gay

gay (comparative gayer, superlative gayest)

gayer (comparative)
gayest (superlative)

→ Cantonese: 基 (gei¹)

→ Mandarin: 基 (jī)

→ Catalan: gai

→ Esperanto: geja

→ French: gay

→ German: gay

→ Greek: γκέι (gkéi)

→ Irish: aerach (calque)

→ Italian: gay

→ Japanese: ゲイ (gei)

→ Mandarin: gay (gèi)

desc

→ Portuguese: gay, guei (adapted spelling)

→ Romanian: gay

→ Spanish: gay

→ Telugu: గే (gē)

→ Thai: เกย์ (gee)

→ Turkish: gey

Brill Publishers
Gertrude Stein
gay (term)

From Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, laughing, merry”), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), from Frankish *gāhi; both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰēy- (“to go”), but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.
cognates and sense derivation
Cognate with Dutch gauw (“fast, quickly”), Westphalian Low German gau, gai (“fast, quick”), German jäh (“abrupt, sudden”).
Anatoly Liberman, following Frank Chance and Harri Meier, believes Old French gai was instead a native development from Latin vagus (“wandering, inconstant, flighty”), with *[w] > [g] as in French gaine.
The sense of homosexual (first recorded no later than 1937 by Cary Grant in the film Bringing Up Baby, and possibly earlier in 1922 in the poem "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" by Gertrude Stein) was shortened from earlier gay cat ("homosexual boy") in underworld and prison slang, itself first attested about 1935, but used earlier for a young tramp or hobo attached to an older one.
Pejorative usage is probably due to hostility towards homosexuality.
The sense of ‘upright’, used in reference to a dog’s tail, probably derives from the ‘happy’ sense of the word.

gay

homosexual — see also homosexual, lesbian

verwijfd

behaving in a way associated with females

As his reply was rather characteristic, I will give it : Many of them come a gay bit off.

1832, George Pearson, Evenings by Eden-side: Or, Essays and Poems, page 67:

Thou 's wantin' a sweetheart? Thou 's had a gay few! An' thou 's cheatit them, […]

1872, William Cullen Bryant, A Library of Poetry and Song, page 106:

A gay deal different to what I is noo.

1876 (edition; original 1871), Richardson, Talk 1

There were a gay bit of lace on it.

T'country-side was rid on him for a gay while.

1881, Edwin Waugh, Tufts of Heather, I. 106:

"He has a gay bit of gumption in him, has Ray. It'll be no kitten play to catch hold on him, and they know that they do." The emphasis was accompanied by a lowered tone, and a sidelong motion of the head towards a doorway […]

1895, Sir Hall Caine, The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance, page 131:

"It's a gay bit off, though." "Trot on!" retorted Mr. Jorrocks anxiously, spurring Arterxerxes vehemently, an insult that the animal resented by a duck of his head and a hoist of his heels. Bump, bump, trot, trot, squash, splash, swosh, they went ...

1903, Robert Smith Surtees, Handley Cross, New York: D. Appleton, page 431:

(Scotland, Northern England, possibly obsolete) Considerable, great, large in number, size, or degree. In this sense, also in the variant gey.


gay

And, tho' his guts ware lank and toom, / They're twice as big's this gay big room.

1833, John Sim Sands, Poems on Various Subjects, page 115:

Now, to end my story, if o' t' village beauties wad git t' religion that good auld parson Jenkins recommends, it wad gay sharply mak' t' dirty women clean, […]

1869, Joseph Carr, Sketches of village life, by “Eavesdropper”, page 60:

[…] an' be t' Silver Cwove, an' than throo t' Pillar, an' a gay rough bit o' grund it is!

1875, Dickinson, Cumbriana; Or, Fragments of Cumbrian Life, page 8:

When a fellah com' in 'at was gay free wid spendin.

1886, Thomas Farrall, Betty Wilson's Cummerland Teals, section 42:

She'll mak naw moor mischeef neets—she's gay quiet now!

1892-3, Mrs. Humphry Ward, The History of David Grieve, volume I, page 19

(Scotland, Northern England) Considerably, very.


jimp

en-adj

jimp (comparative jimper, superlative jimpest)

jimper (comparative)
jimpest (superlative)

Do I look so terrible old, Gilian, that you cannot think of me as not so bad-looking either, with a bonny eye, they said, and a jimp waist, and a foot like the honey-bee?

1899, Neil Munro, Gilian the Dreamer, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2007:

… Annette was on hand, stony-eyed but mighty jimp in a gown that seemed to consist of flowers and gauze.

1994, George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, Reprint edition, HarperCollins, published 2011, →ISBN:

(dated, Scotland, Northern England) neat; trim; delicate

(dated, Scotland, Northern England) scant; barely sufficient.


jougs

jougs (plural)
juggs (alternative)
joggs (alternative)

From Latin iugum (“yoke”), possibly via French jougs.

Fornication and adultery were crimes punishable in case of confession in various ways […] standing in the jougs at the door of the kirk barefoot and in sackcloth […]
Blasphemy, swearing, drunkenness, " flyting and scolding," slander, " the abuse of husbands by their wives," and other suchlike offences were punishable with exposure to public scorn in the " jougs," […] The "jougs" (from jugum, a yoke) consisted of an iron collar in two halves fastened by a clasp, and suspended by a chain about six feet from the ground, which was generally hung on the wall at the entrance gate of the Church.

1898, William Baird, Annals of Duddingston and Portobello, pages 193–194:

Also attached to the pillar were the jougs - an iron collar used to immobilise petty offenders in the same way as the pillory was used in England.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 280, about Meikleour, Scotland:

(historical, especially Scotland) A chained iron collar once used in churches to expose sinners to public scorn.


seadog

(archaic, Scotland) A seal, especially a harbor seal. (marine mammal)


teacake

teacakes (plural)
tea-cake (alternative)

Sometimes there was a Tunnock's wafer or (bastard) a chocolate marshmallow teacake in its red-and-silver foil.

2005 October 6, Nigel Slater, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, Penguin, →ISBN:

In 2014, captivated by the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, many found dancing teacakes and Scottie dogs great guilty fun.

