herry

en-verb

herry (third-person singular simple present herries, present participle herrying, simple past and past participle herried)

herries (present singular third-person)
herrying (participle present)
herried (participle past)
herried (past)
hery (alternative)

From earlier hery, from Middle English herien, herȝen, herwen, from Old English hergian (“to ravage, plunder, lay waste, harry; seize, take, capture”), from Proto-Germanic *harjōną (“to devastate, lay waste”). More at harry.

inh

In the Spring of the Year thereafter, this inteſtine War, within the Bowels of this Commonweal, began to increase ay more and more; and ſo continued two Years; during the which Time, the Douglaſſes burnt and herried all Lands pertaining to the King and his Aſſiſters; and alſo to them that were not plain on his Faction.

1728, Robert Lindsay, Robert Freebairn, The History of Scotland: From 21 February, 1436, to March, 1565, page 44:

The heroic Sim flew to horse, and desired all that were friends to the Scots to follow, while Laidlaw addressed his compeers, saying, "Up, lads, and let us ride; our host must not be herried while we are under his roof."

1822, James Hogg, The Three Perils of Man; Or, War, Women, and Witchcraft, page 228:

The victories of Inverlochy, of Alderne, and of Alford, the herrying of Argyleshire, and the sacking of Dundee, could scarcely make up for the terrible toils encountered in climhing the bleak precipices of the west, in wading through drifts of snow among the mountains during the depths of winter,[…].

c. 1830, Andrew Picken, The Deer-Stalkers of Glenskiach, published 1840, page 38:

(transitive, obsolete, Scotland) Alternative form of harry.


foreanent

forenent (alternative)
fornent (alternative)
forenenst (alternative)

Acts James VI
Utheris inhabiting the bordouris fore-anent England.

(Scotland, obsolete) Over against; opposite to.


throughgang

throughgangs (plural)
through-gang (alternative)
through-gaun (alternative)

From Middle English *thurgh-gang, from Old English *þurhgang (“a going through, permeation”), equivalent to through- + gang. Compare Old English þurhgangan (“to go through, go over”), Old High German durhgangan, Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (þairhgaggan).

cog

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) a thoroughfare; an entry; passage; passageway


throughgoing

throughgoings (plural)
through-going (alternative)

From through- + going. Compare thoroughgo, Scots throuchganging, Old English þurhgān, þurhgangan (“to go through, penetrate”). More at through, go.

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) A scolding; a severe reprimand or reproof.


throughgoing

en-adj

throughgoing (comparative more throughgoing, superlative most throughgoing)

more throughgoing (comparative)
most throughgoing (superlative)
through-going (alternative)

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Active; energetic.


eerisome

eerisome (comparative more eerisome, superlative most eerisome)

more eerisome (comparative)
most eerisome (superlative)

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Characterised or marked by eeriness; causing fear.


flabergast

en-verb

flabergast (third-person singular simple present flabergasts, present participle flabergasting, simple past flabergasted, past participle flabergasted or flabergast)

flabergasts (present singular third-person)
flabergasting (participle present)
flabergasted (past)
flabergasted (participle past)
flabergast (participle past)

(Scotland) Archaic spelling of flabbergast.


flabergast

Her foibles were flattery, fine feeling, and flabergast; and if not old enough to be his mother, sufficiently so to be a young aunt.

1852 October, “Adventures of Tom Honeycomb—No. I”, in Yankee Notions, volume 2, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Published by T. W. Strong, […], →OCLC, page 297:


flabrigast

flabrigast (third-person singular simple present flabrigasts, present participle flabrigasting, simple past and past participle flabrigasted)

flabrigasts (present singular third-person)
flabrigasting (participle present)
flabrigasted (participle past)
flabrigasted (past)

He confesses to having loaded some of his compositions with technical tricks and difficulties on purpose to flabrigast some of his envious friends in Vienna.

1878, James Brown Selkirk, Ethics and Aesthetics of Modern Poetry, Smith, Elder, & Co, page 78:

(Scotland) Alternative form of flabbergast.


jaup

(Scotland, Northern England) A mark left by a splash of water or mud.


jaup

jaup (third-person singular simple present jaups, present participle jauping, simple past and past participle jauped)

jaups (present singular third-person)
jauping (participle present)
jauped (participle past)
jauped (past)

(Scotland, Northern England) To splash; to slosh.


swike

From Middle English swiken, from Old English swīcan (“to wander, depart, cease from, yield, give way, fail, fall short, be wanting, abandon, desert, turn traitor, deceive, rebel”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīkwan, from Proto-Germanic *swīkwaną, *swīkaną (“to dodge, swerve, avoid, betray”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyg- (“to turn, move around, wander, swing”).

der

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Deceit; treachery.


lippening

en-adj

lippening (comparative more lippening, superlative most lippening)

more lippening (comparative)
most lippening (superlative)

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Occasional; accidental.


dawt

en-verb

dawt (third-person singular simple present dawts, present participle dawting, simple past and past participle dawted)

dawts (present singular third-person)
dawting (participle present)
dawted (participle past)
dawted (past)
daut (alternative)

To dawt on me, and me sae young, / Wi' his fause heart and flatt'ring tongue, / That is the thing you shall never see, / For an auld man shall never dawt on me.

1788 [1886], Robert Burns, “To Dawt on Me”, in The Complete Works of Robert Burns, volume 2, Kessinger, published 2004, page 163:

Let him kiss her, clap her, and dawt her, / And gie her benevolence due, / And that will a thrifty wife mak her, / And sae I'll bid farewell to you.

c. 18th century, Some Say Kissing's A Sin; republished in Thomas Crawford, editor, Love, Labour, and Liberty: the eighteenth-century Scottish lyric, Carcanet Press, 1976, page 79:

He courted her and he brought her hame, / An thought she would prove a thrifty dame. / She could nether spin nor caird, / But sit in her chair and dawt the laird.

c. 1882–1896, Francis James Child, “Number 277: The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin”, in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads:


steamie

I took a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street
And I fell in love with a laundry girl
Who was working next to me

There were steps up to the swimming baths' door. The next one along was for the steamie. Women went in there to wash all their laundry and clothes.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 74:

(Scotland) A public area for washing clothes.


abread

From Middle English abrede or on brede, from a- or on (“on”) + brede (“breadth”).

abreed (alternative)
abrede (alternative Scotland)
abraid (alternative Scotland)

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Abroad.


gangrel

gangrels (plural)
gangrell (alternative)
gangerel (alternative)

From Middle English gangrel, equivalent to gang + -rel. Compare gangling.

Two men saw him on the road, and have recorded their experience. One was a gangrel, by name McNab, who was travelling from Gledsmuir to Allerkirk with a heavy pack on his back and a bowed head.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(dialectal, Scotland) A tramp, vagrant, vagabond.


kirk-town

kirk-towns (plural)
kirkton (alternative)

(Scotland) The settlement in which the parish church is. A church town.


lavy

en-adj

lavy (comparative lavier or more lavy, superlative laviest or most lavy)

lavier (comparative)
more lavy (comparative)
laviest (superlative)
most lavy (superlative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Lavish; liberal.


teugh

teugh (comparative more teugh, superlative most teugh)

more teugh (comparative)
most teugh (superlative)

Teugh, adj. (Pr. of the eu much as in Teuflt). Tough.
"With cordes enewe and ropys Teugh
The Jues felle my limmes out-droghe
For that I was not mete enoghe
Unto the bore"

1868, John Christopher Atkinson, A glossary of the Cleveland dialect: explanatory, derivative, and critical, A. and C. Black, page 526:

A dialectical (Scottish) form of tough.
"Unco thick in the soles, as ye may weel mind, forbye being teugh in the upper-leather."

1897, William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, The Century dictionary and cyclopedia: a work of universal reference in all departments of knowledge, with a new atlas of the world, Volume 8, Century, page 6259:


feal

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

fealer (comparative)
more feal (comparative)
fealest (superlative)
most feal (superlative)
feil (alternative)
feel (alternative)
feele (alternative)
fiel (alternative)

From Middle English fele, fæle (“proper, of the right sort”), from Old English fǣle (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”), from Proto-West Germanic *failī, from Proto-Germanic *failijaz (“true, friendly, familiar, good”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey- (“to adore”). Cognate with Scots feel, feelie (“cosy, neat, clean, comfortable”), West Frisian feilich (“safe”), Dutch veil (“for-sale”), Dutch veilig (“safe”), German feil (“for-sale”), Latin pīus (“good, dutiful, faithful, devout, pious”).

cog

But if it stands in humble hame The bed, — I'll say this far in't, — Is clean and feel as ony lair King ever lay on — and that is mair Than mony ane could warrant.

1847, Henry Scott Riddell, Poems, songs and miscellaneous pieces:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of things) Cosy; clean; neat.

[…] when I care na to accompany ye to the kirkyard hole mysel, and take my word for't, ye'Il lie saftest and fealest on the Buittle side of the kirk; […]

1822, Allan Cunningham, “Death of the Laird Of Warlsworm”, in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, volume 2, page 330:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of persons) Comfortable; cosy; safe.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Smooth; soft; downy; velvety.


fulth

From Middle English fulth, fulthe; equivalent to full + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old English fylleþ (“fullness”, in compounds) and Middle High German vüllede (“fullness”).

inh

—It was as though a garland of red roses / Had fallen about the hood of some smug nun / When irresponsibly dropped as from the sun, / In fulth of numbers freaked with musical closes, / Upon Victoria's formal middle time / His leaves of rhythm and rhyme.

Yes, these yonder are the vessels, / Which Don Juan Ponce de Leon / Hath with gear and crews outfitted / For the seeking of the island / Where, in lovesome fulth, the Water / Of Rejuvenescence welleth.

1911, John Payne, transl., The Poetical Works of Heinrich Heine: Now First Completely Rendered Into English Verse, in Accordance with the Original Forms, volume 3, page 134:

The man who looked after the clew (clough) spoke of the louth and fulth of the drain. (Lowness and fulness.)

1952, Yorkshire Dialect Society, Summer Bulletin, page 18:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Fullness; abundance; plenty.

A lambe will fall to the grownde, or to eatinge of grasse, when it is aboute a moneth or five weekes olde; yett if it have its fulth of milke, it will forbeare the longer; and the lambes that forbeare grasse the longest, prove for the most parte, the straightest, and best quartered; and these usually that fall to grasse over soone, proove short runtish sheepe, and are of the shepheardes callede dumplinges, or grasse belly’de lambes.

