roose

en-verb

roose (third-person singular simple present rooses, present participle roosing, simple past and past participle roosed)

rooses (present singular third-person)
roosing (participle present)
roosed (participle past)
roosed (past)
ruse (alternative)
ruis (alternative)

From Middle English rosen (“to boast”), from Old Norse hrósa (“to boast; praise”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōþsōną, from *hrōþaz, *hrōþiz (“fame; glory; praise”). Cognate with Icelandic hrósa, Danish rose, Swedish rosa.

Ha'e na ye roosed my cheeks like the morning? Ha'e na ye roosed my cherry-red mou?

1809, Hector MacNeill, Oh, Tell Me How For to Woo.:

He roosed my e'en, sae bonnie blue, He roosed my waist sae genty sma' And aye my heart came to my mou' When ne'er a body heard or saw.

1870, Robert Burns, “Young Jockey”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. Complete.:

For some of them ha'e roosed their hawks, And some other their hounds; And some other their ladies fair, As the roosing went the rounds.

1871, “Maid Mettelil”, in The Ballad Minstrelsy of Scotland:

You will have seen how a' the newspapers roosed the skatin o' an offisher, that they said lived in the Castle.

1876, John Wilson, Sir John Skelton, The Comedy of the Noctes Ambrosianae, page 51:

I suld ha'e said ' Ye're a' that's guid,' I suld ha'e sung, ' Ye're a' that's bonnie,' I suld ha'e roosed your race an' bluid — O' a' the three I've ne'er dune ony.

1890, James Coghill, “To Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, On the Anniversary of Her Coronation, 28th June”, in Poems, Songs and Sonnets, page 52:

They danced round and round their merry Jockie Faw, And roosed the gypsie laddie.

1921, Lowry Charles Wimberly, Minstrelsy, Music, and the Dance in the English and Scottish Popular Ballads:

(Scotland, dialect) to flatter or praise.

I'll cock my nose aboon them a' — I'm roosed by Craigengillan !

1865, The British Poets - Volume 2, page 43:

A'm roosed — a'm roosed to deeds o' bluid, ye ken, when ye tell me a canna gaff a fusshe ! Tak aff yere coat, mon, for a'm roosed to deeds o' bluid.

1874, Francis Francis, By Lake and River: an Angler's Rambles in the North of England and Scotland:

Mrs. Tam, like all decent people in the village, was "real roosed."

1957, Robert Blackwood Robertson, Of sheep and men, page 164:


braird

From Scots braird, from Old English brerd (“edge; spike, corner”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-.

der

[…] as he opened the various window-boards, loving couples flew off like hares surprised too late in the morning among the early braird.

1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford, published 2010, page 9:

(Scotland) The first shoots of grass or crops.


braird

en-verb

braird (third-person singular simple present brairds, present participle brairding, simple past and past participle brairded)

brairds (present singular third-person)
brairding (participle present)
brairded (participle past)
brairded (past)

(Scotland, intransitive) Of grass or crops: to show their first shoots above ground.


overhie

overhie (third-person singular simple present overhies, present participle overhying, simple past and past participle overhied)

overhies (present singular third-person)
overhying (participle present)
overhied (participle past)
overhied (past)

I disencumbered myself by main force, and fled, but he overhied me, knocked me down, and threatened, with dreadful oaths, to throw me from the cliff.

1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:

(chiefly Scotland) To overtake; to catch up with.


unken

unken (third-person singular simple present unkens, present participle unkenning, simple past and past participle unkenned)

unkens (present singular third-person)
unkenning (participle present)
unkenned (participle past)
unkenned (past)

Back-formation from unkenned, equivalent to un- + ken.

(chiefly Scotland) To not know, fail to recognise, be ignorant of.


sprent

sprent (third-person singular simple present sprents, present participle sprenting, simple past and past participle sprented)

sprents (present singular third-person)
sprenting (participle present)
sprented (participle past)
sprented (past)
sprunt (alternative)

From Middle English sprenten, from Old Norse *sprenta (for later spretta), from Proto-Germanic *sprantijaną, causative of Proto-Germanic *sprintaną (“to jump up; bounce”), from Proto-Indo-European *sprend-, *sprendʰ- (“to flinch; jump”), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to twitch; fidget; flinch; jump; be quick”). Cognate with Middle High German sprenzen (“to sprinkle; splash”), Swedish spritta (“to startle”), Icelandic spretta (“to spring forth; emerge; arise; develop”).

cog

(intransitive, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To leap; bound; move quickly; dart


angersome

en-adj

angersome (comparative more angersome, superlative most angersome)

more angersome (comparative)
most angersome (superlative)

As a sentiment, then, agential anger evaluates its object as “angersome,” as meriting anger.

2015, David Shoemaker, Responsibility from the Margins:

(chiefly dialectal, Scotland) Causing or arousing anger; vexatious; irritating


humdudgeon

Probably from hum (“humbug”) + dudgeon (“feeling of anger or resentment”), 18th c.

compound

(Scotland, obsolete) An unnecessary outcry or complaint.

(Scotland, obsolete) An imaginary illness.


latesome

en-adj

latesome (comparative more latesome, superlative most latesome)

more latesome (comparative)
most latesome (superlative)

From Middle English latesom, latsom, latsum, from Old English lætsum (“slow; late”), equivalent to late + -some.

"By gane Times and latesome Changes," [...]

1818, Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review:

[...] but if I should take of your cattle, and so I think for to do; for I have no oxen to get your corn with, nor none I cannot get carried, for every man is so busy with their own (21st August); for weather is so latesome in this country (Kinalton, Notts) that men can neither well get com nor hay-[...]

1843, The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge:

(chiefly UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Marked by lateness; characteristically late


clumse

en-verb

clumse (third-person singular simple present clumses, present participle clumsing, simple past and past participle clumsed)

clumses (present singular third-person)
clumsing (participle present)
clumsed (participle past)
clumsed (past)
clumpse (alternative)
clumps (alternative)

From Middle English clumsen, clomsen, cloumsen, from Old Norse *klumsa (compare Old Norse klumsa (“lock-jawed”)), whence also dialectal Norwegian klumsa (“to make speechless or benumbed”), dialectal Swedish klumsen (“numb with cold”). Compare related Low German verklamen, Dutch kleumen, verkleumen, German verklomen.


snelly

en-adv

snelly (comparative more snelly, superlative most snelly)

more snelly (comparative)
most snelly (superlative)

From Middle English snelly, snellych, snellik, snellich, from Old English snellīċe (“rapidly, quickly, with activity”), from snellīċ (“moving quickly; swift”), equivalent to snell + -ly.

inh

The snaw drives snelly through the dale.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) quickly; sharply; acutely; coldly

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, in speech) sharply; severely; tartly; curtly


dwalm

From Old English dwolma (“confusion”), from or related to Proto-Germanic *dwalaz (“confused, stunned”).


dwalm

en-verb

dwalm (third-person singular simple present dwalms, present participle dwalming, simple past and past participle dwalmed)

dwalms (present singular third-person)
dwalming (participle present)
dwalmed (participle past)
dwalmed (past)
dwaum (alternative)

(Scotland, intransitive) To fail in health.


shortsome

en-adj

shortsome (comparative more shortsome, superlative most shortsome)

more shortsome (comparative)
most shortsome (superlative)

From short + -some. For sense development from short to amusing, compare merry.

[...] and when the weather confined me within doors, my pencil and my violin made the time "unco shortsome."

1827, Thomas Dibdin, The Reminiscences of Thomas Dibdin:

There's seven maries in your bower, / There's seven o them and three, / And I'll send them to good greenwood, / For flowers to shortsome thee.

'Twould be a dreary, lonely spring at Carlyle without shortsome Jane to add color to her days.

2009, Liz Curtis Higgs, Fair Is the Rose:

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Marked, or characterised by shortness; (by extension) amusing; enjoyable


tapsman

(historical, Scotland) A head servant who is in charge of other servants.

(historical, Scotland) The chief of a company of drovers.


streeker

(UK, Scotland, dialect) One who lays out a dead body; a professional attendant of the dead


scance

In silk an' sattin ilk ane scances,
An gauze beside,
They've loupit o'er a' sort o' fences
Wi perfect pride.

1813, Ebenezer Picken, Miscellaneous Poems, Songs, Etc, page 128:

And look at the scance that comes frae his bonny een.

1897, George Stirling's Heritage: A Story of Chequered Love, page 34:

If you are still hovering on the outskirts of our charmed brotherhood, I wish I could describe for you the smoothness—the mildness—the benevolent after-glow on your skin—the incomparable luxury of a scance with Mennen's.

1910, Dominion Medical Monthly and Ontario Medical Journal:


scance

en-verb

scance (third-person singular simple present scances, present participle scancing, simple past and past participle scanced)

scances (present singular third-person)
scancing (participle present)
scanced (participle past)
scanced (past)

And ye must also allow these Circumstances to be scanced upon, as my scant Information and shallow Capacity will admit of; This only ye are to expect, and this according to the measure of Light and Assistance, which GOD shall be pleased to give me, I shall presume and endeavour to shew you.

1718, G. C. (a Lover of Peace and Truth), Scotland's Present Circumstances:

His agents a', wi' sullen gloom
Mute, measure, as he dances
With horrid rage, damning the loom
And weavers; soon he scances
Their claith this day.

1876, The Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson:

Final blow to the reviewer's smarting eyes and ears were the parting shots in which (1) a whole group was scanced with its back to the audience while doing what must have been intended to be a satire on a community sing, and (2) Peter Donald did a closing announcement in which the choral group completely drowned out his words.

1944 September 23, “Reviews: DuMont”, in Billboard, volume 56, number 39, page 19:

He scanced towart the beerial shaft an crossed hissel. “Sorry,” he sayed immediately. “My grannie was a closet Christian.”

2011, Wulf Kurtoglu, Caroline Macafee, Braken Fences, →ISBN, page 91:

(Scotland) To give a cursory examination.

I marvell our records nothing at all
Do mention Wallace going into France;
How that can be forgote I greatlie scance;

1638, Henry Adamson, The Muses Threnodie:

But, as I said, she scanced the time o' nicht,
Gaed for a dip, and held it to the licht.

1869, William Lindsay, Auld Yule, and other poems, page 33:

(Scotland, obsolete) To reflect on; to consider.

Glad cam the dawn in rosy robe,
Whilk day our Saviour rase,
An' flang her scancing dewy veil
Out ower the hills and braes.

1818, The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany:

Sounds a-sounding, colors bright,
Sadness lacking, brilliant light;
Future scancing, Forward sight,
Singing day, painted night.

1966, Allen B. Hovey, The Hidden Thoreau, page 137:

The cheeks observe, where now could shine
The scancing glories o' carmine?

2010, Christopher Maclachlan, Before Burns, →ISBN, page 214:


worricow

worricows (plural)
wirricow (alternative)

Hout, na! it canna be our commander Monſieur de Champignon, running about in the dark like a worricow!

1757, [Tobias Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 26:

(Scotland) Anything frightful or grotesque.


yagger

(Scotland, archaic) A peddler or vagrant.


massymore

Probably from Spanish mazmorra (“dungeon”) (Portuguese masmorra). Doublet of mattamore.