2016 March 16, Christopher Harvie, No Gods and Precious Few Heroes: Twentieth-Century Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN:

A liquid meringue flooded from the seam where the dome met the biscuit, so that each teacake transformed into a melted snowman wearing a chocolate bowler hat.

2024 March 28, Olivia Ford, Mrs Quinn’s Rise to Fame: Meet the most unexpected heroine of 2024, Random House, →ISBN:

A baked good such as a cake or biscuit intended to be eaten with tea or at an afternoon tea.

(UK, chiefly Scotland) A snack consisting of shortbread coated with meringue or marshmallow, coated in chocolate.


tweel

en-verb

tweel (third-person singular simple present tweels, present participle tweeling, simple past and past participle tweeled)

tweels (present singular third-person)
tweeling (participle present)
tweeled (participle past)
tweeled (past)


orra

en-adj

orra (comparative more orra, superlative most orra)

more orra (comparative)
most orra (superlative)

Probably originally a reduced form of over + all.

(now Scotland) Superfluous; odd, unmatched, left over.

But the bothy billies, the ploughmen and the orra men of the Mains, they'd never care for gentry except to mock at them […]

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 16:

(now Scotland) Of people: idle, unemployed, disreputable.


trone

From Middle English trone (“a wooden beam or post used in public weighing, scale, balance”), from Anglo-Norman trone, tron (whence also Anglo-Latin trona), from Old Norse trönur (“a frame or framework on which trunks of trees are laid to be cut by the saw”), plural of trana, trani (“trunk, snout, name of a ship or sword”, literally “crane”). Cognate with Danish trane (“crane”).

der

(UK, dialect, Scotland, obsolete or historical) A form of weighing machine for heavy wares, consisting of two horizontal bars crossing each other, beaked at the extremities, and supported by a wooden pillar.


tattie cake

tattie cakes (plural)
tatty cake (alternative)

Borrowed from Scots tattie cake, from tattie (“potato”) + cake (“cake”).


tattie scone

tattie scones (plural)
tatty scone (alternative)

Borrowed from Scots tattie scone, from tattie (“potato”) + scone (“large circular cake baked on a griddle; a slice of such a cake”).

(Scotland) A scone made from mashed, boiled potatoes and flour, often baked in a large circular shape on a griddle and cut into slices for serving; it may be eaten as an accompaniment to savoury food such as bacon, fried eggs, and Lorne sausage, or with jam.


early doors

According to some, the phrase originated at a time when English pubs closed in the afternoon as a term for customers who were waiting or arrived soon after the pub re-opened in the evening. Alternatively, the phrase is said to originate in the theatre world, where it described a facility available to early-arriving members of the audience, who were allowed to avoid the crush and choose the best seats in return for paying a small premium.

Mudchester Rovers conceded two goals early doors and never got back into the game.

(Northern England, Scotland) Early; at a time before expected; sooner than usual.


chib

chibs (plural)
chiv (alternative)
shiv (alternative)
shive (alternative)

(Scotland, Geordie, slang) A shiv (makeshift knife).


chib

en-verb

chib (third-person singular simple present chibs, present participle chibbing, simple past and past participle chibbed)

chibs (present singular third-person)
chibbing (participle present)
chibbed (participle past)
chibbed (past)
chiv (alternative)
shiv (alternative)
shive (alternative)

And if they had knives too, their gang had all knives and people were going to get chibbed.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, page 61:

(Scotland, Geordie, slang) To shiv (stab).


malky

malky (third-person singular simple present malkies, present participle malkying, simple past and past participle malkied)

malkies (present singular third-person)
malkying (participle present)
malkied (participle past)
malkied (past)

(Scotland, slang) To slash with an open razor.

(Scotland, slang) To physically assault.


malky

Oota ma coupon afore ah gies y' the malky, ya bam.


quoy

From the Norn reflex of Old Norse kví (“enclosure”).

(Scotland, chiefly in place names) An area of wasteland (or common land) now enclosed for farming.


dominie

Alteration of domine, with spelling changed to reflect pronunciation. Doublet of dom, dominus, and don.

In the first room we entered, a soldier and a man, like a clerk or dominie, were discussing a bottle of red wine; they immediately sprang up and politely proffered us each a bumper.

1858, James Hogg, Titan, volume 27, page 306:

the sign-painter's boy said that when the dominie had reached the proper condition on Examination Evening he would "manage the thing".

1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, section XXI:

when it was time for the Strachan bairns to pass the end of the Cuddiestoun road on their way to school down there she was waiting and gave the paper to the eldest, the quean Marget, and told her to show it to the Dominie and ask him what it might mean.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 24:

(now chiefly Scotland) A schoolmaster, teacher.


gainstand

gainstands (plural)
ganestand (alternative)

From Middle English gainstanden, corresponding to gain- + stand. Compare againstand.

(now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) Opposition; resistance.


lew

lews (plural)
lewis (plural)
leois (plural)
lewe (alternative)

From corruption of French louis, from Louis, presumably Louis IX or Louis XI, who issued gold écus.

...þe Ingliss noble, henry, ande Eduarde wᵗ þe ross, þe franche crowne, þe salute þe lewe and þe Ridar sall haif courss in þis realme...

1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88

(Scotland, obsolete) A French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.


lew

lews (plural)
lue (alternative)
loo (alternative)
looe (alternative)
lee (alternative)

From Middle English lew, lewe, from Old English hlēow, hlēowe (“warm, sunny, sheltered”), from Proto-Germanic *hlewaz, *hliwjaz, *hlēwaz (“warm, lukewarm”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱlēw- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Old Norse hlýr (“warm, mild”), ( > Danish ly (“lukewarm”)), hlær, German lau, which are themselves akin to Old Norse hlé (“lee”), Danish læ (“shelter”). Compare lee.

To th' end a fruitfull lew
May euerie Climate in his time renew.