1641, Henry Best, “Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641: Being the Farming and Account Books of Henry Best, of Elmswell, in the East Riding of the County of York”, in The Publications of the Surtees Society, George Andrews, published 1857, page 4 & 5:

1853, Michael Theakston, A List of Natural Flies that are Taken by Trout, Grayling, & Smelt, in the Streams of Ripon, W. Harrison (publ.), page 62.
When the weather is genial, at the times of hatching and coming on the water of these two flies, the trout generally take their fulth of them in preference to all others, when the natural flies only can succeed; but if rude, westling weather then prevails, it gives good imitations a chance.

1853, Michael Theakston, A List of Natural Flies that are Taken by Trout, Grayling, & Smelt, in the Streams of Ripon, W. Harrison (publ.), page 73.
THE stars of the spring are fading, but their splendour remains iu the trout! Fat and capricious, the gilded monarch selects his fulth from the good things that surround him.

A lamb falls to the ground, i.e., begins to eat grass instead of being suckled when about five weeks old, for then they have had their fulth of milk.

1924, Yorkshire Dialect Society, Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, page 41:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Fill; sufficiency; repletion; satiety.


healsome

en-adj

healsome (comparative more healsome, superlative most healsome)

more healsome (comparative)
most healsome (superlative)

Anglicised variant of Scots hailsome, equivalent to heal + -some.

(dialectal, Scotland) Wholesome; healthful.


stell

en-verb

stell (third-person singular simple present stells, present participle stelling, simple past and past participle stelled or stold)

stells (present singular third-person)
stelling (participle present)
stelled (participle past)
stelled (past)
stold (participle past)
stold (past)

From Middle English stellen, from Old English stellan (“to give a place to, set, place”), from Proto-West Germanic *stalljan (“to put, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, put, post, stand”). Cognate with Dutch stellen (“to set, put”), dated Low German stellen (“to put, place, fix”), German stellen (“to set, place, provide”), Old English steall (“position, place”). More at stall.

cog

How he escaped a broken neck in that dreadful place no human being will ever ken. The sweat, he has told me, stood in cold drops upon his forehead; he scarcely was aware of the saddle in which he sat, and his eyes were stelled in his head so that he saw nothing but the sky ayont him.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To place in position; set up, fix, plant; prop, mount.


stell

Alteration of stall, after the verb to stell.

(Scotland) A prop; a support, as for the feet in standing or climbing.

Paint Scotland greetin owre her thrissle;
Her mutchkin stowp as toom's a whissle;
An' damn'd excisemen in a bussle,
Seizin a stell,
Triumphant crushin't like a mussel,
Or limpet shell!

1786, Robert Burns, The Author's Earnest Cry And Prayer:

The English stell we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane—
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

1791, Robert Burns, Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation:


stepbairn

stepbairns (plural)
stepbarn (alternative Northern-England)

From Middle English stepbarn (“orphan”), from Old English stēopbearn (“orphan”), from Proto-West Germanic *steupabarn, from Proto-Germanic *steupabarną (“stepchild”), equivalent to step- + bairn. Cognate with Old High German stiofbarn (“stepchild”), Norwegian stebarn (“stepchild”) Danish stedbarn (“stepchild”), Swedish styvbarn (“stepchild”), Icelandic stjúpbarn (“stepchild”).

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) A stepchild.


to-draw

to-draws (plural)
te-draw (alternative)
teaa-draa (alternative)

Partly from Middle English todrawen (“to draw toward, allure”), equivalent to to + draw, and partly from Middle English todrawen (“to draw away, distract, tear apart”), equivalent to to- + draw. More at todraw.

inh

(UK obsolete, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A resort; refuge; a place of shelter; that which stands one in stead.

(UK obsolete, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A newsmonger's house; a place or person resorted to by idlers; a hangout.


rowen

en-noun

rowen (countable and uncountable, plural rowens)

rowens (plural)
roughings (alternative)
rowet (alternative)
rowett (alternative)
rowings (alternative)

(Scotland) Dated form of roving (“an elongate bundle of fiber”).


gloppen

en-verb

gloppen (third-person singular simple present gloppens, present participle gloppening, simple past and past participle gloppened)

gloppens (present singular third-person)
gloppening (participle present)
gloppened (participle past)
gloppened (past)

From Middle English glopnen, from Old Norse glúpna (“to frighten, grieve, look downcast”), from Proto-Germanic *glupnōną (“to frighten, cause to stare”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlub(ʰ)- (“to yawn, gape”). Cognate with Icelandic glúpna (“to put to shame”). More at glope.

der

"O Job! if you will help me," exclaimed Mary, brightening up (though it was but a wintry gleam after all), "tell me what to say, when they question me; I shall be so gloppened,* I shan't know what to answer." / *Gloppened; terrified.

1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2000:

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To be in fear; gaze in alarm or astonishment; look downcast

A pause before the intense guy cut in: "The Word of the Day is gloppen. Verb, transitive and intransitive. … One. To surprise or astonish. Two. To be startled or astonished. Gloppen."

2006, Jeremy Iverson, High School Confidential: Secrets of an Undercover Student, →ISBN, page 59:

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To terrify; astonish; surprise.


souther

en-verb

souther (third-person singular simple present southers, present participle southering, simple past and past participle southered)

southers (present singular third-person)
southering (participle present)
southered (participle past)
southered (past)

Reuben's a gude lad and a kind—I have aye allowed that ; but as to his not allowing enquiry anent the scandal of Margery Kittlesides and Rory MacRand, under pretence that they have southered sin wi' marriage, it's clear again the Christian discipline o' the kirk.

1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian:

He works brass and copper, an' a' sic like mettles, Walds broken brass pans, southers auld copper kettles;

1843, James Ballantine, The Gaberlunzie's Wallet, page 129:

The laddies ran to him to redd ilka quarrel, An' he southered a' up wi' a snap or a farl ; While vice that had daured to stain virtue's pure laurel, Shrunk cowed frae the glance o' the stalwart auld carl :

1878, John Donald Carrick, Alexander Rodger, David Robertson, Whistle-Binkie: Or, The Piper of the Party:

At the time all was war and rebellion with the tollman-- assault and battery, damages, broken panes, and what not ; but with skilful management, and a few words in the private ear of Mr Rory Sneckdrawer, the penny-writer, we got matters southered up when we were in our sober senses.

1895, David Macbeth Moir, The Life of Mansie Wauch: Tailor in Dalkeith, page 169:

(Scotland, dialect) To fix; remedy; put to rights.


upsend

upsend (third-person singular simple present upsends, present participle upsending, simple past and past participle upsent)

upsends (present singular third-person)
upsending (participle present)
upsent (participle past)
upsent (past)

From Middle English upsenden, equivalent to up- + send. Cognate with Scots upsend (“to ascend”), Dutch opzenden (“to redirect, forward”), Low German upsenden (“to send up, deliver (mail)”), Swedish uppsända (“to offer up”).

cog

But when the sun of the fifth day had risen, The Keepers of the Faith, upon a pyre Built near the council-house, with solemn rites Burnt the White Dog, upsending with the smoke The message of their loyalty and thanks.

1919, Harry Lyman Koopman, Hesperia: an American national poem:

(intransitive, US, Scotland) To ascend; climb up.


roopit

en-adj

roopit (comparative more roopit, superlative most roopit)

more roopit (comparative)
most roopit (superlative)

From Scots roupit, roupet, past participle of Scots roup (“to shout”), equivalent to English roop + -ed. More at roop.


wair

en-verb

wair (third-person singular simple present wairs, present participle wairing, simple past and past participle waired)

wairs (present singular third-person)
wairing (participle present)
waired (participle past)
waired (past)

[…]they find there was no lesion to the minor by setting the said tack, and that the money waired out by the defender, in building and reparations, viz not only the ₤1317 Scots first given out, but also the ₤326 last waired by the defender,[…]

1826, Mungo Ponton Brown, Supplement to the Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session, volume 3, Edinburgh, page 569:

We shall maintain them, nourish them, and defend them, the whole congregation of Christ, and every member thereof, at our whole powers and wairing [spending] of our lives, against Satan, and all wicked power that does intend tyranny or trouble against the foresaid congregation.

1831, [1566], John Knox, edited by William McGavin, The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, page 94:

1841, William Alexander, An Abridgement of the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1424—1707, page 243,
[…] Reserving alwayes to the Sheriff or other Magistrates, and taker of the Thief, the expences waired out by them in taking and putting the Thief to execution.


airigh

(Scotland) A shieling (area of summer pasture).


tea jenny

tea jennies (plural)
tea jennie (alternative)

(Scotland) a person who drinks a lot of tea; a tea addict; someone fussy about tea.


blunk

blunk (third-person singular simple present blunks, present participle blunking, simple past and past participle blunked)

blunks (present singular third-person)
blunking (participle present)
blunked (participle past)
blunked (past)

Apparently a corruption of blenk and/or blink.

(transitive, Scotland) To spoil, mismanage.


yeldrin

yeldrins (plural)
yoldrin (alternative Scotland)
yaldrin (alternative Scotland)
yowdrin (alternative Scotland)
yaldring (alternative Scotland)

Alteration of earlier yowlring, equivalent to yellow + ring.

Bless the bramble and its berries —nor can we conjecture why it should be “a maltreated shrub,” any more than why the “Yellow Yeldrin” should in Scotland—and we believe in England too—be a maltreated bird.

1834, “The moral of flowers”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 35 (review of The Moral of Flowers by Rebecca Hey), page 811:

(archaic, dialect, UK, Scotland) The yellowhammer.


kirkmaister

kirkmaisters (plural)
kirkmaster (alternative)

From kirk (“church”) + maister (“master”), possibly a calque of Middle Dutch keercmeester (“churchmaster”).

calque

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A churchwarden


howf

en-verb

howf (third-person singular simple present howfs, present participle howfing, simple past and past participle howfed)

howfs (present singular third-person)
howfing (participle present)
howfed (participle past)
howfed (past)
howff (alternative)

(intransitive, Scotland, archaic) To frequent or resort to a place; to haunt.


beseek

beseek (third-person singular simple present beseeks, present participle beseeking, simple past and past participle besought)

beseeks (present singular third-person)
beseeking (participle present)
besought (participle past)
besought (past)

From Middle English beseken, equivalent to be- + seek. Cognate with Scots beseik (“to beseek”). By surface analysis, be- + seek. Doublet of beseech.

I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods of tears besought him to release me from this engagement, assuring him that my cowardice was abject, and that in every point of intellect and character I was his hopeless and derisible inferior.