“Seize her and drag her to the Massymore!—To the deepest dungeon with the sorceress, whose master, the Devil, could alone have inspired her with boldness enough to insult the mother of Douglas in his own castle.”

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter V², in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 177:

(Scotland, archaic) The dungeon of a castle.


shoggly

en-adj

shoggly (comparative more shoggly, superlative most shoggly)

more shoggly (comparative)
most shoggly (superlative)


go-harvest

Possibly from goose + harvest; see gossamer.

(Scotland, agriculture, obsolete) The open weather between the end of harvest and the appearance of snow or frost; the time of year between the end of harvest and winter.


taps aff

But the Union Bears decided it was a “taps aff” kind of day and celebrated Hemmings' goal by displaying their bare chests.

2013, Lisa Gray, Rangers FC We Don't Do Walking Away: The Incredible Inside Story of a Season in the Third Division, Black & White Publishing, →ISBN:

For a street view search of Partick's Merkland Street has unveiled a man who appears to be dancing in the middle of the street with his "taps aff".

2015 February 12, “Only in Glasgow: 'taps aff' man features in Partick Google Maps”, in Glasgow Evening Times:

Neil took to the stage wearing a huge white coat, but after four songs it was "taps aff" as he joined the Johnstons in playing naked from the waist up.

2016 December 3, “REVIEW: Biffy Clyro, Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle”, in Shields Gazette:

(Scotland, Northern Ireland, humorous, chiefly of men) topless in warm weather.


mudge

en-verb

mudge (third-person singular simple present mudges, present participle mudging, simple past and past participle mudged)

mudges (present singular third-person)
mudging (participle present)
mudged (participle past)
mudged (past)

Possibly an alteration of budge, under the influence of move.

He could kill a man, I verily believe, without ever bitin' him—just by doonin' him wi' the waght o' his body and his paws, and then lying on the tap o' him, growlin' to throttle and devour him if he mudged.

1827, Blackwood's Magazine, volume 21, page 913:

(Scotland, obsolete, intransitive) To move oneself; to stir.


aquaehaustus

(law, Scotland) The right of servitude to enter a property in order to take water from the river, loch, well or other source on the burdened property.


bangsome

en-adj

bangsome (comparative more bangsome, superlative most bangsome)

more bangsome (comparative)
most bangsome (superlative)


vogie

vogie (comparative more vogie, superlative most vogie)

more vogie (comparative)
most vogie (superlative)

My joy, my pride, my hoggie! My only beast, I had nae mae, And vow but I was vogie !

She, all unconscious, void of guile, Nor sour, nor idly vogie ; Would condescending, sweetly smile On a' the swains o' Bogie.

1821, R. Hatrick, “Kate Of Bogie”, in The Harp of Caledonia: A Collection of Songs, Ancient and Modern:

Among them was one Patrick Girdwood, the deacon of the craft, a most comical character, so vogie of his honours and dignities in the town-council, that he could not get the knight told often enough what a load aboon the burden he had in keeping a'things douce and in right regulation amang the bailies.

1823, John Galt, Ringan Gilhaize; Or, The Covenanters, page 12:

Fu' vogie, an' fu' blythe to crap The winsome flow'rs frae Nature's lap, Twining her living garlands there, That lyart Time can ne'er impair.

1800, Robert Fergusson, “Ode to the Bee”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Fegusson, page 114:

Look gaylie yet, look vogie yet, And strive a' we can to gang gaylie yet !

1811, The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany:

But Miss Betty was so vogie with her gay mantle that she sent back word, it would be making it o'er common ; which so nettled the old courtly lady that she vowed revenge, and said the mantle would not be long seen on Miss Betty.

1936, John Galt, David Storrar Meldrum, The Works of John Galt: Annals of the parish, page 110:

Come, lads, and view your partners weal, Wale each a blythcsome rogie : I'll tak' this lassie to mysel', She looks sae keen and vogie.

1844, Alexander Whitelaw, The book of Scottish song, collected and illustrated with historical and critical notices, page 238:

(Scotland) Happy; pleased or well-disposed.


yeorling

I asked Thady a minute later what nests he knew of. "Galore," he answered, grinning. And then proceeded to enumerate them : " A lintie (a linnet), a green grosbeak (greenfinch), a Harry redcap (goldfinch), a yellow yeorling by the roadside, a scobby (chaffinch), a lavrock (skylark), a cushie-doo (a wood pigeon), a cutty wren (common wren), a nanny washtail (pied wagtail) in the rocks, and two tom-titers of sorts.

1905, Lady Catherine Henrietta Milnes Gaskell, Spring in a Shropshire Abbey, page 179:

The brock, the toad, and the yellow yeorling Get a drap o' the de'il's bluid ilka May morning.

1907, Country Life - Volume 21, page 376:

Then they listened to a yeorling and Will taught the child its song, "A little bit of bread and no che-e-ese.

1962, Henrietta Buckmaster, All the Living: A Novel of One Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, page 360:


yetling

en-noun

yetling (countable and uncountable, plural yetlings)

From Middle English yetling, yetlyng, ȝetlynge, equivalent to yet (“to pour”) + -ling.

Scots ploughs, very neatly made, and covered with yetling, are the only kind used in this parish.

1794, John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn Up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes, page 178:

Rollers are of different kinds, stone, yetling, wood. Each of these has its advantages.

1815, Henry Home (Lord Kames), The Gentleman Farmer: Being an Attempt to Improve Agriculture by Subjecting it to the Test of Rational Principles, page 54:

Having afterwards resolved upon renewing the armament, they instructed the Dean of Guild " to sell the auld pieces callit heidsticks being in the steeple to the gritest avail, and wair and bestow the money gotten therefor upon sufficient yetling ordinance to the common use of the burgh."

1884, The History of Old Dundee, Narrated Out of the Town Council Register, pages 212–213:

A caller burn runs wimpling clear, Out o'er its rocky bed ; Where sits the rural yetling chair, For youth and hoary head, To rest themselves beside the stream And hear its murmuring.

1896, John Geddie, The Water of Leith from Source to Sea, page 32:

(UK, chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Cast iron.

Still, it occurs to me that Yetlington is more probably indebted to its name from being the spot where " yetlings" were made. To this day the metal pot used by the muggers is known by that appellation in its immediate neighhourhood, and bears a striking resemblance to a sacred utensil used during the sacrifices of the Romans.

1842, Local Collections; Or, Records of Remarkable Events, Connected with the Borough of Gateshead, page 50:

Mother had lifted the yetling off the fire, and left it there," pointing to the middle of the room ; " and she comes running along and tumbles in.

1859, Jane Anne Winscom, Onward: or, The mountain Clamberers : a Tale of Progress, page 43:

A bronze yetling, or tripod caldron, with an angular handle at each side.

1880, John Collingwood Bruce, A Descriptive Catalogue of Antiquities, Chiefly British, at Alnwick Castle:

Baking in the turf-burning areas of the North Yorkshire Moors was also undertaken in a yetling, a cylindrical cast-iron vessel perhaps a foot in diameter and five inches in height which hung over the fire from a reckon-hook.

1987, Peter C. D. Brears, Traditional Food in Yorkshire, page 79:

(UK, chiefly Scotland, by extension) A small cauldron, or rounded pot, typically, but not always, made of cast iron.

A more recent conjecture traces a connection between it and the game still, or not long ago, played at New Year with yetlings or balls of cast iron on the sands near the Skilleys of Wemyss, in which, as in the North German Klotschiessen, the player who drives the ball to the goal in the fewest number of strokes wins.

1896, The County Histories of Scotland - Volume 4, page 231:

(UK, chiefly Scotland) A small cast iron ball.


spald

en-verb

spald (third-person singular simple present spalds, present participle spalding, simple past and past participle spalded)

spalds (present singular third-person)
spalding (participle present)
spalded (participle past)
spalded (past)

Inherited from Middle English spalden, from either Middle Dutch spalden (“to spilt”) or Middle Low German spalden (“to spilt”), ultimately from or related to Proto-West Germanic *spilþijan (“to destroy, spoil, ruin”). Cognate with German spalten (“to split”), Danish spalte (“to split”), Norwegian spalte (“to split”), Swedish spalta (“to split”).

der

(Northern England and Scotland) To split.


drubly

en-adj

drubly (comparative drublier or more drubly, superlative drubliest or most drubly)

drublier (comparative)
more drubly (comparative)
drubliest (superlative)
most drubly (superlative)
drubby (alternative)

From Middle English drubly, drubli, drobli, droflic, from Old English drōflīċ, *drōblīċ, from Proto-Germanic *drōbalīkaz (“turbid”), equivalent to droff or drub + -ly. Cognate with Scots drublie, Old High German truoblīh (“turbid”).

(dialectal, Northern Ireland, Scotland) muddy; dark; turbid


menseful

menseful (comparative more menseful, superlative most menseful)

more menseful (comparative)
most menseful (superlative)

From Middle English menskful, equivalent to mense + -ful.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Decorous; mannerly; respectful and worth of respect.


parliament cake

(Scotland, archaic) Gingerbread in flat slices.


munchie box

munchie boxes (plural)
munchy box (alternative)

(UK, chiefly Scotland) An assortment of fast foods, pizza, fries, doner kebab meat, etc., sold together in a large flat box.


pizza crunch

(Scotland) A deep-fried pizza, a form of fast food in Scotland.


wingle

en-verb

wingle (third-person singular simple present wingles, present participle wingling, simple past and past participle wingled)

wingles (present singular third-person)
wingling (participle present)
wingled (participle past)
wingled (past)
winkle (alternative)
weenkle (alternative)
wingl (alternative)
weengle (alternative)
waingle (alternative)
wengl (alternative)

From a merger of wangle, and dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk vingla (“to flutter, stumble about, go hither and thither, go astray, dangle”), related to Norwegian Bokmål vingle (“to wobble”), Swedish vingla (“to wobble”).

bor

(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To bend or twist; wriggle back and forth.

(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To be unsteady on one's feet; to walk with an unsteady gait; wobble; meander.


wingle

wingles (plural)
winkle (alternative)
weenkle (alternative)
wingl (alternative)
weengle (alternative)
waingle (alternative)
wengl (alternative)

That's an awful wingle of a road.

(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A fold or a convolution; something bent or twisted; a twist or a bend.


Yoon

(Scotland, informal) Clipping of unionist.


buffty

You know who I am buffty.

1999 April 21, Hail mail, “IMPORTANT!!”, in alt.sports.soccer.celtic (Usenet):

Are ye calling me a buffty?

1999 July 9, [LSoG]Hesitator, “Action Q2”, in uk.games.computer.quake2 (Usenet):

must be a closet buffty then

1999 November 23, David Jenkins, “The best players are ?”, in alt.games.half-life.tfclassic (Usenet):

"He is Awfull, but I like him" in buffty voice

2001 February 15, Andy W, “Big numptie”, in uk.sport.football.scottish (Usenet):

(Scotland, slang, derogatory) A homosexual.

And it's not like she's a buffty either. She kicked the shit out of a moggy twice her size last night.