1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136


smeddum

From earlier smitham, smytham, from Middle English smedma, from Old English smedma, smeodema, smedema (“fine flour, pollen meal, meal”).

smitham (alternative)
smithum (alternative)
smiddum (alternative)

“Don’t like the name, don’t like it. There’s no smeddum to it. Besides, it makes me think of my Aunt Jinny. She called her three girls Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith didn’t believe in anything—Hope was a born pessimist—and Charity was a miser.[…]”

1919, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter XVI, in Rainbow Valley:

maybe there were better folk far in Segget, but few enough with smeddum like his.

1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 271:

(Scotland) Zest, energy; pluck; sagacity; quickness of apprehension; gumption; spirit; mettle.


treen

en-noun

treen (countable and uncountable, plural treens)

From Middle English treen, from Old English triewen, from Proto-Germanic *triwīnaz, equivalent to tree + -en. See trencher, truncher.

(Now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) A large wooden platter.


seld

en-adv

seld (comparative more seld, superlative most seld)

more seld (comparative)
most seld (superlative)

From Middle English selde (adjective) and selde (adverb), a back-formation from Old English seldor (“more seldom”), seldost (“most seldom”).

knowing how far such an amitie is from the common use, and how seld seene and rarely found, I looke not to finde a competent judge.

(obsolete or dialectal, Scotland) Seldom.


whid

Perhaps from Old English cwide (“word, speech”).

(obsolete, Scotland) A lie; a falsehood.


whid

en-verb

whid (third-person singular simple present whids, present participle whidding, simple past and past participle whidded)

whids (present singular third-person)
whidding (participle present)
whidded (participle past)
whidded (past)

(obsolete, Scotland, intransitive) To tell a lie.


common good

en-noun

common good (countable and uncountable, plural common goods)

(Scotland) The corporate property of a burgh in Scotland.


reddendo

reddendo (plural reddendos or reddendoes)

(law, Scotland, historical) A clause in a charter specifying the services to be rendered by a vassal to his superior.


cognosce

en-verb

cognosce (third-person singular simple present cognosces, present participle cognoscing, simple past and past participle cognosced)

cognosces (present singular third-person)
cognoscing (participle present)
cognosced (participle past)
cognosced (past)

(law, Scotland) To examine; to give judgment.


prog

prog (third-person singular simple present progs, present participle progging, simple past and past participle progged)

progs (present singular third-person)
progging (participle present)
progged (participle past)
progged (past)

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

An' on his royal paunches thole A dwarf to prog him wi' a pole; While he wad shaw his fangs, an' rage Wi' bootless wrangling in his cage.

1797, Allan Ramsay ·, A collection of Scots proverbs, page 119:

(Scotland) To prick; to goad; to progue.


doited

en-adj

doited (comparative more doited, superlative most doited)

more doited (comparative)
most doited (superlative)

From Middle English doten (“to behave foolishly”).

inh

One man only worked on the place, a doited lad who had long been a charge to the parish, and who had not the sense to fear danger or the wit to understand it.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(Scotland) Afflicted with weak-mindedness, usually caused by senility


kirkyard

From kirk + yard. Cognate with Danish kirkegård, Faroese kirkjugarður, Icelandic kirkjugarður, Norwegian Bokmål kirkegård, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkjegård, and Swedish kyrkogård.

The chapel reappears, however, along with the surrounding kirkyard, in 1593.

1856, James Pagan, Glasgow, Past and Present, Vol.2, published 1884, page 471:

It stands in the kirkyard only six miles from the battle site […]

2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 60:

(chiefly Scotland) A churchyard, especially one in Scotland.


goodman

goodmen (plural)
gomman (alternative)
gudeman (alternative)

From Middle English godeman, equivalent to good + man.

(now rare, chiefly Scotland) A familiar appellation of civility for a man.

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 7:18-19:

‘The gudeman,—he's done with t' paper, and you'll keep it for good and all.’

(now Scotland or historical) A husband; the master of a house or family.


fossé

The Major then went with me and Euphemia (Victoria staying at the inn) and showed us what is called the Ditch, being the fossé and ruinous banks of the old castle […] .

1792, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 165

I saw him tied up between two boards, by way of the coffin, which was to be provided by contract; and deposited in the fossé that surrounded our prison […].

1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 146:

(obsolete, chiefly Scotland) A fosse or ditch.


speel

speels (plural)
speil (alternative)
spele (alternative)
speal (alternative)
spiel (alternative)
spael (alternative)

Perhaps continuing Middle English spilen (“to revel, play”), from Old English spilian (“to revel, play”), from Proto-West Germanic *spilōn. Cognate with Dutch spelen (“to play”), German spielen (“to play”), Luxembourgish spillen (“to play”), Icelandic spila (“to play”), Faroese spæla (“to play”), Swedish spela (“to play”), Danish spille (“to play”), Norwegian spille (“to play”).

To play a good speel.

(dialectal, rustic, Northern England, Scotland) A game.


speel

en-verb

speel (third-person singular simple present speels, present participle speeling, simple past and past participle speeled)

speels (present singular third-person)
speeling (participle present)
speeled (participle past)
speeled (past)
speil (alternative)
spele (alternative)
speal (alternative)
spiel (alternative)
spael (alternative)

To speel ba'.

(dialectal, rustic, Northern England, Scotland) To lake, play, sport, take amusement.


gleg

en-adj

gleg (comparative glegger, superlative gleggest)

glegger (comparative)
gleggest (superlative)

One patted her neck, and assured her she was the gleggest and bonniest young thing she had ever seen.

1856, Thomas Hamilton, The Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton, page 279:


raik

From Middle English rake (“path”), from Old Norse rák (“trail”), from Proto-Germanic *rēkō, *raką, *rakō, *rakǭ (“file of tracks, line”), from Proto-Indo-European *(o)reg'-, *(o)reg'a- (“to straighten, direct”). Cognate with Icelandic rák (“streak, grazing”), Icelandic raka (“strip, series”), Norwegian røk (“grazing”), Norwegian rak (“wick”), Old English race, racu (“a run, riverbed”).