1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, “Story of the Destroying Angel”, in More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 45:

(transitive, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To beseech; entreat.


forset

forset (third-person singular simple present forsets, present participle forsetting, simple past and past participle forset)

forsets (present singular third-person)
forsetting (participle present)
forset (participle past)
forset (past)
forsett (alternative)
fooarset (alternative)
foorset (alternative)
fwoorset (alternative)

From Middle English forsetten, from Old English forsettan (“to hedge in, obstruct, oppress”), equivalent to for- + set. Cognate with Dutch verzetten (“to move”), German versetzen (“to put, move, transfer, transpose”), Swedish försätta (“to go on, remove, set”).

cog

(transitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To overpower; give one too much of anything; surfeit.

(transitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland, by extension) To overburden or overpower with work; overwork; overtax.


forsta

en-verb

forsta (third-person singular simple present forstas, present participle forstaing, simple past and past participle forstaed)

forstas (present singular third-person)
forstaing (participle present)
forstaed (participle past)
forstaed (past)
forstaa (alternative Scotland)
forstaw (alternative Scotland)

Probably from Dutch verstaan (“to understand”); or from Norwegian forstå (“to understand”), itself from Middle Low German vorstân (“to understand”), from Old Saxon farstandan (“to understand”), equivalent to for- + stand. More at forstand.

der

A cripple I'm not, ye forsta me, Tho' lame of a hand that I be; [...]

(transitive, intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To comprehend; understand.


forhow

en-verb

forhow (third-person singular simple present forhows, present participle forhowing, simple past and past participle forhowed)

forhows (present singular third-person)
forhowing (participle present)
forhowed (participle past)
forhowed (past)
forhoo (alternative)
forhooie (alternative)
forhooy (alternative)
forhui (alternative)
furhow (alternative)

From Middle English forhowien, from Old English forhogian (“to neglect, disregard, despise”), equivalent to for- + how. Cognate with Old Saxon farhuggjan, Old High German farhuggan.

inh

It was believed that handling any bird's eggs in the nest made the bird forhooie them, [...]

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To forsake; quit; abandon; desert.

Mind what this lass has undergane for you, Since ye did her so treach'rously forhow, [...]

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To cast off; scorn.


forlat

en-verb

forlat (third-person singular simple present forlats, present participle forlatting, simple past forleet or forlut, past participle forlatten or forlutten)

forlats (present singular third-person)
forlatting (participle present)
forleet (past)
forlut (past)
forlatten (participle past)
forlutten (participle past)

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To deal a blow; hit out.


outsight

en-noun

outsight (countable and uncountable, plural outsights)

From out- + sight. Cognate with Dutch uitzicht (“view, prospect, outlook”), German Aussicht (“view, prospect, chance, outlook, perspective”), Swedish utsikt (“view, outlook, prospect”).

cog

(Scotland) Movable goods kept out of doors, such as animals, ploughs, carts, and other implements of husbandry.


claes

Variant of clathes, from Middle English clathes, from Old English clāþas (“clothes”), plural of clāþ (“cloth”). More at clothes.


quate

en-adj

quate (comparative more quate, superlative most quate)

more quate (comparative)
most quate (superlative)


benorth

"No, no, landlord," answered a strong deep voice behind him, "it's e'en because your English gaugers and supervisors, that you have sent down benorth the Tweed, have taen up the trade of thievery over the heads of the native professors."


wame

wames (plural)
weamb (alternative obsolete)

Northern form of womb, from Old English wamb.

everybody knows what they are, the Gourdon fishers, they'd wring silver out of a corpse's wame and call stinking haddocks perfume fishes and sell them at a shilling a pair.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 26:


yoong

yoong (comparative yoonger, superlative yoongest)

yoonger (comparative)
yoongest (superlative)

archaic, chiefly Scottish spelling of young


midgey

midgeys (plural)
midgie (alternative)
midgy (alternative)

(Northern England, Scotland) Synonym of midge (“small biting fly”).


midgie

midgies (plural)
midgy (alternative)
midgey (alternative)


midgie

From a corruption of midden + -y. Perhaps influenced by midge (“a haunt of midges”).

They did not have good clothes and were midgie-rakers. Their das done that, they just raked yer midgie and got yer old rubbish.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 32:

Just after dawn. It's the best time. For raking the midgies. When it's light enough to see but there's no one around.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 39:

(Scotland, colloquial) A dump, midden; trash bin.


keelie

(Scotland, Northern England) A sparrowhawk or kestrel.

That was what she said if it was Glasgow people, Oh they are just keelies.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 64:

(Scotland, Northern England) A common or violent urban youth.


oose

From Scots oose, an alternative form of oos, the plural form of oo (“wool”).

But I found how I could read in the bedroom and not lie on the bed. It was a wee place down between my bed and the wall where the door was. The bed was pressed against the wall but ye could just squash down and under. My da kept all suitcases under my bed but I shifted them the gether and it was easy to squash in. But when I came out it was all fluff and oose stuff down my pyjamas. My maw was shouting. Oh Kieron it is filfy it is just filfy.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 978-0-241-14241-7; 1st US edition, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, 2008, ISBN 978-0-15-101348-7; page 100

I used to collect oose. If you have an inny bellybutton, this is the linty stuff you find in its crevices at the end of the day when you have nothing better to do than explore useless parts of your body.

2008, Zanzibar “Buck Buck” McFate, “A Grain of Dried Rat Shit”, in I Battled a Giant Otter: My Gut Bustin', Mutha Lovin' Life of Manly Adventure: A Tale of Mad Catastrophe, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 385:

(Scotland) Fluff, particularly from a textile source such as cotton or wool.


fankled

fankled (comparative more fankled, superlative most fankled)

more fankled (comparative)
most fankled (superlative)

I did not like the bushes where I was sitting. Ye could not see in. It was just leaves and leaves and all thick branches all fankled, all stuff poking out, fuzzy stuff and poison too, so ye could not go in [...].

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 110:


boodie

Modification of Scottish Gaelic bodach (“old man, churl, miser, ghost”), from Middle Irish botach (“serf, rustic, peasant”), from bot (“penis”) + -ach.


hotch

en-verb

hotch (third-person singular simple present hotches, present participle hotching, simple past and past participle hotched)

hotches (present singular third-person)
hotching (participle present)
hotched (participle past)
hotched (past)

From Anglo-Norman hocher, Middle French hocher, from a Germanic source (compare Dutch hutsen, hossen, German hotzen).

(now chiefly Scotland) To move irregularly up and down.

What if I went up? Imagine nobody had done it before. It would be hotching with balls and stuff, hundreds of things.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, page 314:


evendown

en-adj

evendown (comparative more evendown, superlative most evendown)

more evendown (comparative)
most evendown (superlative)
even-down (alternative)
even-doun (alternative)

(Scotland) Being situated straight up and down; perpendicular to ground level; downright.

(Scotland) Downright; direct; straightforward; candid.

What you told me is an evendown lie!

(Scotland) Out-and-out; plain; flat; flat-out.


craik

I have heard the word "craik" used by both the Irish and Scottish to mean "good conversation" or something close to that, varying a bit in context.

2003 July 28, HollyElise, “"Craik" and "crack"”, in Scotland.com:

Ye bust yer chops engineering intelligent monkeys an ye hae a guid craik wi them.

2007 April 26, “The Scottish word: Craik”, in Scottish Words Illustrated:

(Scotland, Ireland) Misspelling of craic.


sprunt

en-verb

sprunt (third-person singular simple present sprunts, present participle sprunting, simple past and past participle sprunted)

sprunts (present singular third-person)
sprunting (participle present)
sprunted (participle past)
sprunted (past)

Apparently a variation of sprent or sprint.

(Scotland, now rare) To make romantic advances to; to flirt.


bleeze

I'd got a fair bleeze going the night before so's to keep midges at bay.

1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage 2015, page 72:


bleeze

bleeze (third-person singular simple present bleezes, present participle bleezing, simple past and past participle bleezed)

bleezes (present singular third-person)
bleezing (participle present)
bleezed (participle past)
bleezed (past)

[…] I arose to a bleezing fire and a boiling kettle […]

1824, The Glasgow Mechanics' Magazine; and Annals of Philosophy, page 173:


drouthy

en-adj

drouthy (comparative drouthier or more drouthy, superlative drouthiest or most drouthy)

drouthier (comparative)
more drouthy (comparative)
drouthiest (superlative)
most drouthy (superlative)

1951 June, Herman L. Wascher, R. S. Smith, R. T. Odell, Soil Report 74: Iroquois County Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture, page 13,
The drouthy sandy soils are not well adapted to the grain crops that grow throughout the summer but may be used for wheat or rye, the deep-rooting legumes, or timber.

1993, Thomas Foti, The River's Gifts and Curses, Jeannie Whayne, Willard B. Gatewood, The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox, page 45,
That clay will not allow rainwater to penetrate far and will not give up much water to plants, so the site is a drouthy one for plants.

1962 [1948], Paul R. Beath (editor), Louise Pound (editor of 1962 edition), Febold Feboldson: Tall Tales from the Great Plains, page 58,
Febold was always a good-natured cuss, but he really got peeved one year when the weather got hotter and drier and drouthier every day.

1886 was the drouthiest year in over a generation, and the wells had dried up, and the black land on Tobe Pickett's farm had cracks in it wide enough to swallow a jackrabbit.

2007, Francis E. Abernethy, “Legends of the Trail”, in Kenneth L. Untiedt, editor, Folklore in Motion: Texas Travel Lore, page 61:

At parting, they bestowed a cup on him of a miraculous make, for it was ever full of wine, let the drinker be ever so drouthy.

1835, Egerton Brydges, editor, Notes on Comus: The Poetical Works of John Milton, volume 5, page 252:

A drouthier pair of mortals could not have been found anywhere, and, at the first draught, each emptied his cup to the bottom!

1866, Mayne Reid, The Scalp Hunters: Or, Adventures Among the Trappers, page 187:

"[…]Help yoursel' to some wine, Mr. Birkenshaw, for it's drouthy work talking."