2001 May 29, SadKate, “Swifts”, in alt.usenet.legends.duab (Usenet):

(Scotland, slang, by extension) Someone or something weak or effeminate.


clippock

(Northern England, Scotland) A sharp-tongued, quarrelsome individual.


commotion lotion

(Scotland, slang) Buckfast Tonic Wine, a brand of fortified wine.


hoddle

en-verb

hoddle (third-person singular simple present hoddles, present participle hoddling, simple past and past participle hoddled)

hoddles (present singular third-person)
hoddling (participle present)
hoddled (participle past)
hoddled (past)


vennel

(Scotland, Geordie) An alley; a narrow street.


jabble

(Scotland) An agitation on the surface of water.


jabble

jabble (third-person singular simple present jabbles, present participle jabbling, simple past and past participle jabbled)

jabbles (present singular third-person)
jabbling (participle present)
jabbled (participle past)
jabbled (past)


judicial factor

en-noun

judicial factor (plural judicial factors)

(Scotland) An administrator appointed by the courts to manage the estate of someone under some imperfection.


jimply

en-adv

jimply (comparative more jimply, superlative most jimply)

more jimply (comparative)
most jimply (superlative)

Whan Winter hauds the warld in chains,
An' snawy wreaths adorn the plains,
Whan folk can jimply gang their lanes
For fear o' couping […]

1790, James Macaulay (of Edinburgh), Poems on various subjects, in Scots and English (page 129)


jaunder

en-verb

jaunder (third-person singular simple present jaunders, present participle jaundering, simple past and past participle jaundered)

jaunders (present singular third-person)
jaundering (participle present)
jaundered (participle past)
jaundered (past)

Probably related to jaunce (“to frolic, prance”) and jaunt (“short journey, ramble”).


guildry

en-noun

guildry (countable and uncountable, plural guildries)


enlevement

enlevement (countable and uncountable, plural enlevements)

(law, Scotland, historical) The abduction of a woman or child.


cold iron

(slang, fishing, Scotland, Ireland) A bad omen.


padle

The Padle of our market is the male Lump fish (Cyclopterus Lumpus.) The female is called Hush by our fishers; but it is seldom brought to market, being much inferior to the male for the table.

1807, “Fish Market”, in The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany, volume 69, page 364:

The male lump-fish, or padle, is brought to market in April and May.

1809, John Roberton, A Treatise on Medical Police, and on Diet, Regimen:

The Lump Fish or Padle, as it is named in Scotland is often taken in the Firth of Forth in the salmon-nets and Musselburgh and Queensferry, generally about the month of June, and entirely disappears after the month of August.

1838, Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society for the years 1831-37, volume 7:

(Scotland, dated) Cyclopterus lumpus, the lumpsucker or lumpfish.


long leet

(Scotland) An initial list of nominees for posts in a town council; it is reduced by the existing council to form a short leet.


kirkgoer

kirkgoers (plural)
kirk-goer (alternative)

I am no great kirkgoer, for many reasons — and the sermon's one of them, and the first prayer another, but the chief and effectual reason is the stuffiness.

But this lady has the stern face of a kirk-goer.

1976, Angela Carter, “My Father's House”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 20:

(Scotland) Someone who goes to kirk; a churchgoer.


morning roll

So called because baked freshly each morning. Compare morning goods.

I can't go out to buy morning rolls, those delicious regional specialities, without somebody who remembers the old lady grappling with me on the pavement and stressing the resemblance.

1976, Angela Carter, “My Father's House”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 23:

(Scotland) A type of white bread roll popular as part of breakfast.


polisman

The march turned out not te be a real march at all on account of the fact that as soon as we tried te move aff from the Waterside station, all two thousand of us, we foun' our way blocked be a cordon of polismen lookin' wile fierce.

2009, Sarah O’Connor, Christopher C. Shepard, Women, Social and Cultural Change in Twentieth Century Ireland, page 83:

They wint again polismen, mostly. Mebbe that's because polismen's th' nearest things to kings they cud find.

2020, Finley Peter Dunne, Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War, page 97:

Now all we need to establish is what a shooter belonging to one of Maitland's goons is doing in a polisman's locker.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 188:


hireman

From Middle English hire man, from Old English hȳrmann, equivalent to hire + -man.

Also it is ordered that if any hireman or apprentice . . . not lowly and gentle to his said master, and to the officers going about for to search, and doing their duty to the said searchers and officers, the said master to present all such defaults unto the searchers and stewards, that they inform the twelve sworn men of all such faults as is found ; and also if the said hireman or prentice do not their duty in working of his work as he ought for to do, and their master letting it over past and unreformed until the said occupation, shall make it be reformed and remedied for the honesty of the said company; […]

The maiden fair cried aloud for joy, and then the hireman chiel knew that she was true to him, and he said: — "If you love me well, stretch out your hand to me." So the maiden fair stretched out her hand to the hireman chiel in the ploughman's frock, and the baron swore a great oath and galloped away through the stagnant pool.

1901, Eva March Tappan, Old Ballads in Prose: The Hireman Chiel, page 88:


wuzzent

en-adj

wuzzent (comparative more wuzzent, superlative most wuzzent)

more wuzzent (comparative)
most wuzzent (superlative)


get one's fairing

en-verb

get one's fairing (third-person singular simple present gets one's fairing, present participle getting one's fairing, simple past and past participle got one's fairing)

gets one's fairing (present singular third-person)
getting one's fairing (participle present)
got one's fairing (participle past)
got one's fairing (past)

Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou’ll get thy fairin’!
In hell they’ll roast thee like a herrin’!

1791, Robert Burns, Tam O’Shanter, New York: K. Tompkins, published 1874:

(Scotland) To get what one deserves. [18th–19th c.]


spug

Apparently an alteration of sprug, spurg.

Birds on the ground. Birds of different varieties. Crows and gulls and spugs.

2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 178:

(chiefly Ireland, Scotland, England regional) A sparrow.


broo

a. 19th century, unknown author, An We're a'Noddin
The cats love milk, and the dogs love broo,
The lads love lasses, and the lasses love lads too.


outscrape

outscrape (third-person singular simple present outscrapes, present participle outscraping, simple past and past participle outscraped)

outscrapes (present singular third-person)
outscraping (participle present)
outscraped (participle past)
outscraped (past)

From out- + scrape, or possibly continuing Middle English outscrapen (“to remove, erase”).

inh

(intransitive, Scotland, obsolete) To escape


drant

en-verb

drant (third-person singular simple present drants, present participle dranting, simple past and past participle dranted)

drants (present singular third-person)
dranting (participle present)
dranted (participle past)
dranted (past)

From Scots drant, draunt (“droning or drawling tone”), borrowed from Scottish Gaelic dranndan, draundan (“hum, buzzing, complaint, growl, snarl”), akin to Irish drantán (“hum, buzzing, growl”).

(Scotland, dialect, ambitransitive) To drawl; to drone.


stravage

stravage (third-person singular simple present stravages, present participle stravaging, simple past and past participle stravaged)

stravages (present singular third-person)
stravaging (participle present)
stravaged (participle past)
stravaged (past)
stravaig (alternative)

(Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) to wander aimlessly.


haining

(obsolete or dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A hain or enclosure.


buzzie

"We're no buzzies!' Manuel says, but the slit scrapes shut.

2017, Denise Mina, The Long Drop, →ISBN, page 122:


bummock

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-bummock.wav

For the sense relating to alcohol: from or cognate to Scots bummock (“a brewing of drink; the liquor so brewed”), perhaps from Scots bummie, bummo, a vessel for holding liquid, itself perhaps from Old Norse, compare Icelandic bumba (“drum”).
For the sense relating to ice, perhaps compare how keel can mean either a similar ice structure or a brewer's vat.


outler

(Scotland, obsolete) unhoused cattle, wintered in the fields


exeme

en-verb

exeme (third-person singular simple present exemes, present participle exeming, simple past and past participle exemed)

exemes (present singular third-person)
exeming (participle present)
exemed (participle past)
exemed (past)

(transitive, Scotland) To release; to exempt.


knapskull

A variant of knapscall; the first element is possibly knape (“(UK, dialectal, obsolete) lad”), while the second element is unknown.

(Scotland, obsolete) Synonym of knapscall (“a type of helmet generally worn by a low-ranking person, possibly a servant of a cavalryman”).


smur

en-noun

smur (countable and uncountable, plural smurs)

smurs (plural)
smurr (alternative)
smir (alternative)

Uncertain; possibly related to smoor. Compare Scottish Gaelic smùr (“dross, dust”).

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Drizzle, light rain.


smur

en-verb

smur (third-person singular simple present smurs, present participle smurring, simple past and past participle smurred)

smurs (present singular third-person)
smurring (participle present)
smurred (participle past)
smurred (past)
smurr (alternative)
smir (alternative)

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland, intransitive) To drizzle, to rain lightly.


chirl

chirl (third-person singular simple present chirls, present participle chirling, simple past and past participle chirled)

chirls (present singular third-person)
chirling (participle present)
chirled (participle past)
chirled (past)

onom

Imitative

(Scotland, intransitive) To emit a low sound; to warble.


chirl

Imitative


gyre-carlin

gyre-carlins (plural)
gyre-carline (alternative)
gyre-carling (alternative)

From Old Norse gýgr (“ogress”) + English carline (“old woman”).


consumpt

If the home market, which depends upon the consumpt of the many, be injured by a deficiency of the means among the many to buy and consume, and a reduction of the wages of labour by a reduction of the cost of subsistence is clearly a reduction of the means to expend in the home market, it is killing the goose that laid the golden eggs to reduce the wages of labour for the sake of the foreign market for our manufactures. Political economists tell us that the export of our industrial products, including even the consumpt of our colonies, is by no means of that magnitude that any real interests of our labouring class should be sacrificed for the foreign market; and that is not the basis of our manufacturing prosperity.

1842, Samuel Laing, Notes of a traveller, on the social and political state of France, Prussia, Switzerland, Italy, and Other Parts of Europe:

The brains and the hammers are still on the Clyde, but as long as British shipowners reckon small coal consumpts far above records he must bide his time.

1999, Brian D. Osborne, Ronald Armstrong, Mungo's City: A Glasgow Anthology, page 174:

At Gatteville the consumpt of coal during the first fortnight reached nearly 9 tons against an estimate of tons.

2013, D. Alan Stevenson, The World's Lighthouses: From Ancient Times to 1820, →ISBN, page 123:

(chiefly Scotland) The amount consumed; consumption.


terrification

From terror + -ification or alternatively terrific + -ation.

(dated or used in Scotland) An act of terrifying.


cowp

Ladies, please bring a supply of bog roll - Studio One is within the five star (!) Hilton hotel, but the bar itself is a cowp and you never know what to expect in the lavvies...

2004 August 17, west-ender, “West End Blues”, in uk.local.glasgow (Usenet):

As often is the case with brilliant but single-minded dusty old academics, his brain was a cathedral but his house was a cowp, something Sarah could vouch for, having visited a couple of times.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 191:

The Blarney Stone is a total cowp. The bar is made out of chipped Formica and the constant fug of cheap tobacco smoke just about masks the smell coming from the lavvy.

2012, Martin Greig, Charles McGarry, The Road to Lisbon: A Novel, →ISBN:

(Scotland, Northern Ireland, slang) A filthy and disgusting place.


plooky

en-adj

plooky (comparative more plooky, superlative most plooky)

more plooky (comparative)
most plooky (superlative)

He looked on the leper-man, Who lay on his queen's bed ; He lifted up the snaw-white sheets, And thus to him he said : — " Plooky, plooky, are your cheeks, And plooky is your chin, And plooky are your armis twa, My bonny queen's layne in.

