Heid, The silver Wymplers grew.
Ayr. 1786 Burns Scotch Drink ii.:
Guid auld Scotch drink! Whether thro' wimplin worms thou jink.
Rnf. 1807 R. Tannahill Poems (1900) 88:
Could I but up this histr'y wimple.
Abd. 1832 A. Beattie Poems 131:
Wi' merry sprent they lift the heel, And wimple like the simmer cout.
Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays 9:
Ere lang the wavin'-wimpler grew A decent hoar-lock.
Edb. 1843 Whistle-Binkie (1890) II. 207:
Wee curly waves that wimple the sea.
Ayr. 1882 J. Hyslop Poems 124:
Ye slip thro' my hauns like a wee wimplin' eel.
Kcb. 1896 Crockett Grey Man i.:
A dark train of horsemen. . . . Their line wimpled like a serpent.
Ags. 1993 Mary McIntosh in Joy Hendry Chapman 74-5 112:
He mynded thir faces whan he had heichted the gun, het atween his fingirs, an the tyauvin whan the bullets skelpit intae thaim. He gleyed roon the stanes, heid sweyin bak an forrit, dreid wumplin ower the bak o his haunds.
m.Sc. 1994 John Murray in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 99:
... keeks doun an smiles upon her cat, whae curious tae see her wark sae late at een wimples atween warm limbs an purrs sae deip an kirkielike an sib untae an organ peep that she blesses him fae deip inwith her hert.

3. Of a river: to meander, twist, turn, ripple, freq. connoting the sound as well as the movement (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Sh., ne., em.Sc. (a), wm.Sc. 1974); also of a road and transf. of standing corn: to wave, ripple; sim. of sound. Vbl.n., ppl.adjs. wimplin, wimpled, sinuous, winding.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 243:
Tay and Tweed's smooth Streams . . . They wimple to the Seas.
Sc. 1761 Magopico (1810) 34:
A mighty, little, muddy, wimpling, shallow brook.
Ayr. 1785 Burns Halloween ii.:
Amang the bonie winding banks Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear.
Sc. 1808 E. Hamilton Glenburnie vi.:
The trees, and rocks, and whimplings o' the burn.
Rxb. 1815 J. Ruickbie Poems 37:
John Dowie's Ale, o'er many a glen, Cam wimplin' forty miles an' ten.
Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 71:
That wimpl'd roadie keep, Down to the ford.
Sc. 1836 Michael Scott The Cruise of the Midge Vol. I (1894) 300:
The clear sparkling burnie, that whimpled past.
Gsw. 1843 Whistle-Binkie (1890) II. 139:
There is ane I dearly lo'e In wimpling sang to swell.
Wgt. 1875 W. McIlwraith Guide 68:
A little burn, wimpling westward.
Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders xxiii.:
I saw the drove-road to the Cree Bridge wimpling across the heather.
Edb. 1928 A. D. Mackie In Two Tongues 15:
The din [of church bells], Its echo stottin' frae the castle knowe, Wimples oot owre the valley.
Ags. 1934 H. B. Cruickshank Noran Water 24:
I hear the burnie's wimplin' sang.

4. Of a boat: to move unsteadily, to be top-heavy, to wobble (I.Sc. 1974).Sh. 1898 Shetland News (5 Feb.):
The yawl was wofully ‘rank'. . . . ‘She'll be steady enough by-and-by' cried out old Moad, ‘it's the tar that makes her wumple.'

5. To complicate; to bewilder, perplex; to tell a story in a deceitful way, to use circumlocution in order to deceive (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Ppl.adjs. wimplin, wimpled, complicated, involved, contorted, circumlocutory.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) II. 243:
The wimpled Meaning of your unco Tale.
Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 106:
Sick other threap saw I not a' my days As now is here; but wimpl'd is the tale.
Ayr. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize III. vii.:
There was no difficulty in reading the whumplet meaning of this couthiness anent the reeking o' the chamber.
Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 107:
My faith he'll soon eclipse us a', Just wi' his wud wild wimplin' jaw.
Abd. 1876 R. Dinnie Songs and Poems 74:
Her daddie's a queer wimplin' bodie.

[Fig. developments of O.Sc. wymple, a loop, coil, to enfold, 1513, a piece of deceit, 1637, extended meanings of Early Mid.Eng. wimple, a woman's folded cap, coif or veil, M.L.Ger., Mid. Du. wimpel, veil, banner, streamer.]

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"Wimple n., v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/wimple>

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