1899, John Buchan, A Lost Lady of Old Years, published 2013, unnumbered page:


wae

en-noun

wae (countable and uncountable, plural waes)

Wae is me!


abun

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) Alternative form of aboon (“above”).


pluff

(Scotland) The act of using a powder puff.


pluff

en-verb

pluff (third-person singular simple present pluffs, present participle pluffing, simple past and past participle pluffed)

pluffs (present singular third-person)
pluffing (participle present)
pluffed (participle past)
pluffed (past)

(Scotland) To throw out, as smoke, dust, etc., in puffs.


hashy

en-adj

hashy (comparative hashier, superlative hashiest)

hashier (comparative)
hashiest (superlative)


resetter

(law, Scotland) One who receives or conceals, as stolen goods or a criminal.


maukin

(Scotland) Alternative form of malkin. Alternative form of mawkin.


kyte

"You know my father's name?" / "It would be strange if I didnae," he returned, "for he was my born brother; and little as ye seem to like either me or my house, or my good parritch, I'm your born uncle, Davie, my man, and you my born nephew. So give us the letter, and sit down and fill your kyte."

1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Make Acquaintance of My Uncle”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 17:

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of kite (“the stomach; the belly”).


up the kyte

Times change, that's a fact, what the hell am I blethering about, it's been the same since the world began, men have always been getting lassies up the kyte.

1983, Clifford Hanley, Another Street, Another Dance, Mainstream, →ISBN, page 115:


cursour

Now lerges of my Lord Bothwell, The quilk infredome dois excell; He gaif to me a cursour gray, Worth all this sort that I with mell, For lerges of this new-yeir day.

1770, George Bannatyne, Sir David Dalrymple, Ancient Scottish Poems, page 192:

In one bloody foray the M'Gregors slew forty of Sir Duncan's brood mares in the Cosche of Glenurchy, and at the same time a blood horse,—“ ane fair cursour sent to him from the Prince out of London.

1855, Cosmo Innes, The Black Book of Taymouth:

A fey man and a cursour fearna the deil.

1870, Alexander Hislop, The Proverbs of Scotland, collected and arranged, with notes:


bucht

Far over the braes by Upperhill where Ewan would be getting set in his clothes […] the sheep were baaing in their winter buchts.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 150:

(Scotland) A sheepfold, especially one in which to keep ewes at milking-time.


whemmel

en-verb

whemmel (third-person singular simple present whemmels, present participle whemmeling or whemmeling, simple past and past participle whemmeled or whemmeled)

whemmels (present singular third-person)
whemmeling (participle present)
whemmeled (participle past)
whemmeled (past)

A frequentative form of whelm equivalent to whelm + -le, or formed from that word by metathesis.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive) To engulf, to submerge.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive) To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive) To turn (something) upside down, to invert; to capsize, to overturn; (specifically) to drink a glass (of an alcoholic beverage) completely.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive, figuratively) To confound, to disrupt.

(British dialectal, Scotland, intransitive) To capsize; to walk clumsily; to fall over.


disponee

(law, Scotland, historical) The person to whom any property is legally conveyed.


forenight

forenights (plural)
fore-night (alternative)

From Middle English fore-niht, from Old English foranniht, equivalent to fore- + night. Cognate with Dutch voornacht, German Vornacht.

Yes, it is a low fire with an immense iron crane over it, on which half a dozen pots at a time can swing in comfort; a hearth on which logs of wood and peat can burn, a hearth that a dozen happy and contented faces can scarce encircle on a winter's forenight.

1895, William Gordon Stables, “Book I”, in On to the Rescue: A tale of the Indian Mutiny:

“Then I minded the tales my father used to tell me in the winter forenight of Wicked Wat Fergus of Craignesslin, how he used to rise from his bed and blow his horn and ride off to the Whig-hunting

1900, S. R. Crockett, The House on the Muir:

the rancher, who has sheep to lose, sits shivering in his log house through the long forenights with a Marlin rifle handy, while the famished timber wolves prowl about his clearing.

1909, Harold Edward Bindloss, “Chapter 1”, in The Greater Power:

(Scotland) The evening time, between twilight and bedtime.


indorsation

indorsations (plural)
endorsation (alternative)

That na indorſation ſall haue faith, nor be admitted, bot they that ar ſigned with the ſaids ſignettes.

1540, Parliament of Scotland (James V), The indorſation of letters ſuld be ſtamped (from The Laws And Acts Of Parliament Made by King James the First, and his Royal Successors, Kings and Queens Of Scotland, 1682)

The indorser remits it to his correspondent, with an indorsation or transference of property.

1766, William Gordon, The General Counting-house, and Man of Business:

Should we say indorsement or indorsation? In England, we always use the word indorsement. In Scotland, the term more generally used is indorsation.

1849, James William Gilbart, A Practical Treatise on Banking, 5th edition:

As regards the indorser, the effect of a full indorsation is precisely the same as of a blank indorsation.

1862, Alexander Montgomerie Bell, Lectures on Conveyancing, volume 1:

1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vol. 2, Letter to Charles Baxter
You succeeded Mr. Macbrair's firm; the Durrisdeers are extinct; and last year, in an old green box, you found these papers with Macbrair's indorsation.

There is, however, much confusion among these authorities; the English are still unable to agree as to which American spellings they will adopt and which they will keep under the ban for a while longer...Both have abandoned enquire for inquire, but they remain faithful to encumbrance, endorse and enclose, though they list indorsation and the Oxford also gives indorsee.

[1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, chapter 33, in The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC:


displenish

displenish (third-person singular simple present displenishes, present participle displenishing, simple past and past participle displenished)

displenishes (present singular third-person)
displenishing (participle present)
displenished (participle past)
displenished (past)

(Scotland, transitive) To deprive or strip, as a house of furniture, or a barn of stock.


nimious

en-adj

nimious (comparative more nimious, superlative most nimious)

more nimious (comparative)
most nimious (superlative)

But instead of that, they raised this prejudicial question, and upon that ensues a litigation, the most nimious I ever saw, even on the part of a corporate body, whose annals generally abound with instances of nimious procedure.

1851, Alexander MacNeel-Caird, “Decisions in the Supreme Court fully reported”, in The Poor-Law Manual for Scotland, 6th edition, Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, page 419:

The remaining grounds are, that the facts proved did not warrant a conviction, and that the proceedings were nimious and oppressive, and I am of the opinion that these are grounds on which this Bill of Suspension cannot be sustained.

1887, “No. 18, Rattray v. White”, in Reports of Cases Before the High Court and Circuit Courts of Justiciary in Scotland, volume 3, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, page 93:

(Scotland, law, obsolete) Excessive; extravagant; inordinate; vexatious.


janker

a vaulted castle 30 feet by 22 with a bawne of lime and stone 90 feet square, with two jankers

1802, Charles Coote, Statistical Survey of the County of Cavan:

(Scotland) A long pole on two wheels, used in hauling logs.


snotter

en-noun

snotter (countable and uncountable, plural snotters)


lockfast

en-adj

lockfast (comparative more lockfast, superlative most lockfast)

more lockfast (comparative)
most lockfast (superlative)

It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy. All the lockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

(Scotland) Fastened or secured with a lock.


improving lease

en-noun

improving lease (plural improving leases)

(law, Scotland, historical) An extended lease to induce the tenant to make improvements to the premises.


fernticle

(obsolete, dialect, Scotland) A freckle on the skin.


dreave

dreaves (plural)
drave (alternative)
draif (alternative)
dreef (alternative)

From Middle English draf, from Old English drāf (“a drove, herd”). More at drove.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) The yearly herring fishing.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A shoal of fish; a catch.


lockman

In 1780 James Alexander, lockman of Edinburgh, was by the city chamberlain paid for service at an execution 13s. 4d., with a fee of 2s. 6d. for the use of his rope.

1884, Charles Rogers, Social Life in Scotland: From Early to Recent Times, page 54:

At his back, the lockman reached up to grasp the noose dangling from the beam.

2022, Douglas Skelton, An Honourable Thief:

In contrast, Spanish hangmen had their houses painted bright red, and in France, Italy, and the Netherlands executioners' homes were located as far as possible from the main population and significant political spaces, most often being placed outside of city walls. Here, in the Scottish capital, however, the lockman was purposefully lodged just meters from the burgh's civic, spiritual, and political heart of the mercat cross, St Giles' Cathedral, and Parliament House.

2024, Allan Kennedy, Susanne Weston, Life at the Margins in Early Modern Scotland, page 127:

(Scotland, archaic) A public executioner.


instrumentary

en-adj

instrumentary (comparative more instrumentary, superlative most instrumentary)

more instrumentary (comparative)
most instrumentary (superlative)

The nearest relations of a party by whom a deed is granted, or in whose favour it is conceived, are good instrumentary witnesses; and although it has been generally laid down by the text writers, that women cannot be instrumentary witness, it is extremely doubtful how far this is correct.

1832, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, page 23:

(law, archaic, Scotland) Pertaining to a legal instrument.


bonnily

en-adv

bonnily (comparative more bonnily, superlative most bonnily)

more bonnily (comparative)
most bonnily (superlative)

Fareweel, my rhyme-compoſing billie! / Your native ſoil was right ill-willie; / But may ye flouriſh like a lily, / Now bonilie! / I'll toaſt ye in my hindmoſt gillie, / Tho' owre the Sea!

1786 July 31, Robert Burns, “On a Scotch Bard Gone to the West Indies”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire: Printed by John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock: James McKie, March 1867, →OCLC, page 184:

(Scotland) attractively; in a pleasant or pretty manner


jouk

en-verb

jouk (third-person singular simple present jouks, present participle jouking, simple past and past participle jouked)

jouks (present singular third-person)
jouking (participle present)
jouked (participle past)
jouked (past)
jook (alternative)
juke (alternative)

Dry stream channels descend the bare slopes into the valley floor, jouking this way and that to dodge tall extrusions of rock.

2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 205:

(Scotland, Northern England) To duck, dodge; to evade; to swerve.


widdy

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(Scotland, obsolete) A rope or halter made of flexible twigs or withes or such


wrongous

en-adj

wrongous (comparative more wrongous, superlative most wrongous)

more wrongous (comparative)
most wrongous (superlative)
wrongeous (alternative)

From Middle English wrongous, for earlier wrongwis, wrangwis, from Old English wrangwīs (“wrongous, rough, uneven”), equivalent to wrong + -ous (see also wrongwise). Cognate with Swedish vrångvis (“wrong, iniquitous”). See wrong, and compare righteous.

inh

It’s my opinion that the creature Dougal will have a good action of wrongous imprisonment and damages again him, under the Act seventeen hundred and one, and I’ll see the creature righted.

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 61:

If the prisoner is detained an unreasonable time, he would have an action for wrongous imprisonment.

1879, James Paterson, Reports of Scotch Appeals in the House of Lords:

(UK dialectal, Scotland, especially law) Wrongful; not right; unjust; illegal.


kailyard

kailyards (plural)
kailyaird (alternative)
kaleyard (alternative)

There was formerly a poor widow, and she had three daughters, and all she had to feed them was a kailyard. There was a great gray horse who was coming every day to the yard to eat the kail.