1803, Sir Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish border: Historical Ballads, page 54:

For many a year, one Robin Boss had been town drummer ; — he was a relic of some American-war fencibles, and was, to say the God's truth of him, a divor bodie, with no manner of conduct, saving a very earnest endeavour to fill himself fou as often as he could get the means ; the consequence of which was, that his face was as plooky as a curran bun, and his nose as red as a partan's tae.

This is what it feels like to be so far down the pecking order that a plooky kid earning ninety quid a week to walk his dog along a derelict riverbank can assume she's his for the asking.

1996, Ajay Close, Official and doubtful, page 245:

To shave my plooky face in hot water is bad enough.

2007, Robert Douglas, Somewhere To Lay My Head, →ISBN:

(Scotland) Covered in blotches or pimples.


donnot

(Northern England, Scotland) Alternative form of do-naught.


daidle

en-verb

daidle (third-person singular simple present daidles, present participle daidling, simple past and past participle daidled)

daidles (present singular third-person)
daidling (participle present)
daidled (participle past)
daidled (past)

(Scotland) To daddle; totter; move unsteadily.


kemple

His Honour, ye see, being under hiding in thae sair times--the mair's the pity--he lies a' day, and whiles a' night, in the cove in the dern hag; but though it's a bieldy eneugh bit, and the auld gudeman o' Corse-Cleugh has panged it wi' a kemple o' strae amaist, yet when the country's quiet, and the night very cauld, his Honour whiles creeps doun here to get a warm at the ingle and a sleep amang the blankets, and gangs awa in the morning.

1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete:

Hence the money acquired from the sale of the three kemples, at the average of the above prices, will purchase five cubic yards of this very efficient manure.

1829, George Robertson, Rural Recollections; or, the progress of improvement in agriculture and rural affairs, page 209:

From a crop of wheat, of 40 bushels to the acre, or of 2600 lb., at 65 lb. per bushel, the straw will weigh 9 kemples of 440 lb. each, or 3960 lb., affording just 1/2 more weight of straw than of grain.

1844, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm, Detailing the Labours of the Farmer, Farm-Steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairy-Maid:

(Scotland) The size of a standard load of straw, approximately 450 pounds.


pleugh

But there's mair in't than that;-for ye hae seen the heel and sole clout of a Scots pleugh yersell, and when there was as muckle strength afore her as there should hae been, she never gaed steady but whan she had a good grip o' the yird; and when that was the case, ye behoved to lay a gay steep on the stilts, (I see mony a feckless thing hinging by a pleugh now-a-days, little heavier than a good coulter).

1822, The Farmer's Magazine - Volume 23, page 87:

Also we have witness, as weel in holy writt as in profane history, of the honour in quhilk husbandrie was held of old, and how prophets have been taken from the pleugh, and great captains raised up to defend their ain countries, sic as Cincinnatus, and the like, who fought not the common enemy with the less valiancy that their arms had been exercised in halding the stilts of the pleugh, and their bellicose skill in driving of yauds and owsen.

1828, Sir Walter Scott, Chronicles of the Canongate:

Hurrah ! for the sons o' the pleugh.

1885, William Pyott, Poems and Songs, page 88:


fama clamosa

(Scotland) Any notorious rumour ascribing immoral conduct to a minister or office-bearer in a church.


bee baw babbity

(Scotland) A Scottish ring game in which a boy selects and kisses a girl, who moves to the centre of the ring.


whank

A whank at the door.

(Scotland, Northern England) A strike with the fist; a blow; a knock.

(Scotland, Northern England) A large portion, slice or lump.


whank

whank (third-person singular simple present whanks, present participle whanking, simple past and past participle whanked)

whanks (present singular third-person)
whanking (participle present)
whanked (participle past)
whanked (past)
wank (alternative)

(Scotland, Northern England) To beat; to thrash; to whip; to lash.

(Scotland, Northern England) To cut, especially to cut off a large portion.


moss-cheeper

Anthus pratensis
Anthus pratensis#Translingual

(Scotland) The titlark (Anthus pratensis).


moss-hag

[…] now a splash would be heard, followed by a roar, as some luckless wight fell into a moss hagg […]

1895, William Fraser, The Whaups of Durley, page 119:


docken

dockan (alternative)
Docken (alternative)

"But the docken, man," said I— "fusionless as a docken—how classic! what an exclamation to proceed from the mouth of a solemn Don!"
"No gibes regarding the docken," promptly chimed in Bang; "it is a highly respectable vegetable, let me tell you, and useful on occasion, which is more."

1834, Michael Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, Volume 1, Baudry's European Library, page 304:

The leaves are accounted an antidote for the pricking of a stinging nettle. Children rub the sting with a docken leaf, repeating the words, "Nettle oot; docken in."

1892, Oliver Heslop, Northumberland Words, Volume 1, English Dialect Society, page 240:

Rumex crispus
Rumex crispus#Translingual

(Scotland, Northern England, Ireland) A dock (plant); Rumex obtusifolius or Rumex crispus.


old wife

From Middle English ald wyf, eld wiif, olde wyffe.

(Scotland) A chimney cap to prevent smoking.


rigwoodie

rigwoodies (plural)
rigwiddie (alternative)
rigwiddy (alternative)

But even this will not answer, as both the outside Horses must have distinct rigwoodies, and would seldom or never, have equal weight upon their backs.

...polished Scotch cart rigwoodie, with shaft rings, draught chains, &c,

1854, John Sproule, The Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1853: A Detailed Catalogue of Its Contents, page 307:

According to his statement, the accident was due to the rigwoodie getting loose while he was going downhill, in consequence of which the cart came upon the horse's hindquarters, and so startled it as to cause it to bolt.

1887, The Scottish Law Review and Sheriff Court Reports:

(obsolete, Scotland) rope, chain, or band that crosses the saddle of a horse to support the attachment of a cart.


rigwoodie

en-adj

rigwoodie (comparative more rigwoodie, superlative most rigwoodie)

more rigwoodie (comparative)
most rigwoodie (superlative)
rigwiddie (alternative)
rigwiddy (alternative)

But wither'd beldams, auld and droll, Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, Lowping an flinging on a crummock, I wonder didna turn thy stomach

As for the ither auld rigwoodie f'adge, her heart is as boss as a bourtrce bush.

1827, Christian Isobel Johnstone, Elizabeth de Bruce, by the author of Clan-Albin, page 94:

What fee will ye gie me, ye rigwoodie carlin ?

1875, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland:

I seem to be less vauntie of mineself To fork out they partnership of yourself and mineself Thy partnership which was so rigwoodie Thy partnership which soon leaked out To cause a sudden blow to our bond.

2011, Sebothoma William, Disclosed Verses, →ISBN, page 37:

(obsolete, Scotland) Fit for the gallows.


smurry

smurry (comparative more smurry, superlative most smurry)

more smurry (comparative)
most smurry (superlative)

(dialect, chiefly Scotland) misty and rainy; drizzly


poor man of mutton

(Scotland, archaic) Cold mutton broiled, especially the shoulder.


yair

From Northern Middle English yare, from Old English *ġear (in mylenġear). Compare yard.

(Northern England, Scotland) An enclosure for catching salmon as the tide ebbs.


muchell

Full many wounds in his corrupted fleſh / He did engraue, and muchell blood did ſpend, / Yet might not doe him die, but aie more freſh / And fierce he ſtill appeard, the more he did them threſh.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 32, page 503:

(archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) Alternative form of mickle.


o'ercome

en-verb

o'ercome (third-person singular simple present o'ercomes, present participle o'ercoming, simple past o'ercame, past participle o'ercome)

o'ercomes (present singular third-person)
o'ercoming (participle present)
o'ercame (past)
o'ercome (participle past)

O'ercome with shame, and loaded with disgrace,

1838, Thomas Eagles, Brendallah, A Poem, Whittaker & Co., section LXX, page 115:

(Scotland or poetic) Alternative form of overcome.


o'erlay

o'erlay (third-person singular simple present o'erlays, present participle o'erlaying, simple past and past participle o'erlaid)

o'erlays (present singular third-person)
o'erlaying (participle present)
o'erlaid (participle past)
o'erlaid (past)

(Scotland or poetic) Alternative form of overlay.


resp

resp (third-person singular simple present resps, present participle resping, simple past and past participle resped)

resps (present singular third-person)
resping (participle present)
resped (participle past)
resped (past)


grewhound

Leaving the Jews, and their legends, therefore out of all question, philosophy may instruct us that, as nature not only produces different classes of animals, but also great varieties in each class, not only dogs, but forty or fifty kinds of dogs, which no mixture, elevation, decline, or any other cause, will ever fabricate; for no clime, art, or chance can give the size of the mastiff to the lap-dog, or the pointer's form or scent to the grewhound; so, by analogy and actual obfervation, we know that, so far from all nations being descended of one man, there are many races of men of quite different forms and attributes.

1786, Ancient Scotish poems, never before in print. But now published from the MS. collections of [some people]. Comprising pieces written from about 1420 till 1586, volume 1, An essay on the origin of Scotish poetry, page xxv:

This grewhound was so swift, and of such speed, When hee was loosd his prey hee caus'd ay bleed, And this same prey brought to his lord anone, This was one cause he loved him alone;

1814, Samuel Egerton Brydges, Restituta: Or Titles, Extracts, and Characters of Old Books in English LIterature, Revived, page 183:

The 2nd of June, haveing gotten a little more northward, and beeing on the west side of the iland, againe becalm'd, about three leagues distant from the shoare, I and Joh. WIlmote, one of the master's mates, with 6 more of our sailors, went ashore in a Biska shallop (whale-boat), purposeing to kill some deare and some wild fowle; and to that end wee took with us such dogs as wee had in our ship, viz. a grewhound, a mastiffe, and a water spaniell, and two fowleing-pieces, with shott and powder.

1906, Martin Conway, No Man's Land: A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country, →ISBN:

(Scotland, obsolete) Synonym of greyhound.


writ of prohibition

en-noun

writ of prohibition (plural writs of prohibition)

(law, Scotland) A clause in a deed of entail forbidding the heir to sell the estate, contract debt, etc.


bonnet laird

(Scotland, historical) A petty landowner who wore a bonnet, not the hat of the gentry.


drammock

(Scotland) A simple food made from meal mixed with water.


sprattle

en-verb

sprattle (third-person singular simple present sprattles, present participle sprattling, simple past and past participle sprattled)

sprattles (present singular third-person)
sprattling (participle present)
sprattled (participle past)
sprattled (past)


hilch

hilch (third-person singular simple present hilches, present participle hilching, simple past and past participle hilched)

hilches (present singular third-person)
hilching (participle present)
hilched (participle past)
hilched (past)


towzy

en-adj

towzy (comparative towzier, superlative towziest)

towzier (comparative)
towziest (superlative)

The waiter rolled his bloodshot eyes and scratched his towzy head.

1870, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 370:

There sat Auld Nick in shape o' beast, A towzy tyke, black, grim, an' large, To gie them music with his charge.

1890, James Russell Lowell, The Works of James Russell Lowell, page 342:

His pow is towzy, and his eyes ne'er lack Deep sympathy; voluminous his crack, and connoisseur of quaintest bric-a-brac.