(Scotland) A journey to transport something between two places; a run; also, the quantity of items so transported.


raik

en-verb

raik (third-person singular simple present raiks, present participle raiking, simple past and past participle raiked)

raiks (present singular third-person)
raiking (participle present)
raiked (participle past)
raiked (past)
rake (alternative)

(intransitive, Midlands, Northern England, Scotland) To walk; to roam, to wander.

(intransitive, Midlands, Northern England, Scotland) Of animals (especially sheep): to graze.

(transitive, chiefly Scotland) To roam or wander through (somewhere).


raik

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of rake (“rate of progress; pace, speed”).


whap

Numenius arquata
Numenius arquata#Translingual

(Scotland, obsolete) The curlew, Numenius arquata; a whaup.


gley

gley (third-person singular simple present gleys, present participle gleying, simple past and past participle gleyed)

gleys (present singular third-person)
gleying (participle present)
gleyed (participle past)
gleyed (past)

“Muckle lang gleyed Sanny Fite,” shouted the stranger

(Scotland) To squint; to look obliquely; to overlook things.


lassy

(chiefly Scotland) Alternative form of lassie.


arval

arvals (plural)
arfal (alternative)
arvel (alternative)
arvil (alternative)
arvill (alternative)
arvall (alternative)
arvel (alternative)
arvell (alternative)
averill (alternative)
arvale (alternative)

From Middle English arvell, from Old Norse erfiǫl (“a funeral feast”), from arfr (“inheritance”) + öl (“ale”). Cognate with Danish arveøl (“a wake, funeral feast”). More at erf, ale.

It was customary in the north to have an arval or funeral dinner after an interment.

1867, Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Ambrose Barnes, Late Merchant, page 65:

Only one better feast do I remember, and that was when we gave the arval for the old master when he died of the dropsy. That was a feast if you like. Such a one had never been heard of in the Valley.

2001, Christiaan Louis Leipoldt, Trevor Emslie, “Gallows Gecko”, in The Valley: a trilogy, page 204:

“Is there to be an arval dinner?” The arval was the traditional funeral feast celebrated throughout the Land Between the Lakes. It was customary to invite all who had known the deceased.

2008, Susan Wittig Albert, The Tale of Briar Bank, →ISBN:

(Scotland and Northern England, now rare) A funeral feast or wake at which bread and ale was served, traditional in Scotland, the North of England, and among the Norse.


tatie

Shortened form of potato + -ie; compare tater.


jook

jook (third-person singular simple present jooks, present participle jooking, simple past and past participle jooked)

jooks (present singular third-person)
jooking (participle present)
jooked (participle past)
jooked (past)

Unknown. Compare duck (“to lower the head or body”) or jink (“to make an evasive turn”). Attested since the 16th century.

So ye were on the ground and ye just ran round and jooked through the men going up the stairs, some walking, some running, and if ye got into there nobody could get ye.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 53:

(Scotland, Northern England) To dodge; to move quickly to avoid something or to hide; to dart away.


jook

Unknown. Possibly related to Etymology 1, above. Compare Scots jouk (“(hidden under one's) jumper”).

cog

(informal, Scotland) A shirtfront; the front of a jumper or T-shirt.


pawky

en-adj

pawky (comparative pawkier, superlative pawkiest)

pawkier (comparative)
pawkiest (superlative)

[H]e generally meets her at one Signora Sporza's, a very pawky gentlewoman, who understands what's what as well as any woman in Naples […].

1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 161:

1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, Act 1, p.36-37.
'Awa', ye pawky thief! Dost tu think that I'll herrie the laird's cellar for thee or ony body?—But there's the whisky bottle in my ain cupboard, wi' some driblets in it yet, that ye may tak; and deil a drap mair shall ye get, an thy tongue were as guizened as a spelding. I wonder wha learnt sic a youngster as thee to be sae pawky.

Those unacquainted with the pawky humor of the Scot will search unsuccessfully in reference books for mention of the elusive Colonel Boffin.

1991, Sydney Ross, Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science, Springer, page 32:

Just as a pun, to be a good pun, has to be not only a play on words but have a serious meaning, so pawky humour must carry sense. However the underlying humour is always there.

2010, J. A. Hadfield, Why Do We Laugh, Lulu.com, page 202:

(Scotland, northern British) Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour.


gowl

en-verb

gowl (third-person singular simple present gowls, present participle gowling, simple past and past participle gowled)

gowls (present singular third-person)
gowling (participle present)
gowled (participle past)
gowled (past)

From Old English gaulen, goulen. Compare yawl (intransitive verb).

(obsolete, Scotland) To weep angrily; to howl.


sloom

sloom (third-person singular simple present slooms, present participle slooming, simple past and past participle sloomed)

slooms (present singular third-person)
slooming (participle present)
sloomed (participle past)
sloomed (past)
sloum (alternative)
sleam (alternative)

From Middle English slumen, slummen, from Old English *slūmian (“to slumber, sleep gently”), from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“to be slack, loose, or limp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“limp, flabby”).

der

The squire sloomed and slept in his chair; and finally, after a cup of tea, went to bed.

1886, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The Squire of Sandal-Side A Pastoral Romance:

To his castle’s portal, / At the morning gloaming, / Bore they all the mortal / From the battle’s foaming, / Of the white bannered warrior knight, / Cold in his armor slooming!

a. 1853, Jane Ermina Locke, “Elia”, in The Recalled: In Voices of the Past, and Poems of the Ideal, James Munroe and Company, published 1854, page 193:

Then the doctor was slooming and nodding, and waking up and saying a word or two, and relapsing again into semi-unconsciousness.

1900, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The Maid of Maiden lane, Dodd, Mead and Company, page 181:

The afternoon sun painted amber patterns on the Turkey red hearthrug: the only splash of colour in the dun room. Potter sloomed in the arms of the chair.

1936, Esmond Quinterley, Ushering Interlude, The Fortune Press, page 66

He lay slooming half-asleep, half-awake, thinking about Tuesday afternoon.