1860–62, J.F. Campbell, "The Widow and Her Daughters", Popular Tales of the West Highlands, Vol. II


vivers

From French vivres, plural of vivre (“to live”).

I'll join you at three, if the vivers can tarry so long.

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

(obsolete, Scotland) provisions; victuals


kirked

(Scotland) Having attended church for the first time after a wedding, birth, or other significant event.


gettable

en-adj

gettable (comparative more gettable, superlative most gettable)

more gettable (comparative)
most gettable (superlative)
getable (alternative)
gettabill (alternative)
gettible (alternative)

I think that of the court's conservative justices, [Amy Coney Barrett] is (as the order today [in Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition] suggests and yesterday's decision [in City and County of San Francisco v. EPA]) one of the justices that may be more "gettable" to join the court's liberal justices.

2025, Amy Howe, in: Announcement of opinions for Wednesday, March 5 (complete) (live blog transcript), SCOTUSblog, 2025-03-05

(originally Scotland) Able to be gotten.


loppard

loppard (comparative more loppard, superlative most loppard)

more loppard (comparative)
most loppard (superlative)

loppard milk

(archaic, Scotland) Of milk: sour or rotten.


irritancy

en-noun

irritancy (countable and uncountable, plural irritancies)

(law, Scotland) The state or quality of being null and void; invalidity


onstead

With loss of original w-, due to Scandinavian una (“to reside, dwell”), from *wonstead, from won (“to reside, dwell”) + stead. More at wone, stead.
Alternatively, possibly a corruption of homestead.

The farm onsteads on many properties are old, and afford too little accommodation

1737, Mr David Wilson, “on the Present State of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire”, in Prize-essays and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland:

The onstead, which is nearly the same as when inhabited by the poet, lies about seven miles from the town, on the right hand side of the road, surrounded by a few trees.

1828, Robert Chambers, The Picture of Scotland, volume 1, page 232:

We then did a house at Mowhaugh, and a farm-house at Stodrig, and a part of an onstead. I did the wrightwork of a house at Bemersyde, and an onstead at Butchercote.

1875, Rev. John Thomson, Life and Times of William Thomson:

(UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) A single farmhouse; a steading.


flisk

en-verb

flisk (third-person singular simple present flisks, present participle flisking, simple past and past participle flisked)

flisks (present singular third-person)
flisking (participle present)
flisked (participle past)
flisked (past)

flit away the he flisking flies.

1579, Stephen Gosson, The Schoole of Abuse:

(Scotland, obsolete) To frisk; to skip; to caper.


smicker

smicker (third-person singular simple present smickers, present participle smickering, simple past and past participle smickered)

smickers (present singular third-person)
smickering (participle present)
smickered (participle past)
smickered (past)
smikker (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English smiker, from Old English smicer, smicor (“beauteous, beautiful, elegant, fair, fine, neat, tasteful”), from Proto-West Germanic *smikr, from Proto-Germanic *smikraz (“fine, elegant, delicate, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *smēyg- (“small, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *smē-, *smey- (“to smear, stroke, wipe, rub”). Cognate with Middle High German smecker (“neat, elegant”), Ancient Greek σμικρός (smikrós), μικρός (mikrós, “small, short”), Lithuanian smeigti (“to lunge, thrust, jab”), Latin mīca (“crumb, morsel, bit”).
For the verb, compare Swedish smickra (“to flatter, coax, wheedle, butter up”), Danish smigre (“to flatter”).

cog

(intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To look or smile seductively or amorously.

I gave him a questioning look and he hurled a pillow at me. “Who you a look pon^([sic]) so?” “Me baby father” He smickered.

2014, Crystal Evans, Every Man Deserves A Good Jacket, page 116:

(intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To laugh or smile in a sniggering or leering way; smirk.


killigrew

(UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) A bird, the red-billed chough.


keelyvine pen

keelyvine pens (plural)
keelavine pen (alternative)
keelivine pen (alternative)

Put up your pocket-book and your keelyvine pen then, for I downa speak out an' ye hae writing materials in your hands

1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

This article, if finished at all, must be written with the keelavine pen on the backs of old letters—whereof, thank heaven! we have scores unanswered—by fits and snatches, as we repose from our labours on the gree-sward;.

1846 November 14, Christopher North, “Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands”, in The Anglo American, volume 8, number 4, page 85:

A strip of lead in a case of wood or a strong reed, resembling the drawing-pencil to which we are now accustomed, is the Keelyvine-pen of North Britain; and an invention which is probably not older than the commencement of the last century.

1857, Richard Thomson, A Lecture on some of the most characteristic features of Illuminated Manuscripts from the VIII. to the XVIII. century., page 48:

Perhaps he knew that “fules," as the Shepherd says, dreaded his "keelavine pen," and so abstained from a source of offence.

1897, Andrew Lang, The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart - Volume 1, page 342:

(Scotland, dialect, obsolete) A pencil of black lead.


wowf

en-adj

wowf (comparative more wowf, superlative most wowf)

more wowf (comparative)
most wowf (superlative)

"[I]t is very odd how Allan, who, between ourselves," said he to Musgrave, "is a little wowf, seems at times to have more sense than us all put together. Observe him now."

1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 270:


burnie

But, Willie, set your fit to mine, / An' cock your crest, / We'll gar our streams an' burnies shine / Up wi' the best.

1785, Robert Burns, Epistle To William Simson Schoolmaster, Ochiltree:

c. 1820s, James Hogg, "Sing on, Sing on, My Bonnie Bird"
A bramble shade around our head,
A burnie popplin by


kirkman

(Scotland) A clergyman or officer in a kirk.

(Scotland) A member of the Church of Scotland.


mackly

en-adv

mackly (comparative more mackly, superlative most mackly)

more mackly (comparative)
most mackly (superlative)

From Middle English makli, from make (“easy”, adjective), from Old Norse makr (“easy”), from Proto-Germanic *makaz (“comfortable, suitable”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, press”), equivalent to make + -ly. Cognate with Old English macalīc (“convenient”), Scots makly, Middle Low German gemaclīch, Middle High German gemechlīche (“easily”) (German gemächlich (“gently”)), Dutch makkelijk (“easy”).


sumph

His daughter, that sumph that was Mistress Bruce, fair jumped as she heard the bang of the door [...].

1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 312:

(Scotland, Northern England) A dunce; a blockhead.


buttony

She collected all her treasures, the bottle with the brass top that she had got from Shovel’s old girl, […] the pretty buttons Tommy had won for her at the game of buttony, the witchy marble, […] these and some other precious trifles she made a little bundle of and set off for Double Dykes with them, intending to leave them at the door.

1896, J. M. Barrie, chapter 15, in Sentimental Tommy, London: Cassell, page 172:

(Scotland, games) A children’s game played with buttons.


whiskin

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) A shallow drinking bowl.


knab

See nab, knob (in the sense of a rounded hill).

(Scotland, Shetland, Orkney) a promontory or headland


gliff

Compare Middle English glyffen (“to give a glancing look; to become startled or frightened”).

(Scotland, archaic) An unexpected view of something startling.

[W]ill ye come out and speak just a gliff to ane that has mony thanks to gi'e ye?— […] Wad ye but come out a gliff, man, or but say ye're listening?— […]

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IX, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume I (The Black Dwarf), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 207:


gliff

en-verb

gliff (third-person singular simple present gliffs, present participle gliffing, simple past and past participle gliffed)

gliffs (present singular third-person)
gliffing (participle present)
gliffed (participle past)
gliffed (past)
glift (alternative)

(archaic, Scotland, transitive) To glimpse.


bondager

(Scotland, historical) A field worker, especially a woman.


flirtigig

if a maid like that might some day marry such a man! Never an ill piece of a flirtigig will she be

1914, Alber Hale Plumb, When Mayflowers Blossom:

(obsolete, Scotland) A flirtatious or cheeky girl.


wheen

wheens (plural)
whean (alternative)
whin (alternative)

From Middle English *wheen, quhein (also hwan, hwon, quhon), from Old English hwēne, hwǣne (“somewhat, a little”), instrumental form of hwōn (“little, few, a little, trifle, somewhat, a little while”).

I have six terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slow-hunds, five grews, and a wheen other dogs.

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

She never seemed to want for siller; the house was as bright as a new preen, the yaird better delved than the manse garden; and there was routh of fowls and doos about the small steading, forbye a wheen sheep and milk-kye in the fields.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(UK dialectal, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Mid-Ulster) A quantity; a goodly number.


wapinschaw

wapinschaws (plural)
wapenshaw (alternative)
wapinshaw (alternative)
weapon-schaw (alternative)
weaponshaw (alternative)
weaponshow (alternative)

From Scots [Term?]. See weapon and show.

The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding the wappen-schaw of a wild district, called the Upper Ward of Clydesdale, on a haugh, or level plain, near to a royal borough, […]

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter II, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume II (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 35–36:

(Scotland, historical) An exhibition of weapons, according to the rank of the individual, by all persons bearing arms; formerly made at certain seasons in each district.

(Scotland, historical) A volunteer meeting or shooting competition inspired by this traditional exhibition of weapons.


fozy

en-adj

fozy (comparative more fozy, superlative most fozy)

more fozy (comparative)
most fozy (superlative)

He maun be a saft sap, wi' a head nae better than a fozy frosted turnip—it wad hae ta'en a hantle o' them to scaur Andrew Fairservice out o' his tale.

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 16:

In years when grain was raw and light,
So fozy it would scarcely dight,
I look'd around me, left and right,
As sharp's a razor,
Till I got some unskilful wight
To buy by measure.

1847, Scoundrel Will's advice to his sons:

Just a plain, stout, fozy, sappy burrow-man, keeping a gospel shop, with scarcely so much of a man's parts as will let him fend a blow in the face.


lirk

en-verb

lirk (third-person singular simple present lirks, present participle lirking, simple past and past participle lirked)

lirks (present singular third-person)
lirking (participle present)
lirked (participle past)
lirked (past)
lurk (alternative)
lerk (alternative)
lairk (alternative)
lark (alternative)

From Middle English lyrken, from Old Norse lerka (“to plait, fold, bind, lace up tightly, chastise”), related to Old Norse lurkr (“cudgel, club”) (see Proto-Celtic *lorgā).

der

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To become creased or wrinkled.


lirk

lirks (plural)
lurk (alternative)
lerk (alternative)
lairk (alternative)
lark (alternative)

From Middle English lerke, from the verb. See above.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) A fold in the skin; a wrinkle.


hesp

Compare Icelandic hespa (“a hasp, a wisp or skein”). See hasp.

cog

(Scotland) A measure of two hanks of linen thread.


whaap

(Scotland, obsolete) The European curlew; called also awp, whaup, great whaup, and stock whaup.