1892, J. Wilson McLaren, “John Bremnar”, in Scots Poems and Ballants, page 113:

Come, my auld, towzy, trusty friend; What gars ye look sae douth an' wae?

2007, James Hogg, Suzanne Gilbert, “The Author's Address to his Auld Dog Hector”, in The Mountain Bard, page 110:


borrowing days

(Ireland, Scotland) The last three days of March, supposed in Scottish and Irish folklore to have been borrowed by March from April, and to be especially stormy.


kindly tenant

(historical, Scotland) A tenant of the same stock as his landlord, or who held his lands in succession, from father to son, for several generations.


grawl

grawls (plural)
graul (alternative)
grall (alternative)
graulse (alternative Scotland)

Back-formation from grawls, a variant of graulse, mistaken as a plural. Ultimately, graulse is a variant of English grilse.

(Scotland, Ireland) A young salmon; grilse


wampish

en-verb

wampish (third-person singular simple present wampishes, present participle wampishing, simple past and past participle wampished)

wampishes (present singular third-person)
wampishing (participle present)
wampished (participle past)
wampished (past)
wampas (alternative)
wampes (alternative)
wampuz (alternative)

(ambitransitive, Scotland, archaic) To brandish or flourish, or be brandished or flourished.

(intransitive, Scotland, archaic) To wriggle, twist or swerve about, like a fish swimming


condiddle

condiddle (third-person singular simple present condiddles, present participle condiddling, simple past and past participle condiddled)

condiddles (present singular third-person)
condiddling (participle present)
condiddled (participle past)
condiddled (past)
kindiddle (alternative)

(Scotland, transitive, archaic) To steal.


spelder

spelder (third-person singular simple present spelders, present participle speldering, simple past and past participle speldered)

spelders (present singular third-person)
speldering (participle present)
speldered (participle past)
speldered (past)

By St. Andrew ! were he within reach of my hand I could spelder him by one stroke of my axe, yea, spelder him as I would a haddock ! " he added, as another volley of shot and arrows whizzed and rattled on the rocks around them.

1860, James Grant, Mary of Lorraine, page 407:

Outside the kitchen window was a small patch of green, monopolised by various boards laid on rough trestles, which held rows and rows of saith, ling, and cod, all 'speldered' and drying in the sun.

1930, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers's Journal, page 637:

You have drunk more than the share of two men of your size.' 'Hear her, Callach !' he said, laughing, and he reached out and pulled me down between his speldered thighs.

1982, Giles Gordon, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare stories, page 40:

So there was he hingin' by a line an' speldering on the craig face, whaur its hieest and steighest.

1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Tale of Tod Lapraik:

The visitor, returning late across the eerie moor, sees a glow in the peat fire, reflected in the eyes of dogs speldered on the floor, and hears the purring of cats in cosy corners.

1934, William Power, My Scotland, page 178:

(chiefly Scotland) To spread out; to sprawl.


speldron

(Scotland) Alternative form of speldring.


deed of assumption

en-noun

deed of assumption (plural deeds of assumption)

(law, Scotland) A deed executed by trustees under a trust-deed assuming a new trustee or settlement.


muslin-kale

(Scotland, obsolete) A thin broth made without meat.


buttock mail

buttock mail (usually uncountable, plural buttock mails)

(Scotland, historical, colloquial) A fine imposed by the church for sexual intercourse out of wedlock.


reesk

(Scotland) The waste land where rank grass grows.


niffer

en-verb

niffer (third-person singular simple present niffers, present participle niffering, simple past and past participle niffered)

niffers (present singular third-person)
niffering (participle present)
niffered (participle past)
niffered (past)

Magneezhy was in an awful case; if he had been already shot, he could not have looked more clay and corpse-like; so I took up a douce earnest confabulation, while the stramash was drawing to a bloody conclusion, with Mr Harry Molasses, the fourth in the spree, who was standing behind Bloatsheet with a large mahogany box under his arm, something in shape like that of a licensed packman, ganging about from house to house, through the country-side, selling toys and trinkets; or niffering plaited ear-rings, and suchlike, with young lasses, for old silver coins or cracked teaspoons.

1828, David Macbeth Moir, The Life of Mansie Wauch:


pluffy

en-adj

pluffy (comparative more pluffy, superlative most pluffy)

more pluffy (comparative)
most pluffy (superlative)

Madame Navarre came bustling through the rear door, a pluffy, busy woman in a large white apron, […]

1954, Margaret Cooper Gay, Hatchet in the Sky, page 166:


peedie

peedie (comparative more peedie, superlative most peedie)

more peedie (comparative)
most peedie (superlative)
peedy (alternative)

Johnny, I just can't resist them peedie white socks with the blue ring round the tops.

1972, George Mackay Brown, Greenvoe, Polygon, published 2019, page 66:

(Scotland, chiefly Caithness, Orkney) Small, little.


scaith

en-noun

scaith (countable and uncountable, plural scaiths)

Watty's a kind-hearted creature ; and ye may be sure that neither scaith nor scant will be alloo't to come near the wean while it stays in this house.

1936, John Galt, William Roughead, The entail: or, The lairds of Grippy, page 314:

Beg him to help her in her just suit at the Queen of England's hands, and that she may have some redress of her scaiths to the comfort of her poor husband and bairns.

2001, Joan Druett, She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea, →ISBN, page 48:

And his sister said unto him, “Thou shouldst not blame the boat, dear brother, for ill was the deed thou hast done in killing the father of Lugh Lamhfada; and whatever scaith may come to thee from it, thou dost deserveth it.”

2008, Steven L. Akins, The Lebor Feasa Runda: A Druidic Grammar of Celtic Lore and Magic, →ISBN:

We have had loss— ye have taken scaith.

2011, Agnes Strickland, Elizabeth Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses, →ISBN:


scaith

en-verb

scaith (third-person singular simple present scaiths, present participle scaithing, simple past and past participle scaithed)

scaiths (present singular third-person)
scaithing (participle present)
scaithed (participle past)
scaithed (past)

She has scaithed us most wickedly, an' I dinna think she should hev forgiveness.

1896, John Horne, A canny countryside, page 119:

Ye led him on tae tell ye how the greencoat scaithed him.

1940, Neil Harmon Swanson, The Silent Drum, page 159:

He was a living argument on your side — a mind scaithed and a heart hardened by the curse of slavery.

1974, Clare Taylor, British and American abolitionists:


collegianer

From earlier colligener, colligyner, from French collégien + -er.

(archaic, largely Scotland) A college student.


purpose-like

en-adj

purpose-like (comparative more purpose-like, superlative most purpose-like)

more purpose-like (comparative)
most purpose-like (superlative)

(Scotland) Having a definite purpose: having the appearance of being fit for a purpose.


skelloch

en-verb

skelloch (third-person singular simple present skellochs, present participle skelloching, simple past and past participle skelloched)

skellochs (present singular third-person)
skelloching (participle present)
skelloched (participle past)
skelloched (past)

(Scotland, intransitive) To cry out with a shrill voice.


cockernony

Her mother [...] sat by the fire in the full glory of a grogram gown, lammer beads, and a clean cockernony, whiffing a snug pipe of tobacco, and superintending the affairs of the kitchen.

1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 305:

1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom, Act 1.
And so I will; for here are rosy partners.
Ribbon’d and cockernonied*, by my faith!
Like very queens.
Coil of hair on the top of the head.

(Scotland, obsolete) The bunch of hair folded up in a snood worn by a woman.


muggie

(Scotland) The stomach of a fish, used as food.


bubbly-jock

bubbly-jocks (plural)
bubbley-jock (alternative)

onom

Imitative

(Scotland) A turkeycock (pompous or self-important person).


up-putting

en-noun

up-putting (countable and uncountable, plural up-puttings)

up-puttings (plural)
upputting (alternative)

From up- + putting or upput + -ing. Compare put up.

(Scotland, obsolete) The act of erecting or raising.

(Scotland, archaic) Lodging, accommodation.


broose

(Scotland, historical) A race from the church to the bridegroom's house, part of wedding festivities.


rullion

From Old English rifeling (“a kind of shoe”).


trewsman

(Scotland, historical) One who wears trews.


dearthful

en-adj

dearthful (comparative more dearthful, superlative most dearthful)

more dearthful (comparative)
most dearthful (superlative)


moudiewart

moudiewarts (plural)
moudiewark (alternative)

My faith, he's as black as a craw, and as sleek as a moudiewart.

1828, M. Corbett, Tales and Legends - Volume 1, page 62:

It's an unyearthly kind of trade, turning night intil day, and working like moudiewarts in the dark, when decent folks are in their beds sleeping—And so, as I was saying, ye see, it happened ae Sunday night that a chap cam to the back door; and the mistress too heard it.

1853, David Macbeth Moir, The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith, page 96:

O gin my sons were moudiewarts To hide into the earth, O gin my head lay in the mools Ere I had gien them birth !

1925, Alexander Keith, Last leaves of traditional ballads and ballad airs, page 255:


moudiewark

The moudiewark has done me ill, And below my apron has biggit a hill; I maun consult some learned clark, About this wanton moudiewark.

1799, Robert Burns, The Merry Muses of Caledonia:

John MacDonald has bagged nearly a quarter of a million moudiewarks in his time, which can't leave much time for playing the Melodeon.

1976, Hi-fi News & Record Review - Volume 21, Issues 1-6, page 121:

Of course other creatures besides the horse have been used as a symbol of the male organ. A very popular one in Scotland has been the moudiewark or mole, a burrowing creature that creates hummocks in the ground.

1999, Sheila Douglas, “Maidenheids and Moudiewarks: Scotland and the Bawdy Song Tradition”, in Studies in Scottish Literature, volume 31, number 1:

(Scotland) Alternative form of moudiewart.


burn the water

en-verb

burn the water (third-person singular simple present burns the water, present participle burning the water, simple past and past participle burnt the water or burned the water)

burns the water (present singular third-person)
burning the water (participle present)
burnt the water (participle past)
burnt the water (past)
burned the water (participle past)
burned the water (past)

(Scotland, historical) To spear salmon by torchlight.


fireraising

(Scotland, criminal law) arson; deliberate setting of fires


lick the birse

lick the birse (third-person singular simple present licks the birse, present participle licking the birse, simple past and past participle licked the birse)

licks the birse (present singular third-person)
licking the birse (participle present)
licked the birse (participle past)
licked the birse (past)

(Scotland, historical) To draw a hog's bristle through the mouth, as part of a ceremony of citizenship in Selkirk.


grumph

grumph (third-person singular simple present grumphs, present participle grumphing, simple past and past participle grumphed)

grumphs (present singular third-person)
grumphing (participle present)
grumphed (participle past)
grumphed (past)

(Scotland, intransitive) To make a grunting sound.


empacket

empacket (third-person singular simple present empackets, present participle empacketing, simple past and past participle empacketed)

empackets (present singular third-person)
empacketing (participle present)
empacketed (participle past)
empacketed (past)

(transitive, archaic, Scotland) To pack up.


speal-bone

A variant of spule (“shoulder”) + bane (“bone”).