2001, Gemma O'Connor, Walking on Water, Berkley Publishing Group (2003), page 205

(Scotland) To sleep lightly, to doze, to nod; to be half-asleep.


dreep

en-verb

dreep (third-person singular simple present dreeps, present participle dreeping, simple past and past participle dreeped)

dreeps (present singular third-person)
dreeping (participle present)
dreeped (participle past)
dreeped (past)
dreap (alternative)

If ye could not do the next jump ye just dreeped down and ran along the ground and up the next one.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 77:

(Scotland) To lower oneself from a height and drop the remaining distance.


birl

birl (third-person singular simple present birls, present participle birling, simple past and past participle birled)

birls (present singular third-person)
birling (participle present)
birled (participle past)
birled (past)

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

About nine in the morning, in a burst of wintry sun between two squalls of hail, I had my first look of Holland - a line of windmills birling in the breeze.

1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter XXII, in Catriona, Helvoetsluys:

1906, Neil Munro, The Vital Spark, reprinted in 1958, Para Handy Tales,
"I'll maybe no trouble you long, boys," he moaned lugubriously. "My heid's birling roond that fast that I canna even mind my own name two meenutes."


papish

en-adj

papish (comparative more papish, superlative most papish)

more papish (comparative)
most papish (superlative)

(now Scotland, Ireland, chiefly derogatory) Roman Catholic.


papish

‘But how can he have any right to make us papishes?’ says the landlord.

1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 442:

King William on a white horse crossing the Boyne is still their beau ideal and to shout 'To Hell With the Pope' and to stone the 'bloody papishes' is still the chief duty of a 'loyal' Belfast citizen.

1979, Dervla Murphy, Wheels Within Wheels, page 31:

(now Scotland, Ireland, chiefly derogatory) A Roman Catholic.


leed

From Middle English lede, shortened variant of leden (“language”), from Old English lēoden (“popular or national language, native tongue”), from Old English lēod (“people, nation”). Cognate with Scots leed (“language”). More at lede.

inh

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Language; tongue.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A national tongue (in contrast to a foreign language).

(UK dialectal, Scotland) The speech of a person or class of persons; form of speech; talk; utterance; manner of speaking or writing; phraseology; diction.


leed

From Middle English lede, led, leod, variant of Middle English leth, leoth (“song, poem”), from Old English lēoþ (“song, poem, ode, lay, verse”), from Proto-Germanic *leuþą (“song, lay, praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to sound, resound, sing out”). Cognate with Dutch lied (“song”) and German Lied (“song”), whence the English doublet lied.

der

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A strain in a rhyme, song, or poem; refrain; flow.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A constant or repeated line or verse; theme.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Patter; rigmarole.


tystie

As the term was originally used in the Scottish Isles, particularly the Shetlands, it probably derives from Norn tåisti, from Old Norse þeisti. Compare with Norwegian Nynorsk teist.


storm-stayed

(Scotland, Canada, Maritimes and Ontario) stranded due to bad weather, snowed in.


stookie

en-noun

stookie (countable and uncountable, plural stookies)

So it was a stookie on my arm. The bone would get better. If it knitted.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 70:


kabbelow

cabeliau (alternative)
cabilliau (alternative)

(Scotland) A meal consisting of potato and cabbage mashed together.


hant

“[…] Say, Mister, did you ever see a hant?”
The gentleman did not understand.
“A hant, a ghost, some calls ’em,” explained Jed.

1907, Harold Bell Wright, chapter I, in The Shepherd of the Hills, New York: A.L. Burt, page 20:

[…] he shivered as though a hant had touched him with its ghostly fingers, for night was near and he was alone in a depth of the swamp where he had never been before.

1934, Cecile Hulse Matschat, chapter 3, in Suwannee River: Strange Green Land, New York: The Literary Guild of America, page 52:

The term “hant” covers all malevolent and inexplicable sights and sounds. Primarily hants protect buried treasure and linger about ghoulish death spots.

1967, Richard M. Dorson, “Spirits and Hants”, in American Negro Folktales, Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett, page 213:

Naturally, I believed in hants and ghosts and “thangs.” Having been raised by a super-religious Southern Negro grandmother, it would have been abnormal had I not been superstitious.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 22, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 140:

(Scotland, US, colloquial, chiefly African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of haunt, haint (“ghost”)


kail

kail (countable and uncountable, plural kails)

(Scotland, archaic) Any cabbage, greens, or vegetables.


hirple

en-verb

hirple (third-person singular simple present hirples, present participle hirpling, simple past and past participle hirpled)

hirples (present singular third-person)
hirpling (participle present)
hirpled (participle past)
hirpled (past)

A word of unknown origin, first recorded in Scots sources from the late fifteenth century; but probably from Old Norse herpast (“to suffer from cramp”) the middle voice verb. Compare the Icelandic herpa (“to contract, to draw together”).

unk

unknown

cog

Get you on that bicycle and hurry on, and I'll hirple after you the best I can.

A woman hirpled along the corridor towards them with the aid of a walking frame.

2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, →ISBN, page 136:

Around lunchtime he hirpled down the corridor to the Gents.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 513:

(intransitive, Scotland, northern UK) To walk with a limp, to drag a limb, to walk lamely; to move with a gait somewhere between walking and crawling.


pech

en-verb

pech (third-person singular simple present pechs, present participle peching, simple past and past participle peched)

pechs (present singular third-person)
peching (participle present)
peched (participle past)
peched (past)
paich (alternative)
pegh (alternative)

Borrowed from Scots pech, apparently of imitative origin.

An' as they breisted the lang lang hill / The puir horse graned and peched.

1913, John Buchan, Andrew Jameson, Lord Ardwall, page 136:

Then Chris saw Bruce, the porter, come in, with the mark on his jaw where his godfather hit him, then Leslie, the smith, paiching and sweating, he dropped his stick with an awful clatter.

1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 321:

She peched and had to rest often.

1954, Robin Jenkins, The Thistle and the Grail, published 1994, page 225:

When Graham reached him, however, he felt so exhausted he could not immediately explain; he had to sit on the ground, peching like a seal.

1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 207:

If he could just stop breathing and listen but he was peching too much from the climb.