(Scotland, obsolete) The whimbrel; called also May whaup, little whaup, and tang whaup.


eldning

From Middle English elning, elnung, from Old English ellnung, elnung (“encouragement, comfort, consolation, emulation, hot emulation, zeal, envy”), from elnian (“to emulate, endeavor to be equal, be zealous, strive with zeal after another, make strong, strengthen, comfort oneself, gain strength”) (compare Old English ellen (“zeal, strength, power, vigor, valor, courage, fortitude, strife, contention”)), equivalent to elne + -ing. Cognate with Scots eldning (“jealousy”).

eldnyng (alternative)
elduring (alternative)
eldling (alternative)

(rare, obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialectal) Envy; jealousy; suspicion.


fouth

Variant of fulth, from Middle English fulthe; equivalent to full + -th (abstract nominal suffix).

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Abundance; plenty.


fouth

en-adj

fouth (comparative more fouth, superlative most fouth)

more fouth (comparative)
most fouth (superlative)
fowth (alternative)
foulth (alternative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Abundant; copious; plenteous.


beglammer

en-verb

beglammer (third-person singular simple present beglammers, present participle beglammering, simple past and past participle beglammered)

beglammers (present singular third-person)
beglammering (participle present)
beglammered (participle past)
beglammered (past)

From be- + glammer, Scottish variant of glamour (“to bewitch”), equivalent to be- + glamour.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To bewitch; deceive; hoodwink.


rizzar

rizzar (third-person singular simple present rizzars, present participle rizzaring, simple past and past participle rizzared)

rizzars (present singular third-person)
rizzaring (participle present)
rizzared (participle past)
rizzared (past)

rizzaring haddock

(transitive, obsolete, Scotland) To dry (especially haddock) in the sun.


lungie

a kittywake's and lungie's nest


intromit

intromit (third-person singular simple present intromits, present participle intromitting, simple past and past participle intromitted)

intromits (present singular third-person)
intromitting (participle present)
intromitted (participle past)
intromitted (past)

/ˌɪntɹəˈmɪt/

(law, Scotland) To intermeddle with the effects or goods of another.


unkent

en-adj

unkent (comparative more unkent, superlative most unkent)

more unkent (comparative)
most unkent (superlative)

Go, little book, thyself present, As child whose parent is unkent, To him, that is the president Of nobleness and chivalrie.

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:

as a swain unkent fed on the plains

1613–1616, William Browne, “(please specify the page)”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. (please specify |book=1 or 2), London: […] George Norton:


genty

genty (comparative more genty, superlative most genty)

more genty (comparative)
most genty (superlative)

Sae jimply lac'd her genty waist, / That sweetly ye might span.

1789, Robert Burns, Beware o' Bonnie Ann:


muckmidden

(archaic, Northern England, Scotland) A dunghill.


foziness

December 1821, Blackwood's Magazine
[The Whigs'] foziness can no longer be concealed.

(Scotland) The state of being fozy; lack of spirit; dullness.


croftland

en-noun

croftland (countable and uncountable, plural croftlands)

a small portion of the farm, which they distinguished into ontfield and croftland; the latter was in constant occupation , and required the whole dung made on the farın

1794, lexander Lowe, General View of the Agriculture of the County of Berwick:

(Scotland) Land of superior quality, on which crops are raised.


gabert

Compare French gabare, Breton kobar, gobar.

In a block or pully, near the head of the mast of a gabert, now lying at the Broomielaw, there is chaffinch's nest

1793, anonymous author, Buckinghamshire Herald:

(Scotland) A lighter, or vessel for inland navigation.


leverock

(Scotland) Alternative form of laverock.


freke

From Middle English freke (“a bold man, warrior, man, creature”), from Old English freca (“a bold man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *frekô (“an active or eagre man, warrior, wolf”), from *frekaz (“active, bold, desirous, greedy”), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (“to shrug, be quick, twitch, splash, blast”). Akin with Old Norse freki (“greedy or avaricious one, a wolf”), Old High German freh (“eager”), Old English frēcne (“dangerous, daring, courageous, bold”).


scranky

en-adj

scranky (comparative more scranky, superlative most scranky)

more scranky (comparative)
most scranky (superlative)


diker

(Scotland, Northern England) One who builds stone walls, usually dry-stone without lime.


sharn

From Middle English scharn, from Old English sċearn (“sharn, dung, muck, filth”), from Proto-West Germanic *skarn, from Proto-Germanic *skarną (“manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“dung, manure”). Cognate with North Frisian skern (“dung, manure”), Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic skarn (“dung”), German Harn (“urine”). Doublet of skarn.

der

shairn (alternative)
shearn (alternative)
shern (alternative)

right between the byre and the stable and the barn on one side and the house on the other was the cattle-court and right in the middle of that the midden, high and yellow with dung and straw and sharn, and Mistress Strachan could never forgive Peesie's Knapp because of that awful smell it had.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 19:

(chiefly Scotland) The dung or manure of cattle or sheep.


lythe

lythes (plural)
laith (alternative)
leet (alternative)

We caught between us about twenty pounds of cod and lythe

1915, John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Chapter 10:

Pollachius pollachius
Pollachius pollachius#Translingual

(Scotland, Northern England) A fish, the European pollock (Pollachius pollachius).


deforce

en-verb

deforce (third-person singular simple present deforces, present participle deforcing, simple past and past participle deforced)

deforces (present singular third-person)
deforcing (participle present)
deforced (participle past)
deforced (past)

(law, Scotland) To resist an officer of the law in the execution of his duty.


allanerly

(Scotland, archaic) Alternative form of allenarly.


goff

Forester soon took an aversion to the game of goff, and recollected Scotch reels with less contempt.

(Scotland) Obsolete form of golf (“ball game”).


scug

scugs (plural)
skug (alternative)
scoug (alternative Scotland)
skoog (alternative Scotland)

Scottish and Northern English from Old Norse skuggi, from Proto-Germanic *skuwwô (“shadow, reflection”). Cognate with Icelandic skuggi, Swedish skugga, Danish skygge, Old English sċūa, sċūwa (“a shade”).

der

(Northern England, Scotland) Shade, shadow.

We was jickering along […] under the scug o' the hill.

(Northern England, Scotland) A shelter, a sheltered place (especially on the side of a hill).


scug

en-verb

scug (third-person singular simple present scugs, present participle scugging, simple past and past participle scugged)

scugs (present singular third-person)
scugging (participle present)
scugged (participle past)
scugged (past)
skug (alternative)
scoug (alternative Scotland)
skoog (alternative Scotland)

(Northern England, Scotland, transitive) To shelter; to protect.

(Northern England, Scotland, intransitive) To hide; to take shelter.


allenarly

From all + Scots anerly (“singly”), from ane (“one”).

I grant thereto, she shall be well answered thereof; not allenarly of the same, but the double thereof, and make your memorial of all your desires, number and valour thereof, and ye shall not have alone the single, but the double thereof.

1728, Robert Lindsay, The History of Scotland from 1436 to 1565, page 198:

[…] is not habilis modus to establish a Right in the Person of the Assigny, but allenarly so long as the Cedent remains Heritor of the Lands […]

1734, Sir Thomas Hope, “Title XV”, in Practical Observations Upon Divers Titles of the Law of Scotland, Commonly called Hope's Minor Praticks:

[…] he orders the assembly to sit at the city of Glasgow allenarly, and no where else, because of the known loyalty and disposition of the town to his service […]

1830, John M'Ure, A View of the City of Glasgow, Or, An Account of Its Origin, Rise and Progress, with a More Particular Description Thereof Than Has Hitherto Been Known, page 84:


trooz

Trooz, n.pl. short trousers

1923, Sir James Wilson, The dialect of Robert Burns as spoken in central Ayrshire, page 191:


spale

spales (plural)
spail (alternative)
speal (alternative)
spell (alternative)
spyle (alternative)
spile (alternative)

From Middle English spale (“splinter”), perhaps partly from Old English *spalu (“flat bar, flake, chip”) or Old Norse spǫlr (“plank, rail, bar, short piece of wood”), both from Proto-Germanic *spaluz (“pole, rod, thin bar, lath”); and partly as an alteration of Old English speld (“ember, flake, torch, splinter, thin piece of wood used as a torch”), from Proto-Germanic *speldą (“that which is split, splinter, board”); both from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pala-, *(s)pel- (“to split in two, split in half”). Cognate with Middle High German spale ("rung of a ladder"; > dialectal German Spale (“a wooden split, wedge”)), dialectal Swedish spalu (“splinter”), dialectal Norwegian spel, spela, spila (“a splinter”), Icelandic spölur (“bit, short piece”). See also split.

gloss

"rung of a ladder"; > dialectal German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Spale</i> (“a wooden split, wedge”)

(Now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) A chip or splinter of wood.


matie

maties (plural)
mattie (alternative)
matty (alternative)

(UK and Scotland, archaic) A fat herring with undeveloped roe.


blirt

en-verb

blirt (third-person singular simple present blirts, present participle blirting, simple past and past participle blirted)

blirts (present singular third-person)
blirting (participle present)
blirted (participle past)
blirted (past)


farmsteading

Fig. 31 is a plan of an existing farmsteading.

1849, Robert Ritchie, The Farm Engineer:

1891-92, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light green of the new foliage.


feuar

These out-field spots were selected by any feuar at his own choice, amongst the sheep-walks and hills which were always annexed to the Township

1820 March, [Walter Scott], The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC:

In 1835 he cleared the green by giving his sixty tenants, or feuars, land behind their cottages[.]

1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 4:

(Scotland, property law, historical) One who holds a feu.


menseless

Borrowed from Scots menseless, equivalent to mense + -less.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) destitute of grace, propriety, or moderation; uncivil; immoderate


gavelock

From Middle English gavelock, from Old English gafeluc (“spear, javelin”), from gafol (“fork”) + -uc (diminutive suffix). Compare Old Norse gaflak, Icelandic gaflok, Old French gavelot, glavelot, French javelot, Irish gabhal (“fork”), Welsh gaflach (“fork, dart”). More at gaff, gaffle and javelin.


deforcement

en-noun

deforcement (countable and uncountable, plural deforcements)

There was something in the air and tone of the young soldier, which seemed to argue that his interference was not likely to be confined to mere expostulation; and which, if it promised finally of a process of battery and deforcement, would certainly commence with the unpleasant circumstances necessary for founding such a complaint.