In heteroscopic divination the process is rather one of inference from external facts. The methods are very various. […] In haruspication, or the inspection of entrails, in scapulomancy or divination by the speal-bone or shoulder-blade, in divination by footprints in ashes, found in Australia, Peru and Scotland, the voluntary element is prominent, for the diviner must take active steps to secure the conditions necessary to divination.

1911, “Divination”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition, volume 8, New York, N.Y.: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., page 333:

(Scotland, obsolete) The shoulder blade.


gurly

en-adj

gurly (comparative more gurly, superlative most gurly)

more gurly (comparative)
most gurly (superlative)

a gurly wind

"Damn the gurly brute!" Postie complained once; "when I passed a pleasand remark about the weather the other morning, he just looked at me and blew the reek of his pipe in my face. And that was his only answer!"

1901, George Douglas Brown, The House with the Green Shutters, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., page 325:

(Scotland) Unfriendly, irritable, surly.


plaiden

To a superstitious eye, Lucy Ashton, folded in her plaiden mantle, with her long hair, escaping partly from the snood and falling upon her silver neck, might have suggested the idea of the murdered Nymph of the Fountain.

1821, Walter Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, page 240:

It is miserably poor, and much out of the way, and produces no better commodities than plaiden webs, green kale, and handsome lads and lasses.

1841, Charles Dickens, The Pic-nic Papers, volume 1, page 159:


corbie-messenger

(Scotland) A messenger who returns too late, or not at all.


fizzenless

fizzenless (comparative more fizzenless, superlative most fizzenless)

more fizzenless (comparative)
most fizzenless (superlative)

(Scotland) Lacking force or energy; lethargic.


spule

Either:
* A variant of spauld, spaul (“shoulder”).
* Unrelated to spauld, and of obscure origin.

And he has opened the fair tower yate, / To Traquair and a' his companie; The spule o' the deer on the board he has set, / The fattest that ran on the Hutton Lee.

1803, “Christie's Will”, in Walter Scott, editor, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 2nd edition, volume III, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne, page 113:


misbehadden

misbehadden (comparative more misbehadden, superlative most misbehadden)

more misbehadden (comparative)
most misbehadden (superlative)

Na, na, poor fellow; his complaints were a' of himsel! He never complained either of the bairns or me. He never said a misbehaddan word to me a' the days of his life.

1836, Robert Burns, James Hogg, William Motherwell, The Works of Robert Burns - Volume 5, page 197:

It's real misbehadden o' him. I hae telt him that afore ; but he puts a' kinds o' advice in the cat's lug. What in the wardle ails him that he canna bide at hame?

1879, Charlotte Louisa H. Dempster, Within sound of the sea, page 85:

In all that time I've never heard him speak a misbehadden word or known him commit a misbehadden action.

1887, Henrietta Keddie, Logie town, by Sarah Tytler - Volume 1, page 118:

"Misbehadden, as Neda would say?" "Aye, most improper."

2004, Liz Curtis Higgs, Fair is the rose, →ISBN, page 68:

(Scotland) Alternative form of misbeholden.


daften

en-verb

daften (third-person singular simple present daftens, present participle daftening, simple past and past participle daftened)

daftens (present singular third-person)
daftening (participle present)
daftened (participle past)
daftened (past)
daffen (alternative Northern-England)
daffin (alternative Northern-England)

He daffened it, afooar he killed it.

1899, Nicholson, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

Ye came here to daften my lass Peggy again, so ye thought.

1909, Halliwell Sutcliffe, Priscilla of the Good Intent, page 57:

Oh, daftened wi' the moonshine they call love. I caught it myself when I was a lad, but, thanks be, a man grows out of it, and gets about again, attending to his crops.

1913, The Windsor Magazine, volume 37, page 97:

(ambitransitive, rare, chiefly Scotland) To make or become daft.


neep lantern

A third was a two-headed spectre, the upper one being a fiery head, that bore a suspicious resemblance to a neep lantern, and his body, or what should have been his body, was wrapped in a while sheet.

1873, Thomas Watson, Homely Pearls at Random Strung, page 270:

A neep lantern bobbing by the end of the palisade, near the Smith house, where a clutch of bairns stood in the footpath waiting for him.

2003, Heather Spears, The Flourish, page 347:

He always finished first in the annual Hallowe'en neep lantern competition though it was meant to be done by the pupils themselves.

2013, David M Addison, Confessions of a Banffshire Loon, page 288:

(Scotland) A lantern made from a hollowed-out turnip, traditionally used as decoration at Halloween.


grumphie

grumphies (plural)
grumphy (alternative)


chaft

chafts (plural)
chaff (alternative dialectal)
chuff (alternative dialectal)

Inherited from Northern Middle English chaft, from Old Norse kjaptr, kjǫptr, from Proto-Germanic *kefutaz.

inh+

(dialect, Scotland, Northern England) The jaw.


rantle-tree

(Scotland) A beam built into the gable of a cottage.


shauchle

en-verb

shauchle (third-person singular simple present shauchles, present participle shauchling, simple past and past participle shauchled)

shauchles (present singular third-person)
shauchling (participle present)
shauchled (participle past)
shauchled (past)

Dr Ritchie says that he has seen a man shauchling through the shop when he scarcely knew a plane from a handsaw.

1856, Debate on the Forbes Mackenzie Act, between the Rev. Dr. Ritchie, of Edinburgh and James H. McGuire, Esq., of Glasgow:

The vision of the Colonel shauchling down the glen (being paralysed upon his right side) an ancient tweed cap pulled over his eyes, a cheroot in the side of his mouth, leaning heavily upon a great silver-mounted walking-stick would not have satisfied a Moffat lady.

1917, Frederick Watson, Children of Passage, page 120:

Besides, I'm not going shauchling down to the Dean Bridge in wet shoes either.”“

(Scotland, transitive) To distort or deform.


coff

coff (third-person singular simple present coffs, present participle coffing, simple past and past participle coffed or coft)

coffs (present singular third-person)
coffing (participle present)
coffed (participle past)
coffed (past)
coft (participle past)
coft (past)

Attested from the 15th century. Likely from Scots coft, or from Middle Dutch or other Germanic cofte. Compare German kaufen.

I got a little manikin, I set him on my thoomiken;
I saddled him, I bridled him, I sent him to the tooniken:
I coffed a pair o' garters to tie his little hosiken;

1904, Robert Ford, Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories:

(Scotland, transitive) To buy, purchase.


creesh

creesh (third-person singular simple present creeshes, present participle creeshing, simple past and past participle creeshed)

creeshes (present singular third-person)
creeshing (participle present)
creeshed (participle past)
creeshed (past)

From Old French craisse, from Latin crassus (“fat”).


carritch

"Do sae, minister — do sae," cried Madge; "I am as weel worth looking at as ony book in your aught. — And I can say the single carritch, and the double carritch, and justification, and effectual calling, and the assembly of divines at Westminster, that is," (she added in a low tone) " I could say them anes -- but it's lang syne -- and ane forgets, ye ken."

1818, Sir Walter Scott, The heart of Midlothian:

Can I forget how lang and weel The carritches ye made me read ?

1870, Edwin Paxton Hood, The Peerage of Poverty:

Christily is a most faithful young woman with a face as red and lush as a rasp, who knows her carritches both ways, and has such a reverence for ministers that she looks upon me more as an edifice than a mortal.

1902, James Matthew Barrie, The Little White Bird:

(Scotland, chiefly in the plural) A catechism.


carritches

So the garçon was ca'd in an' put through his carritches, an' the outcome o' the conference was that an assortment o' bottles, containin' divers kinds o' lickers, soon made their appearance upo' the table.

1986, William Donaldson, Popular literature in Victorian Scotland, page 52:

(Scotland) A set of questions to determine one's knowledge.


hinderlin

How say you, my lusty compeers; shall we permit a hinderlin to sit at board with us, and brand us with the name of cowards?

1808, Joseph Strutt, [Walter Scott], “Section VII. Chapter II.”, in [Walter Scott], editor, Queenhoo-Hall, a Romance: And Ancient Times, a Drama. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for John Murray, […]; and Archibald Constable & Co. […], →OCLC, page 155:

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of hinderling.

Alternative spelling of hinderling.
A worthless degenerate.

We downa bide the coercion of gude braid-claith about our hinderlans; […]

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 206:

And although a bold front aye quells them, still they always are on the look-out to take you at disadvantage—in the louping of a dyke, for instance, wha will assure ye that they shall not kittle your hinderlins?

1878, Michael Scott, The Cruise of the Midge, page 58:

My certes! gin ever it comes to a fecht wi' the Levellers, the dragooners has only to turn their horses and chairge hinderlins on, and—weel, Davie Veitch will no be there!

1902, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Dark o’ the Moon: Being Certain Further Histories of the Folk Called “Raiders”, page 1902:

Alternative spelling of hinderling.
The buttocks.


caaing whale

caaing whales (plural)
ca'ing whale (alternative)


fugie warrant

See fugie, fugitive; but probably from the legal phrase in meditatione fugae.

(Scotland) A warrant to apprehend a debtor who is about to abscond.


haffet

(Scotland) The side of the head; the temples.


awmry

(Scotland, archaic) A cupboard or wardrobe.


wylie-coat

(Scotland, historical) A flannel undervest or petticoat.


whatna

whaten (alternative)
whatten (alternative)

Whatna noise was that ye were makin'?

1878, Saxon, Galloway Gossip Sixty Years Ago, section 183:

O Jean, whatna time wi' thy sloth thou are wasting.

'I kenna whatna man ye are,' he says, 'but ye have the skill of lassies' hearts. Tell me truly, is there no way to win her to common love?'

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(Scotland, Northern England, dialect, archaic) what kind of


cleugh

(Scotland, Northumbria) Alternative form of clough (“a ravine or gorge”).


cleuch

(Scotland) Alternative form of clough (“a ravine or gorge”).


Pict's house

Picts' houses (plural)
Picts' house (alternative)

(Scotland) A kind of crude underground dwelling or earthhouse.


parochial board

en-noun

parochial board (plural parochial boards)

(Scotland, historical) A board in each parish set up to assist the poor.


bum-clock

From bum + clock, from bum (“to buzz”) and clock (“type of beetle”).


Gowkie Day

April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day#English


clusterbùrach

clusterbùrachs (plural)
clusterbourach (alternative)
clusterboorach (alternative)

Blending of English cluster (from clusterfuck) and Scottish Gaelic bùrach (“mess, shambles”).

I have been arguing hard that Brexit should be treated not just as the clusterbùrach it undoubtedly is, but also as a watershed for Scotland’s relationship with the rest of the UK.

2017 February 10, Kenny Farquharson, "Canvas of Brexit is best viewed by squinting", The Times (Scottish edition)

The named person scheme jeopardised that contract of trust. ... Some changes have been made but I worry the damage has been done. ... Some might pin the blame for named person on Mr Salmond ..., given that it was conceived on his watch. To my mind, however, it is a clusterbùrach entirely of Ms Sturgeon’s own making.

2018 January 3, Kenny Farquharson, "Ban on smacking will struggle for support", The Times (Scottish edition)

it is now all reduced to the fact that this is a complete bùrach—it is, to use a word coined by my friend Hugh Dan MacLennan, a clusterbùrach.