1994, James Kelman, How Late it Was, How Late:

(Scotland, Northern England) To pant, to struggle for breath.


claver

en-noun

claver (countable and uncountable, plural clavers)

Emmy found herself entirely at a loss in the midst of their clavers.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Frivolous or nonsensical talk; prattle; chatter.


claver

en-verb

claver (third-person singular simple present clavers, present participle clavering, simple past and past participle clavered)

clavers (present singular third-person)
clavering (participle present)
clavered (participle past)
clavered (past)

(UK, Scotland, dialect) To gossip or chit-chat.


yelloch

yelloch (third-person singular simple present yellochs, present participle yelloching, simple past and past participle yelloched)

yellochs (present singular third-person)
yelloching (participle present)
yelloched (participle past)
yelloched (past)


guttle

guttle (third-person singular simple present guttles, present participle guttling, simple past and past participle guttled)

guttles (present singular third-person)
guttling (participle present)
guttled (participle past)
guttled (past)

Borrowed from Scots guttle, from gut (“to eviscerate”) + -le (frequentative suffix).

(transitive, Scotland) To remove the guts or entrails from (a person or an animal); to disembowel, to eviscerate, to gut.


neven

neven (third-person singular simple present nevens, present participle nevening, simple past and past participle nevened)

nevens (present singular third-person)
nevening (participle present)
nevened (participle past)
nevened (past)
nevin (alternative)
nemmin (alternative)
nem (alternative)
nevyn (alternative)

From Middle English nevenen, nevnen, nemmen, nempnen, nemnen, from Old English nemnan, nemnian (“to name, call, give a name to a person or thing; use such and such a name or title in speaking of a person or thing; enumerate; address, speak to; nominate; call upon the name of, address by name, invoke; mention by name, mention, relate”) and Old Norse nefna (“to name, call”); both from Proto-Germanic *namnijaną (“to name”). More at name.

(UK dialectal, Scotland, intransitive) To tell or make mention of (a person or thing); specify; designate.


callant

From Middle Dutch calant (Modern Dutch klant), from Picard kalant, from Old Northern French calant, from Old French chaloir (“to heat, to care about”).

der

It was before the day of my ministry in Caulds, for then I was a tot callant in short clothes in my native parish of Lesmahagow; […]

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:


expone

en-verb

expone (third-person singular simple present expones, present participle exponing, simple past and past participle exponed)

expones (present singular third-person)
exponing (participle present)
exponed (participle past)
exponed (past)

From Middle English exponen. See expound.

it belongs to you alone to expone the Covenant

1643, William Drummond of Hawthornden, Σκιαμαχία: or a Defence of a Petition tendered to the Lords of the Council of Scotland by certain Noblemen and Gentlemen:

(obsolete, UK or Scotland) To expound; to explain.

(obsolete, UK or Scotland) To expose; to imperil.


cockalane

From French coq-à-l'âne (“satire, incoherent story”). Compare cock-and-bull story.

der

(Scotland, obsolete) A satire or lampoon.

(Scotland, obsolete) A rambling or incoherent story, which passes from one subject to another (as from a cock to a bull).


gurl

en-verb

gurl (third-person singular simple present gurls, present participle gurling, simple past and past participle gurled)

gurls (present singular third-person)
gurling (participle present)
gurled (participle past)
gurled (past)

From Middle English gurlen (“to growl, rumble”).

inh

The poor little doctor, thus rudely and suddenly aroused from his tipsy sleep, looked excessively bewildered when he opened his eyes, and met the glare of ferocious delight that Darby Kelleher cast upon him, and he gurled out, “What's the matter?” as well as the grip of Darby's hand upon his throat would permit him.

1834, Samuel Lover, Legends and Stories of Ireland:

“Weel may ye mind, yon night sae black, Whan fearfu' winds loud gurled, And mony a lum dang down—and stack, Heigh i' the air up swirled, Alangst yon brae, ye clam, and stack,

1845, Alexander Wilson, Poetical Works: With an Extended Memoir of His Life and Writings:


flype

en-verb

flype (third-person singular simple present flypes, present participle flyping, simple past and past participle flyped)

flypes (present singular third-person)
flyping (participle present)
flyped (participle past)
flyped (past)
flipe (alternative)

(Scotland, dated, transitive) To turn inside out, or with the leg part back over the foot, as when putting on or taking off a stocking.


ca canny

ca' canny (alternative)
caw canny (alternative)

[…] the inevitable result was that the willing horses were overworked. It was a point of honour not to ca’ canny.

1922, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World:

I walked away from the fire and tore up green bracken, caw-cannying not to slash my fingers on stalks.

1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage, published 2015, page 79:

(Scotland) To go carefully or slowly; to take care.


hench

hench (third-person singular simple present henches, present participle henching, simple past and past participle henched)

henches (present singular third-person)
henching (participle present)
henched (participle past)
henched (past)


gomeral

Diminutive (by way of -rel) of Middle English gōme (“man, warrior, husband, male servant”), Old English guma (“male, hero”), from Proto-Germanic *gumô (“man, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“man, person”). More at groom.

der

[...] to the apparent delectation of immense audiences of gaping gomerals, but to the intense disgust of all sensible people.

1856, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art:

"But, you gomeral, you belong to my class, and not to your own!" said the old lord, feeling, with a mixture of pain and amusement and impatience, his own ignorance before the superior and melancholy knowledge of life possessed by this boy.

1875, The Story of Valentine, and his Brother, chapter XXXIX, in The Living Age, volume 124, page 563

The same faithful gomeral is to despatch this letter by the express along with those of the wiseacres, so that you may hear Tom Fool in company with Solomon.

1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Tee’d Ball”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 221:

(chiefly Scotland, now rare) Fool, simpleton.


snifters

The only disease I can remember to have seen in winter is what is vulgarly called the snifters, that is, a discharge of matter from the nose, which causes a noise in the nose like stifled breathing.

1844, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm, volume 2, page 260:

Synonym of sniffles or snuffles (“a minor ailment causing blocked nostrils or a runny nose; a cold”).

sniffles

(veterinary medicine) A disease of poultry causing a nasal discharge.


coom

(Scotland) The wooden centering on which a bridge is built.


cratur

An' my ould een turned, an' my heart sickened; but I aye cried to mysel', "silly coward cratur, are ye frighted to see what ye prayed to behold?"