1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary, Oxford University Press, published 2002, page 397:

(law, Scotland) Resistance to an officer in the execution of law.


birse

Borrowed from Scots birse (“bristle, hair”).


baxter

From Middle English bakestere, bakestre, bakistre, from Old English bæcestre, feminine of bæcere (“baker”). See baker, as bake + -ster.

It isn't the city bakers who are guilty of making underweight loaves or overcharging for them; it's the women baxters.

2016, Toni Mount, A Year in the Life of Medieval England, →ISBN:

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) A baker (originally, a female baker).


bittie

en-adj

bittie (comparative bittier, superlative bittiest)

bittier (comparative)
bittiest (superlative)

(Scotland) Alternative form of bitty (“very small”).


roset

en-noun

roset (countable and uncountable, plural rosets)


dinmont

(Scotland) A castrated sheep between one and two years old.


scuddle

en-verb

scuddle (third-person singular simple present scuddles, present participle scuddling, simple past and past participle scuddled)

scuddles (present singular third-person)
scuddling (participle present)
scuddled (participle past)
scuddled (past)

From scud + -le (frequentative). Compare scuttle (“to hurry”).

(transitive, Scotland) To wash or cleanse.


freelage

en-noun

freelage (countable and uncountable, plural freelages)

freelages (plural)
freeledge (alternative)
freelege (alternative)
freelidge (alternative)
frelidge (alternative)

From earlier frelage, probably from Middle English *freolache, *freleche, deverbal of Middle English *freolachen, *frelechen (“to be liberal, be generous”) (compare Middle English freolac, freolaic, vreoleic, freolec (“liberality, generosity”)), from Old English *frēolǣċan (“to give freely, offer generously”); equivalent to free + Middle English -leche, related to English -lock. Related to Old English frēolāc (“free-will offering, oblation”). Compare knowledge.

cog

(Scotland, Northern England) Privilege; immunity; franchise; the freedom or privilege of a burgess in a corporation.

(Scotland, Northern England) A heritable property (as distinguished from a farm).


freelage

en-adj

freelage (comparative more freelage, superlative most freelage)

more freelage (comparative)
most freelage (superlative)
freeledge (alternative)
freelege (alternative)
freelidge (alternative)
frelidge (alternative)


strenth

(archaic or UK dialectal, Scotland) Alternative spelling of strength.


dinsome

dinsome (comparative more dinsome, superlative most dinsome)

more dinsome (comparative)
most dinsome (superlative)

Till block an' studdie ring an' reel / Wi' dinsome clamour.


gamashes

(Scotland) Short spatterdashes or riding trousers, worn over the other clothing.


bink

From Middle English bink, binke, variants of Middle English benk, benke, from Old English benc (“bench”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. More at bench.

He bouns him to the house, An' sits him doon upo' the bink, An' plaits a theet, or mends a mink, To sair an aifter use .

1877, William Alexander, “Domestic Industries and Out-door Labour”, in Notes and Sketches Illustrative of Northern Rural Life in the Eighteenth Century, page 144:

In comes the tod (fox) whiskin, whiskin, an he sits doon o' the green bink.

1885, “The Lion, The Leper, and the Tod”, in The Folk-lore Journal - Volume 3, page 269:

Sitting here in the park bink, Alane - yet no aa that alane.

1987, Alexander Scott, Voices of Our Kind: An Anthology of Modern Scottish Poetry, page 64:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A bench.

According to the most painstaking among our etymologist, the name was first conferred upon one who, in his attendance upon weddings and other convivial occasions, rendered himself so agreeable to the company by his skill in whistling, that he was allowed to sit at the bink, or board , and partake of the good things free of all expense; an honour , in the early ages of our history , which was only conferred on the highest degree of merit.

1832, “Whistle-binkie: a Collection of Comic and Sentimental Songs”, in Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, and Sciences, page 501:

In front of the entrance to Alexander's booth there used to stand "a stane bink" which was employed "for outsetting of stands affore the buith."

1891, Alexander Maxwell, Old Dundee, page 193:

His wife may ay sit foremost doun, At either buird or bink, Gang foremost in at door or yett, And ay the first guid-day wald get, With all men honourit and weel-tret As ony heart wald think.

1908, Frederick William Watkeys, Old Edinburgh, page 234:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A table or similar surface for laying out items.

We have it in a manuscript; the good-man keeps it, as we think, Behind a dish, upon the bink.

1684, John Colvil., “Mock Poem”, in The Teares of the Muses:

The bink took the place of the modern dresser , and on it were arranged the bowls and tinnies for family use, while underneath were placed the pails, pots, and other cooking utensils.

1911, Old-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and Sutherland,- Volume 4:

His wife on the one side, in her pearlings and pudding sleeves, put the last finishing touch to her holiday's apparel, while she contemplated a very handsome and good-humored face in a broken mirror, raised upon the bink (the shelves on which the plates are disposed ) for her special accommodation.

1999, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy. A legend of Montrose. The bridge of Lammermoor. The monastery, page 375:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A sideboard or shelf unit for holding dishes.

Up thro' the cleughs, where bink on bink was set, Scrambling wi' hands and feet she taks the gate,

1842, Alexander Ross, Helenore; or, The fortunate shepherdess, page 17:

We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England ( just about ) .

1902, Claude Ernest Benson, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 240:

Without a stick a man would climb down sideways from bink to bink.

1902, Claude Ernest Benson ·, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 18:

There was a man did that up on that bink, a hundred years or more ago, two hundred more like, for there was no gun in Nardale then.

1911, Abraham Wren Rumney, The Dalesman, page 127:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A mountain ledge.

They carry on the section, or the bink as they term it, of a convenient depth for easier cutting, frequently using the moss of least value above, and leaving that which is of much greater value.

1811, William Aiton, A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss-earth, page 145:

We go on in this manner until the bink is out, that is, taken out down to the level of last year's hole. Bink after bink is excavated until the whole block that was turred is removed, and now as the most valuable part is under our feet we have to commence to "sink."

1892, “Peat, Its Use and Value for Fuel”, in Report of the Bureau of Mines - Volumes 1-4, page 188:

Och, an' I ken folk mysel' that found an iron pot o' doubloons in the peat bink; but aul ' Tchonie, he just takes what he will be needin', and he takes it at night when the folks are abed.

2022, John Sillars, The McBrides: A Romance of Arran:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A long cut in peat moss, marking a section from which blocks of peat are cut.

This splendid attire, however, saves them not from being rudely handled; and we remember the day when an artificial bink, that is , a little box made of clay , with a piece of glass at one end , and a sprinkling of sugar at the other , contained as many captives in proportion to its size as the black hole at Calcutta .

1840, James Duncan, The Natural History of Bees, page 240:

Just that –no that I'm sure that there are ony honey-bees in Arthur's seat, but there's plenty of bum-bees, and aiblins a wasp bink. "

1856, Archibald Boyd, The Crown Ward - Volume 3, page 143:

On 19th July I examined old hive, turned it completely up on its side: combs nearly black, two at one side as musty as an old wasp's bink: decided to clear them out on Monday.

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A hive.


bink

en-verb

bink (third-person singular simple present binks, present participle binking, simple past and past participle binked)

binks (present singular third-person)
binking (participle present)
binked (participle past)
binked (past)

On June 2nd, the last day of this season, Bowman spent six hours extricating as many hounds who had got themselves binked on Catle Crag in Mardale.

1902, A. G. Bradley, “Fox-hunting in the Lake Country”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 86, page 196:

We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England (just about).

A fox gets 'binked,' as they call it, or banked, and some one must go up on an almost inaccessible crag to put in the terrier; and a man must know the country, and the probable run of every fox that gets up in front of the hounds .

1903, Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, Lake Country Sketches, page 196:

The hounds drove him into Dead Crag, where he binked.

1903 January 10, West Cumberland Times, page 2:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect, foxhunting) To shelter or become trapped on a ledge or crag.

On June last he caused his servants cast a number of "peittis for elding unto his hous in the mosse of belonging to him heritablie, and they having binked the same and left thame in the mosse , " returned home to their master's house at night .

1900, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland - Volume 2, page 516:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) To cut a bink in peat moss.


eild

Book III, xxxv:
His age was full of puissance and might, / Two sons he had to guard his noble eild.
Book IV, xliv:

1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso


unsonsy

en-adj

unsonsy (comparative more unsonsy, superlative most unsonsy)

more unsonsy (comparative)
most unsonsy (superlative)
unsoncy (alternative)
unsonsie (alternative)


nolt

Variant of English nowt (“ox”). See also neat


birken

From Middle English birchen, birken, from Old English bircen, *biercen, beorcen (“made of birch, birchen”), from Proto-Germanic *birkīnaz (“made of birch”). Cognate with English birchen, Dutch berken (“birchen”), Low German berken (“birchen”), German birken (“birchen”).

inh

Beneath each birken shade, on mead or hill

1788, William Collins, An Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland, Considered as the Subject of Poetry:

(obsolete or dialectal, Scotland and Northern England) Made of birch; birchen.


donatory

(law, Scotland) A donee of the crown; one to whom, upon certain conditions, escheated property is made over.


gowany

en-adj

gowany (comparative more gowany, superlative most gowany)

more gowany (comparative)
most gowany (superlative)

Sweeter than gowany glens or new-mawn hay.

1725, Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd:

When the gowany' braes / Were our temple o' joy and glee, / Some dour auld body would shake his head, / And tell us our gladness away would flee […]

a. 1835, John Mackay Wilson, Wilson's Tales of The Borders (and of Scotland)


yauld

yauld (comparative yaulder or more yauld, superlative yauldest or most yauld)

yaulder (comparative)
more yauld (comparative)
yauldest (superlative)
most yauld (superlative)
yald (alternative)

From Middle English yeld, from Old English ġilde (“valuable, of worth”), from Proto-Germanic *gildiz (“valuable, valid, wholesome, precious”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay for, repay”). Cognate with Scots yauld (“active, strong, mighty”), Old Norse gildr (“of full worth, size, measure, or quality; full; complete; absolute; great”) (whence Icelandic gildur (“valid, thick, prominent, important”), Swedish gild (“stout, of full size”), Danish gild (“brawny, of full size, fine”). Related to yield.

cog

(Now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) Vigorous; strong; healthy.