2018 December 5, Michael Russell, "Meeting of the Parliament: European Union Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration" Chamber Official Report, Scottish Parliament

What the heck is going on? This is a complete and utter clusterbùrach.

2018 December 10, Hannah Bardell, "Exiting the European Union" Hansard HC vol 651 c44, UK Parliament

(Scotland, informal, neologism) A total mess, catastrophic failure, fiasco.


outsucken

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-outsucken.wav

(law, Scotland) Pertaining to a district not astricted to a particular mill.


split-new

en-adj

split-new (comparative more split-new, superlative most split-new)

more split-new (comparative)
most split-new (superlative)


royal burgh

/ˌɹɔɪəl ˈbʌɹə/

/ˌɹɔɪ(ə)l ˈbɝoʊ/

Most royal burghs were either created by the Crown, or upgraded from another status, such as a burgh of barony.

(Scotland, historical) A type of Scottish burgh founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter; these were legally abolished in 1975.


habble

en-verb

habble (third-person singular simple present habbles, present participle habbling, simple past and past participle habbled)

habbles (present singular third-person)
habbling (participle present)
habbled (participle past)
habbled (past)

(Scotland, intransitive) To stutter or stammer.


police burgh

(Scotland, historical) A burgh of a kind that existed from 1833 to 1975, constituted by the sheriff for purposes of improvement and police, the local authority being the police commissioners.


burgh of regality

en-noun

burgh of regality (plural burghs of regality)

(Scotland, historical) A burgh of barony, spiritual or temporal, enfranchised by crown charter, with regal or exclusive criminal jurisdiction within their own territories.


dead's part

(law, historical, Scotland) The part of a man's movable property which he may bequeath by will, and which is not due to wife and children.


stridelegs

So he stood stridelegs over Francie, who whimpered, "I wouldna have struck this one if that one hadna prayed for me. It wasna likely I would stand that."

1896, James Matthew Barrie, Sentimental Tommy, pages 160–161:

Dorothy rode my bike stridelegs coming back, so that I could sit in the dog-cart.

1917, May Sinclair, The Tree of Heaven, page 91:


parliamentary burgh

parliamentary burgh (plural parliamentary burghs)

(Scotland, historical) A burgh whose boundaries, as first fixed in 1832, were adopted for municipal purposes, with regard to which they stand practically in the same position as royal burghs.


crambo-jingle

(Scotland, archaic) Bad poetry; doggerel.


daunder

en-verb

daunder (third-person singular simple present daunders, present participle daundering, simple past and past participle daundered)

daunders (present singular third-person)
daundering (participle present)
daundered (participle past)
daundered (past)
dauner (alternative)
dawner (alternative)
dawnder (alternative)
donder (alternative)
daunther (alternative Ulster)

I daunder'd about till my back turned sair, When I met wi' some neighbours, and then did repair To Farries's inn, where some whisky we got, And talked of harvest, and horses, and stots.

1831, Robert Shennan, Tales, songs, and miscellaneous poems, page 80:

I'll tak my staff and daunder: west, For nature age is grand to me;

1890, Canadian horticulture and home magazine - Volume 13, page 150:

There's more for him to do than daunder about the hillside with a trout-wand over his shoulder.

1892, Robert Leighton, The Pilots of Pomona: A Story of the Orkney Islands, page 26:

He must do one of these two things: in the first case, his ministry may daunder on till there is another strike of half-a-dozen, like the present ; in the latter, it will be blown about his ears, from without.

I have always pitied people whose engagements daundered on year after year without coming to anything.

1880, The Sunday at Home - Volume 27, page 406:

And so. beguiled by feathered pen, I daunder on.

1925, The Border Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly - Volume 30, page 71:

(Scotland, with 'on') To go on without reaching a conclusion.


daunder

daunders (plural)
dauner (alternative)
dawner (alternative)
dawnder (alternative)
donder (alternative)
daunther (alternative Ulster)

"Takin' a bit daunder, Laird?" said Davy with the assurance of an old servant.

1913, Aylmer Keith Fraser, A Garden of Spices, page 232:

I tak an occasional daunder roond the lawn, near every five minutes in fact, and throw lumps o sile at oor cat stalkin birds in the flooer beds.

2006, Duncan Glen, Collected poems, 1965-2005, →ISBN, page 87:

Old folks out for a wee daunder might, through force of habit, find themselves wandering into this kinematic museum to watch the breakdowns and odd snippets of film.

2012, Jeff Torrington, Swing Hammer Swing!, →ISBN:


Jeddart

(Scotland, archaic) The town of Jedburgh.


crown agent

(Scotland) The principal legal adviser to the Lord Advocate on prosecution matters.


heads and thraws

(Scotland) Lying beside each other, the head of the one by the feet of the other.


coom-ceiled

(Scotland) Of a garret: having the inside ceiling sloping from the wall.


set up someone's birse

set up someone's birse (third-person singular simple present sets up someone's birse, present participle setting up someone's birse, simple past and past participle set up someone's birse)

sets up someone's birse (present singular third-person)
setting up someone's birse (participle present)
set up someone's birse (participle past)
set up someone's birse (past)

From the habit of animals bristling up when enraged.


bism

Cheek back (verb): defensive strategy of a bism who has been reprimanded for errant behaviour.

Just that you were a 'pair o' wee bisms.'

2014, Andrew Glascoe, Nobody Knew She Was There, →ISBN, page 25:

That shut the old bism up good and proper.

2018, Ngaio Marsh, Stella Duffy, Money in the Morgue, →ISBN, page 44:


burrowstown

(Scotland, obsolete) A town that is a burgh.


sheriff officer

en-noun

sheriff officer (plural sheriff officers)

(Scotland) An officer of the Scottish sheriff court, responsible for serving documents and enforcing court orders within a sheriffdom.


sheriff clerk

(Scotland) The registrar of the Scottish sheriff's court, who has charge of its records.


wyliecoat

Wyliecoats, stiffened at the hem and heavily lined with plaiding or scouringis', were made from fustian and grogram.

1987, Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People: Life in Mary Stewart's Scotland, page 85:

No doubt it was she who made the wyliecoats, possibly for pauper children or orphans but perhaps for sale, and was probably one of many textile craftsmen's wives who added to the family income by sewing.

2002, Margaret H. B. Sanderson, A Kindly Place?: Living in Sixteenth-century Scotland, page 112:

The hearth glowing red with sleepy eyes and he reached for his breeches and put them on and took his wyliecoat off the chair, sleeved it and buttoned it and set towards the door leaving his boots by the bed.

2013, Paul Lynch, Red Sky in Morning, →ISBN:

(Scotland) A heavy vest that is worn to provide warmth.


branky

en-adj

branky (comparative more branky, superlative most branky)

more branky (comparative)
most branky (superlative)


arles

My gudesire gaed down to the Manse, and the minister, when he had heard the story, said it was his real opinion that though my gudesire had gaen very far in tampering with dangerous matters, yet, as he had refused the devil’s arles (for such was the offer of meat and drink) and had refused to do homage by piping at his bidding, he hoped, that if he held a circumspect walk hereafter, Satan could take little advantage by what was come and gane.

(Scotland, obsolete) Alternative form of earles (“deposit”).


hour of cause

How sad my case, then, when my hour of cause arrived, and I could lay my hands absolutely on nothing that I could carry away, and very little to eat.

1875, Alexander Pyne, Reminiscences of Colonial Life:

(Scotland) A time of trial or difficulty.


burn-the-wind

(Scotland, obsolete, slang) A blacksmith.


jillet

(Scotland, obsolete) A flirtatious girl.


scaithless

scaithless (comparative more scaithless, superlative most scaithless)

more scaithless (comparative)
most scaithless (superlative)


parisher

(uncommon, chiefly Scotland, other dialects and non-native speakers' English) A parishioner.


come-o'-will

(Scotland, archaic) Something that comes of its own accord; an illegitimate child.


teuch

teuch (comparative teucher, superlative teuchest)

teucher (comparative)
teuchest (superlative)


snod up

en-verb

snod up (third-person singular simple present snods up, present participle snodding up, simple past and past participle snodded up)

snods up (present singular third-person)
snodding up (participle present)
snodded up (participle past)
snodded up (past)

Related to Old English snǣdan (“to cut, prune”). See snead, snithe.

(Scotland, transitive) To trim; to set in order.


slaister

slaister (third-person singular simple present slaisters, present participle slaistering, simple past and past participle slaistered)

slaisters (present singular third-person)
slaistering (participle present)
slaistered (participle past)
slaistered (past)

(intransitive, Scotland) To move about in a dirty, slovenly manner.


danton

danton (third-person singular simple present dantons, present participle dantoning, simple past and past participle dantoned)

dantons (present singular third-person)
dantoning (participle present)
dantoned (participle past)
dantoned (past)

(transitive, Scotland) To daunt; to subdue.


goodman's croft

(Scotland, historical) A strip of ground, or corner of a field, once left untilled to avert the malice of the devil from the crop.


devall

devall (third-person singular simple present devalls, present participle devalling, simple past and past participle devalled)

devalls (present singular third-person)
devalling (participle present)
devalled (participle past)
devalled (past)


messenger-at-arms

(Scotland) An officer who executes the summonses of the Court of Session.


lapper-milk

Related to lopper, from Middle English loper (“curdled”), probably connected with Old English hléapan (“to leap, run”). Compare rennet, runnet.


scart

scart (third-person singular simple present scarts, present participle scarting, simple past and past participle scarted)

scarts (present singular third-person)
scarting (participle present)
scarted (participle past)
scarted (past)

(Scotland, transitive) To scratch or scrape.


scart

(Scotland) A poor-looking creature; a wretch.


hirdy-girdy

en-noun

hirdy-girdy (countable and uncountable, plural hirdy-girdies)


bysack

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Old English bīsæc, from Latin bisaccium.

(Colin alone) Ah, Colin, thou’rt a prodigal; a thriftless loon thou’st been, that cou’d na’ keep a little pelf to thysall when thou had’st got it; now thou may’st gang in this poor geer to thy live's end, and worse too for aught I can tell; ’faith, mon, ’twas a smeart little bysack of money thou hadst scrap’d together, an the best part of it had na’ being last amongst thy kinsfolk, in the Isles of Skey and Mull; muckle gude may it do the weams of them that ha’ it! There was Jamie MacGregor and Sawney MacNab, and the twa braw lads of Kinruddin, with old Charley MacDougall, my mother's first husband's second cousin: by my sol I cou’d na’ see such near relations, and gentlemen of sich auncient families gang upon bare feet, while I rode a horseback: I had been na’ true Scot, an I cou’d na’ ge’en a countryman a gude last upon occasion (as he is going out, Miss Aubrey enters.)

1772, Richard Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover. A Comedy., act III:


elshin

D'ye think I was born to sit here brogging an elshin through bend-leather, when sic men as Duncan Forbes, and that other Arniston chield there, without muckle greater parts, if the close-head speak true, than mysell, maun be presidents

1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC:


clipshear

I looked over the stair-windows, however, and saw the back green, which smells of clipshears and clockers, as of yore.

1888, David Gray, Josephus Nelson Larned, Life, letters, poems, etc, page 7:

I also learned from my father how to drown baby mice in a rain barrel, crush a clipshear between my thumbnails, and assist in the skinning of a rabbit.