1835, James Baillie Fraser, The Highland Smugglers:

"Keep him out," cried Dr. Henry, "don't let the cratur in here."

1907, John Watson, The Scot of the eighteenth century: His religion and his life:

(Scotland, Ireland) Alternative form of creature.


yeuky

en-adj

yeuky (comparative more yeuky, superlative most yeuky)

more yeuky (comparative)
most yeuky (superlative)


yeuk

From (northern) Middle English *ȝuken, *ȝokken (suggested by Middle English ȝukynge, ȝokkyn (“itching”) and yuke (“an itching disease”)), from Middle Dutch jucken, jocken (“to itch”), from Old Dutch *jukken, from Proto-West Germanic *jukkjan (“to itch”). Doublet of itch.


yeuk

en-verb

yeuk (third-person singular simple present yeuks, present participle yeuking, simple past and past participle yeuked)

yeuks (present singular third-person)
yeuking (participle present)
yeuked (participle past)
yeuked (past)
euk (alternative)
ewk (alternative)
yook (alternative)
youk (alternative)


whinger

/ˈʍɪnd͡ʒə(ɹ)/

Perhaps from Old English winn (“contention, war”) + geard, gyrd (“a staff, rod, yard”).

“Fye on you, why do you not strike your whingers into me, or blow me up with a barrel of powder, rather than torture me thus unmercifully?”

1820, Ivanhoe, Walter Scott, Note to Chapter 22:


sandshoe

sandshoes (plural)
sand shoe (alternative)

He was clad in a shabby khaki-drill suit and grubby panama and sandshoes, and wore neither socks nor shirt, and was unshaven.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter III, in Capricornia, page 36:

1986, Pete Thomas, The Coalminers of Queensland, Volume I: Creating the Traditions, Queensland Colliery Employees Union, page 325,
Later, however, the union ran into a problem of a severe shortage of sandshoes in Queensland. The rationing authorities, in reply to a union request on this, said that the Chief Inspector of Coalmines had condemned use of sandshoes in mines as being “not conducive to health or safety.”

2003, Peter Plowman, Across the Sea to War: Australian and New Zealand Troop Convoys from 1865 through two World Wars to Lorea and Vietnam, Rosenberg Publishing, Australia, page 387,
Sandshoes had been issued for shipboard use, to avoid damage to the decks by hob-nailed boots.

2007, Melissa Harper, The Ways of the Bushwalker: On Foot in Australia, UNSW Press, page 272,
The sandshoe versus the boot; this is an issue that has stirred the blood of bushwalkers for more than fifty years. […] The demise of the ubiquitous hob-nailed boot (circa 1950s) in favour of a boot with a patterned rubber sole generated concern, but the popularity of a boot that combined a rubber sole and a canvas upper with no ankle support simply went too far for some.

But because yer sandshoes, if they were dirty, it was a point off yer team, so ye were just to try yer hardest.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 81:

(Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Northern England) A sports or walking shoe with canvas upper and rubber sole; a sneaker.


gote

gotes (plural)
gout (alternative)
goat (alternative)
gott (alternative)

From Middle English gote (“a drain”), from Old English *gote (“drain, gutter”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *gutō (“gutter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”).
Cognate with Dutch goot (“a gutter, drain, gully”), German Gosse (“a gutter”). Related to Old English gutt (“gut, entrails”), Old English ġēotan (“to pour, pour forth, shed, gush, flow, flood, overwhelm, found, cast”). More at gut, yote.

cog

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A deep miry place.


erf

From Middle English erve, erfe, from Old English yrfe, ierfe (“heritage, bequest, inheritance, property, inherited property, property that passes to an heir, cattle, livestock”), from Proto-West Germanic *arbī, from Proto-Germanic *arbiją (“heritage”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ- (“to change ownership”) (whence also *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”)).
Cognate with Dutch erf (“inheritance, patrimony, ground, courtyard”), German Erbe (“heritage, legacy, inheritance”), Danish arv (“heritage, inheritance”), Swedish arv (“heritage, inheritance”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌹 (arbi, “inheritance”), Latin orbus (“orphan”), Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “orphan”), Old English ierfa (“heir”). Related to orf and odal and athel.

cog

Son, you will have this farm to erf.

(Northern England, Scotland, rare) Inheritance; patrimony.


slee

en-adj

slee (comparative sleer, superlative sleest)

sleer (comparative)
sleest (superlative)

The beast of foot sings Holdfast only,
For flesh is bruckle and foot is slee.
Strength to the strong and the lordly and lonely,
Timor Mortis Exultat Me.

1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter VIII, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):

(dialectal, chiefly Northern England and Scotland) Alternative form of sly.


peely-wally

‘Are there no English troops out here?’ ‘A few,’ Gilzean said. ‘But they're all sick. Peely-wally lot the English, ye ken.’

But I felt that Tommy's championing of the lit de soleil, as it's known in Maryhill, was courageous and condign. It allowed otherwise peely wally Glaswegians to hold their tanned faces aloft in polite company and let their neighbours think they'd been to Santa Ponsa or Majorca.

2011 July 3, Kevin McKenna, The Guardian:

(chiefly Scotland) Pale, pasty; off-color or ill-looking.


backcourt

Some backcourts had wee outside buildings. They had caved-in roofs and tile chimneys broke off and all smashed windows.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 77:

Each unique backcourt was an adventure playground with walls to be climbed, chasms to be leaped and dustbins to be raked through and pillaged.

2011 January 8, Brian McHugh, The Guardian:

'The locus is Crawford Street?' 'One of the backcourts sir, as far as I understand.'

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 16:

(chiefly Scotland) A courtyard behind a housing block or tenement building.


ged

From Middle English gedde, from Old Norse gedda (“pike”), cognate with Icelandic gedda (“pike”), Danish gedde (“pike”).

He's a perfect ged for silver.