(Now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) Active; sprightly; alert.

(Now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) Supple; active; athletic; nimble.


stellionate

From Latin stellionatus (“cozenage, trickery”), from stellio (“a newt, a crafty, knavish person”).

der

The crime of stellionate[…]includes every fraud which is not distinguished by a special name; but it is chiefly applied to conveyances of the same numerical right granted by the proprietor to different disponees

1754, John Erskine of Carnock, Principles of the Law of Scotland:

(law, Scotland, Ancient Rome) Any fraud not distinguished by a more special name; chiefly applied to sales of the same property to two different persons, or selling that for one's own which belongs to another, etc.


flight-shot

half a flight-shot from the king's oak

1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:

a very swift and clear stream run within a flight-shot from it in the valley

1680 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for April 18 1680]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

(UK, Scotland, dialect, dated) The distance to which an arrow or flight may be shot; bowshot; about a fifth of a mile.


thereanent

(Scotland) Concerning that; relating to that; thereabout.

1. Scottish2. from Middle English mid3. old dialectal form


ithand

en-adj

ithand (comparative more ithand, superlative most ithand)

more ithand (comparative)
most ithand (superlative)
ident (alternative)
ydant (alternative)
iden (alternative)
ydan (alternative)
eident (alternative)
idand (alternative)
ydand (alternative)

From Middle English ithand, an alteration (due to assimilation to suffix -and) of ithen, from Old Norse iðinn (“assiduous, diligent”), from iðja, iðna (“to do, perform”), from ið (“a restless motion”), equivalent to ithe + -and and/or ithe + -en. Cognate with Icelandic iðinn (“diligent”), Norwegian idig (“busy”), Danish idelig (“continual”), and perhaps to English eddy.

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) Industrious; assiduous; continually busy; diligent.

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) Plodding; constant; continual.

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland, of mental or moral qualities) Conscientious; considerate; watchful; careful; attentive.

(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland, usually of weather) Continuous; persistent.


warkloom

(obsolete, Scotland) A tool; an implement.


ladyclock

You're not turning your head to look after more moths, are you? That was only a lady-clock, child, 'flying away home.'

1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:


freck

freck (comparative more freck, superlative most freck)

more freck (comparative)
most freck (superlative)
frack (alternative)

Ae stride or twa took the silly auld carle,
An' a gude lang stride took he.
I trow thou art a freck auld carle,
Wilt thou show the way to me?


infang

en-verb

infang (third-person singular simple present infangs, present participle infanging, simple past and past participle infanged)

infangs (present singular third-person)
infanging (participle present)
infanged (participle past)
infanged (past)

From in- + fang. Compare Old English onfōn (past participle onfangen; "to take, receive, perceive, comprehend, accept, take to one’s self, sponsor, harbor, favor unrighteously, take hold of, undertake, undergo, begin, conceive").

gloss

past participle <i class="Latn mention" lang="ang">onfangen</i>; "to take, receive, perceive, comprehend, accept, take to one’s self, sponsor, harbor, favor unrighteously, take hold of, undertake, undergo, begin, conceive"

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To draw or take in.

(transitive, dialectal or obsolete, Scotland) To cheat; gull; take in.

(transitive, dialectal or obsolete, Scotland) To seize; get into one's clutches.


thretty

As ye were nine year less than thretty, / Sweet ane an' twenty!

1785, Robert Burns, Epistle to J. Lapraik, An Old Scottish Bard:


flatlings

en-adv

flatlings (comparative more flatlings, superlative most flatlings)

more flatlings (comparative)
most flatlings (superlative)

From Middle English flatlynges, equivalent to flat + -ling + -s.

(Scotland) Alternative form of flatling.


conny

en-adj

conny (comparative more conny, superlative most conny)

more conny (comparative)
most conny (superlative)

As down the bray he march'd with ample stride;
David as conny a man as one might see,
With whom he often crack'd with muckle glee

1763, Charles Churchill, The Prophecy of Famine: A Scots Pastoral:


spleuchan

spleuchans (plural)
speuchan (alternative)
spleughan (alternative)

From Goidelic/Scottish Gaelic spliuchan.

But I was saying, there’s some siller in the spleuchan that’s like the Captain’s ain, for we’ve aye counted it such, baith Ailie and me.

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

'I wadna hae been in his skin for the best har'st fee that ever was paid into a Lowlander's purse or a Highlander's spleuchan.'

1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, act 1, page 34:

(archaic, Scotland) A pouch, especially for tobacco or money.


clamjamphrie

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of clamjamfrey.


waly

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie

(archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) An exclamation of grief.


jings

Jings! This blizzard is no place for a wee bucket boy! If I'm not careful I'll slip and —

2023, A. C. MacDonald, Twistwood Tales (comic), Andrews McMeel, →ISBN, page 23:


intercommune

en-verb

intercommune (third-person singular simple present intercommunes, present participle intercommuning, simple past and past participle intercommuned)

intercommunes (present singular third-person)
intercommuning (participle present)
intercommuned (participle past)
intercommuned (past)

From inter- + commune. Compare intercommon, intercommunicate.

(obsolete, Scotland) To communicate or have dialogue between each other.


pickery

From pick (“to steal”), or perhaps from pickeer.

If any man be taken with theft or pickery, and thereof convicted, he shall have his head polled, and hot pitch poured upon his pate […]

1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:


pendicler

[the grant] of the husbandman to the pendicler[…]was, in the earliest times of feudality, absolute and perpetual

(Scotland) An inferior tenant; one who rents a pendicle or croft.


gripple

en-adj

gripple (comparative more gripple, superlative most gripple)

more gripple (comparative)
most gripple (superlative)
grippal (alternative)
griple (alternative)
grippill (alternative)

From Middle English gripel, from Old English gripol, gripul (“able to grasp much; capacious”); equivalent to grip + -le.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Griping; tenacious; gripping.

Still as he rode, he gnasht his teeth to see
Those heapes of gold with griple Covetyse

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

It is easy to observe, that none are so gripple and hard fisted, as the childless […]

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Grasping; greedy; snatchy; mean; niggardly; avaricious, covetous.


steelbow

(law, Scotland, historical) A contract by which goods on a farm (such as corn, cattle, implements, etc.) remain the property of the landlord and may not be taken away by a departing tenant.


laidly

laidly (comparative more laidly, superlative most laidly)

more laidly (comparative)
most laidly (superlative)

From Middle English laithlie (“ugly”), equivalent to loath+-ly.

(UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) ugly; loathsome


herefor

From the Middle English hēr-for; equivalent to here + for; compare herefore, therefor, and wherefor, as well as the Danish herfor, the Dutch hiervoor, the German hierfür, and the Swedish härför.

herefore (alternative)
herefor (alternative)

(obsolete outside Scotland) For this: instead or in consideration of this, with a view to this.


spauld

From Middle English spawde, spaude, spalde, from Old French espalde (French épaule), from Latin spatula. Doublet of spatula.


scroggy

scroggy (comparative more scroggy, superlative most scroggy)

more scroggy (comparative)
most scroggy (superlative)

O 'tis a lonely scroggy Glen!

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Abounding in scrog.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) twisted; stunted


thretteen

(obsolete or archaic in Scotland) thirteen


hoddengray

Perhaps related to English hoiden (“rustic, clownish”) and gray.

coat/suit of hoddengray

(Scotland, archaic) A coarse cloth made of undyed wool, formerly worn by Scottish peasants.


moggan

(Scotland, historical) A closely-fitting knitted removable sleeve.

(Scotland, historical) A knitted legging.


Mahound

Mahounds (plural)
Mahoun (alternative)
Mahoune (alternative)

From Middle English Mahown, from Anglo-Norman Mahun, Old French Mahum, Mahom, shortened from Mahomed (“Muhammad”) (see Muhammad for more). Compare mammet.

And there were vessels that are wrought by magic of Mahound out of seasand and the air by a warlock with his breath that he blares into them like to bubbles.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

(chiefly Ireland, Scotland, archaic) The Devil.


crouse

crouse (comparative more crouse, superlative most crouse)

more crouse (comparative)
most crouse (superlative)

Thence mystic knots mak great abuse / On young guidmen, fond, keen, an' crouse;

1785, Robert Burns, Address to the Deil:


tinchel

tinchels (plural)
tinchill (alternative)

From Goidelic/Scottish Gaelic timchioll (“a circuit, compass”).

der

We'll quell the savage mountaineer, / As their tinchel cows the game!

1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

(hunting, Scotland) A circle of hunters, who, by surrounding an extensive space and gradually closing in, bring a number of deer and game within closer range.


drumly

en-adj

drumly (comparative drumlier or more drumly, superlative drumliest or most drumly)

drumlier (comparative)
more drumly (comparative)
drumliest (superlative)
most drumly (superlative)

Now we cross the Arrow, swift as its name portends; roaring and foaming deep down in its drumly channel.

1887, James Inglis, chapter 15, in Our New Zealand Cousins:

But salmon may escape the coquettish charms of the trolling-hook, may safely run the gauntlet of the parallel canoes and their howling, tamanous-cap wearers; the spear, misguided in the drumly gleam, may glance harmless from scale-armed shoulders: still other perils await them.

1853, Theodore Winthrop, chapter 3, in The Canoe and the Saddle:

Ye banks, and braes, and streams around
The castle o’ Montgomery,
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
Your waters never drumlie!

1786, Robert Burns, “Highland Mary”, in Songs and Ballads:

(obsolete, chiefly Scotland) turbid; muddy


skout

We were all shipped in open skouts or boats

[His] breach of the Sabbath in carying turf … in a skout to Rothesay

(Scotland, possibly obsolete) Alternative spelling of shout (“boat”).


precognosce

en-verb

precognosce (third-person singular simple present precognosces, present participle precognoscing, simple past and past participle precognosced)

precognosces (present singular third-person)
precognoscing (participle present)
precognosced (participle past)
precognosced (past)

1858-1880, David Masson, Life of Milton in Connexion with the History of His Own Time
a committee of nine precognoscing the chances

(law, Scotland, transitive) To examine (e.g. witnesses or evidence) beforehand.


wecht

wechts (plural)
wehit (alternative)
weight (alternative)

(Scotland) A form of sieve used to winnow grain; the weight of its contents.


wecht

wecht (third-person singular simple present wechts, present participle wechting, simple past and past participle wechted)

wechts (present singular third-person)
wechting (participle present)
wechted (participle past)
wechted (past)
wehit (alternative)
weight (alternative)

(Scotland) To winnow grain using such a device.