2004, Jennie Erdal, Ghosting: A Memoir, page 20:

Those tapestries were like a zoological garden, seething with slaters and clipshears.

2017, Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and a Spot of Toil and Trouble, →ISBN:


sprauchle

en-verb

sprauchle (third-person singular simple present sprauchles, present participle sprauchling, simple past and past participle sprauchled)

sprauchles (present singular third-person)
sprauchling (participle present)
sprauchled (participle past)
sprauchled (past)
sprackle (alternative)
sprachle (alternative)
spraickle (alternative)

We'll sprauchle yont life's roughsome way, / As canny as we dow; / An' souther oor affections aye, / In love's heart-warmin' lowe.

1881, David Thomson, Musings Among the Heather: Being Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect:

We've routh o' disappointments as / We sprauchle up the brae, / We dinna get the things we want, / We lose the things we hae ;

1897, Robert McLean Calder, William Shillinglaw Crockett, A Berwickshire Bard: The Songs and Poems of Robert McLean Calder:

However far he might sprauchle up the brae, he never forgot — or patronised — an old friend.

1931, Arthur Alexander Thomson, The Burns We Love, page 86:

Sandra, her man, Raymond an his wife, sprauchle ower roots an bushes, hurryin through the trees.

2001, Janet Paisley, Not for Glory, page 265:

(Scotland, intransitive) To move in a clumsy manner; to stumble or sprawl; to clamber up with difficulty.


sprauchle

sprauchles (plural)
sprackle (alternative)
sprachle (alternative)
spraickle (alternative)

Well, Sir, just when the gentlemen had got within three yards of her, Nelly geid a bit awckward sprauchle, an' shot out a leg, but whether Nelly had mistaken her distance, or whether the men were up to her fa'en system an' wadna bite, never clearly appeared; but they werna forward in time to catch the lassie in their arms as she expected, an' after a sprauchle an' a stumble, down she came in good earnest, an' broke her arm.

1830, Andrew Picken, The dominie's legacy, by the author of 'The sectarian'., page 137:

But, with the planks bein' jammed as they were, he didn't sink as deep as his waist, an' after a sprauchle or two, that cost him his hat, he struggled out on the far side, an' moved on towards home, more muddled in his intellects than ever.

1930, The Strand Magazine - Volume 80 -, page 535:

... this didn't instil a sense of security so with an incredibly awkward manoeuvre the axe was driven into the floor and a cowardly sprauchle backwards performed to stand secured by slings above the void.

(Scotland) An awkward or struggling movement; stumble.


chuggy

In Lairgmore I slipped away to the Bank of Scotland, telling Nicole I was going to Woolworth's for chuggy – chewing gum.

'Here, have a piece of chuggy.' Dot handed me a small white tablet of Beechnut chewing gum as we sat on the top deck of the bus on our way home from work one Friday evening. She had also offered me one of her Woodbines.


forerent

(Scotland, historical) Rent due to be paid before the first crop is reaped.


hurly-hacket

From hurl (“to convey in a wheeled vehicle”).

(Scotland, obsolete) A badly-hung carriage.


slaistery

en-adj

slaistery (comparative more slaistery, superlative most slaistery)

more slaistery (comparative)
most slaistery (superlative)


breenge

Unknown. Attested since at least the 19th century. Compare Scots breenge.

(Scotland) A plunge, a violent movement.


breenge

en-verb

breenge (third-person singular simple present breenges, present participle breenging or breengeing, simple past and past participle breenged)

breenges (present singular third-person)
breenging (participle present)
breengeing (participle present)
breenged (participle past)
breenged (past)

He comes breenging in on a private conference of his betters, carrying their sentinel on his head like a shambled sheep, and flings him in a corner.

1908, Robert Barr, On the Border, page 105:

His two tries came from a typical breengeing run in the first half and from a pushover try in the final quarter of the match.

2018 February 10, “Reds Get Back to Winning Ways in 10 Try Thriller”, in The Reds Linlithgow Rugby Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-10:

(Scotland, intransitive) To lunge forward, to dash ahead, to move recklessly.


lose the fang

lose the fang (third-person singular simple present loses the fang, present participle losing the fang, simple past and past participle lost the fang)

loses the fang (present singular third-person)
losing the fang (participle present)
lost the fang (participle past)
lost the fang (past)

(Scotland, obsolete) Of a pump: to dry up; to yield no water.


hand's turn

(Scotland) A piece of work; assistance contributed to some endeavour.


whilly

whilly (third-person singular simple present whillies, present participle whillying, simple past and past participle whillied)

whillies (present singular third-person)
whillying (participle present)
whillied (participle past)
whillied (past)

(Scotland, archaic, transitive) To cajole.


law lord

(Scotland) A judge of the Court of Session.


jaw-hole

From jaw + hole; see jaw (“pour, throw out, splash”).

(Scotland, dated) A jawbox, or tenement sink.


penny mail

(Scotland, historical) Rent in money, not in kind.

(Scotland, historical) A small sum paid to the superior of land.


gousty

en-adj

gousty (comparative more gousty, superlative most gousty)

more gousty (comparative)
most gousty (superlative)


stilp

en-verb

stilp (third-person singular simple present stilps, present participle stilping, simple past and past participle stilped)

stilps (present singular third-person)
stilping (participle present)
stilped (participle past)
stilped (past)

(Scotland, obsolete, intransitive) To move on crutches.


stilper

(Scotland, obsolete) A person who walks with long strides.

(Scotland, obsolete, in the plural) Crutches.


paroch

[ˈp(ʰ)äɾətʃ]

Dear Friends, Ye know by the Laws of the Land we were put unto a neceſſity either to comply with Episcopacy contrary to out covenanted Ingagements, or to be no more permitted to Labour amongſt you, being by an Act of the Council baniſhed out of the Paroch and Presbytery[…]

1703, John Welch, Fifty and Two Directions, Written by That Famous, and Eminently Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ, Mr. John Welch, To his Paroch at Irongray, page 6:

"The next statute is that of 1663, c. 16, Dear which proceeds on the recital of the 'seventh act of the sixth parliament Of his Majestie's royall grandfather, King James the Sixth of happy memory, ordaining the names of the poor of ilk paroch, and such as must be necessarily sustained by alms, to be taken up, and to tax and stint the persons with in the paroch[…]

1849, Michael Anderson, The Scottish Jurist: Containing Reports of Cases Decided in the House of Lords, Courts of Session, Teinds, and Exchequer, and the Jury and Justiciary Courts, Volume 21, page 294:

[…]libertie to them of preaching in the paroch kirkes and receaveing their partes of the stipends, and particularly the persons underwrytten were appointed to repair to and be confyned to the particular paroches after specifeit[…]

1911, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1673-1676, H.M. General Register House, page 104:

(obsolete, Scotland) Alternative form of parish.


feeing market

(Scotland, historical) A fair or market where farm servants are hired for the year or half-year following.


sculduddery

(Scotland) grossness; bawdiness; obscenity


sculduddery

en-adj

sculduddery (comparative more sculduddery, superlative most sculduddery)

more sculduddery (comparative)
most sculduddery (superlative)


water of life

Chiefly a calque of Medieval Latin aqua vītae directly and via Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha and Irish uisce beatha. Compare akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, eau de vie, whisky, and whiskey from the same sources.

(particularly Ireland, Scotland) Synonym of whiskey/whisky.


sheriff-depute

en-noun

sheriff-depute (plural sheriff-deputes or sheriffs-depute)

sheriff-deputes (plural)
sheriffs-depute (plural)

(Scotland, historical) The sheriff proper, so called since the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions in 1748 to distinguish him from the earlier heritable sheriff-principal, whose title is now merged into that of the Lord-Lieutenant.


spreagh

spreagh (countable and uncountable, plural spreaghs)

From Scottish Gaelic sprèidh (“cattle”).

(Scotland, obsolete) Plunder, especially cattle taken as booty.


yellow gum

(medicine, now Scotland) Melena or black jaundice in infants.


sheriff-substitute

(Scotland) The acting sheriff in a Scottish county or city, like the sheriff-depute appointed by the Crown, but unlike the sheriff-depute forced to reside within his judicial district, and forbidden to take other employment.


purposelike

en-adj

purposelike (comparative more purposelike, superlative most purposelike)

more purposelike (comparative)
most purposelike (superlative)


smitch

[…] this winter you must look as if you wouldn't dream of using anything more artificial than a smitch of powder.

Pa startled me with his sudden stern tone. “They could! If men don't get too grabby for every smitch of land for their cattle.”

1966, Marguerite Henry, Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West:

(originally Scotland, chiefly US) A tiny amount; a smidge or smidgen.


Motherwell rules

From Motherwell F.C., a notoriously violent Scottish football club.

(Scotland) An agreed absence of rules in a fight (typically in a public house).


sowm

(Scotland) The proportion of sheep or cattle suitable for a given pasture.

(Scotland) Pasture for a certain number of sheep or cattle.


sowm

en-verb

sowm (third-person singular simple present sowms, present participle sowming, simple past and past participle sowmed)

sowms (present singular third-person)
sowming (participle present)
sowmed (participle past)
sowmed (past)
soum (alternative)

(Scotland, intransitive) To determine the proportion of sheep or cattle suitable for a given pasture.


Tartan Tory

Tartan Tories (plural)
tartan Tory (alternative)

Compound of tartan (“distinctive pattern of cloth used by a Scottish clan”) + Tory (“Conservative”).

compound

(Scotland, UK politics, somewhat dated) A member or supporter of the Scottish National Party, connoting sentimentality or old-fashionedness.


dauner

en-verb

dauner (third-person singular simple present dauners, present participle daunering, simple past and past participle daunered)

dauners (present singular third-person)
daunering (participle present)
daunered (participle past)
daunered (past)

(Scotland) Alternative form of daunder (“stroll”).


porridge drawer

en-noun

porridge drawer (plural porridge drawers)

(Scotland, Ireland, historical) A drawer in which freshly cooked porridge was left to cool, to be served in hardened slices later on.


bumphle

At the risk of sounding like Walter Scott's Antiquary, seeing Roman remains in ilka bumphle in the landscape, I would like to point out that a third of all Roman coin finds in Fife have come from the centre of the modern town of Kirkcaldy.

1994, Scottish Language - Issues 13-16, page 9:

I look down at the dressing gown belt, the big bumphle in the knot and try to look casual.

2010, Janice Galloway, Where You Find It:

SADIE: I wondered what the bumphles were.

2015, John Byrne, The Slab Boys Trilogy:

(chiefly Scotland) A lump or mound where fabric does not lie smoothly.


bumphle

en-verb

bumphle (third-person singular simple present bumphles, present participle bumphling, simple past and past participle bumphled)

bumphles (present singular third-person)
bumphling (participle present)
bumphled (participle past)
bumphled (past)

I don't look in the mirror but it seems to fit as much as this sort of stuff ever does and the feather bits don't bumphle the material as much as you'd think.

1994, Andrew Motion, Candice Rodd, New Writing 3 - Volume 3, page 341:

'Because the cushions have just been bumphled,' I replied. 'We're not allowed to use it until Thursday.'

2012, Lucy Mangan, My Family and Other Disasters:

Even her legs, bare and mottled beneath her bumphled skirts, have a healthy growth about them.

(chiefly Scotland) To form or cause a bumphle.