1808, John Jamieson, A Dictionary of the Scottish Language:


bogging

bogging (comparative more bogging, superlative most bogging)

more bogging (comparative)
most bogging (superlative)

(Scotland, vulgar, slang) Stinking; disgusting.


doomster

You are of opinion that the justice of an execution consists, not in the extent of the sufferer's crime, or in his having merited punishment, or in the wholesome and salutary effect which that example is likely to produce upon other evil-doers, but hold that it rests solely in the robe of the judge, the height of the bench, and the voice of the doomster?

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XXI, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 168:

(Scotland, archaic) A judge; a deemster.


doocot

The rock dove has so interbred with the feral pigeons from doocots and racing pigeon lofts that, as a pure species, it may possibly now be extinct in Britain.

2009 January 29, Ray Collier, “Country diary”, in The Guardian:


potato cake

(Scotland, England) A savory flat cake made from flour and mashed potatoes, often fried or baked.


crame

From Scots crame, craim, from Middle Dutch kraeme or Middle Low German krame; both from Old High German krām (“merchant tent; tent cloth”), probably ultimately borrowed from Slavic, such as Old Church Slavonic грамъ (gramŭ, “pub, inn”) or чрѣмъ (črěmŭ, “tent”).
Compare West Frisian kream, Dutch kraam, German Low German Kraam, German Kram, Yiddish קראָם (krom), Swedish kram, Icelandic kram.

der

(chiefly Scotland) A merchant's booth; a shop or tent where goods are sold; a stall

(chiefly Scotland) A parcel of goods for sale; a peddler's pack; a kit


kyle

From Scottish Gaelic caol (“narrow; thin; firth, narrows, strait, kyle; narrow part of something”) (genitive singular form caoil), from Old Irish coíl (“narrow, slender”), from Proto-Celtic *koilos (“thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect; to split”).

[T]hough remote / From the main ocean many a mile / Inflooded past cape, creek, and kyle, / The sea-loch flanked by precipice walls, / With ever-lessening murmur crawls, / Till 'neath the Pass he lies subdued / By the o'er-aweing solitude; […]

1877 January, [John Campbell] Shairp, “The Clearing of the Glens”, in Alexander Mackenzie, editor, The Celtic Magazine: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad, volume II, number XV, Inverness, Inverness-shire: A. & W. Mackenzie, […], →OCLC, canto IV (The Home by Lochburn), stanza IV, page 104:

(Scotland) A narrow arm or channel of the sea between an island and the mainland, or between two islands.


sarking

en-noun

sarking (usually uncountable, plural sarkings)

Much housing work lies within this area, and to avoid high maintenance costs the Department is building many houses with plaster exteriors upon diagonal sarkings.

1947, New Zealand House of Representatives, Appendix to the Jounals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, volume 3, page 18:

1997, Ann Ross, Jonathan Hetreed, Architect′s Pocket Book, 2011, 4th Edition, Elsevier, UK, page 248,
Sarkings are weatherproof membranes laid over rafters and below battens to draught-proof and weatherproof the roof against driving rain or powder snow that may penetrate the tiles or slates.
Traditional sarkings of reinforced bitumen felt have been largely superseded by lighter, breathable sarkings that can be laid to form an effectively draught-proof roof but still allow free dispersal of water vapour to avoid roof space condensation; such mterials generally avoid the need for eaves, ridge and roof slope ventilators. Where they are laid directly over insulation between rafters, or over a permeable sarking board, tiling battens are raised clear of the sarking by 25 x 50 counter battens nailed down to the tops of the rafters.

A house in Moorabbin listed for sale with Better House Removers would cost its buyer "about $75,000-$90,000" to move, including the house, restumping, rejoining, new roof, sarking and metal batons, and council permits, Mr Bernardo estimated.

2009 January 25, Caroline James, “Traps to avoid when relocating a home”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-06-29:

(chiefly Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, architecture) Wood, felt, or other material placed under the shingles of a roof in order to provide support or insulation; the practice of furnishing roofs with such material; an installation of such material.


caup

On Tintock Tap there is a mist / And in the mist there is a kist / And in the kist there is a caup / And in the caup there is a drap / Tak' up the caup and drink the drap / And set the caup on Tintock Tap.


laneway

We pulled into a laneway at 496 Evans and drove to the back[…].

2009 January 15, Jack Lakey, “Hiding under a cold tin truck is no way for a cat to spend the winter”, in Toronto Star:

(Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Australia) A narrow roadway; a lane


cag

From Middle English kag, of North Germanic origin, related to Old Norse kaggi, Swedish kagge.


knep

en-verb

knep (third-person singular simple present kneps, present participle knepping, simple past and past participle knepped)

kneps (present singular third-person)
knepping (participle present)
knepped (participle past)
knepped (past)
knepp (alternative)
kneppe (alternative)
knip (alternative)
nep (alternative)
nip (alternative)

A variant of knap (etymology 3).
Cognates
* Danish kneppe (“to snap”) (obsolete)
* Dutch knijpen (“to pinch, nip”), knippen (“to clip, snip”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk kneppa (“to squeeze or join together”)
* Scots knep (“to clench, bind”)

cog

(Scotland) To clasp the hands; to clench one's fists.

(Scotland) To tie or bundle something tightly and securely.


beken

en-verb

beken (third-person singular simple present bekens, present participle bekenning, simple past and past participle bekenned or bekent)

bekens (present singular third-person)
bekenning (participle present)
bekenned (participle past)
bekenned (past)
bekent (participle past)
bekent (past)

From Middle English bekennen, bikennen, equivalent to be- + ken (“to perceive”). Cognate with Dutch bekennen (“to acknowledge, confess”), German bekennen (“to admit, confess”), Swedish bekänna (“to profess, confess”).

cog

(transitive, chiefly Scotland) To commit.

(transitive, chiefly Scotland) To admit as possessor.

(transitive, chiefly Scotland) To acquaint; instruct.


grippy

en-adj

grippy (comparative grippier, superlative grippiest)

grippier (comparative)
grippiest (superlative)

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

(Scotland) Tight-fisted, greedy, stingy.


mairatour

(obsolete, Scotland) moreover, furthermore


grice

gricen (plural)
grices (plural)
grise (alternative)

From Middle English gris, from Old Norse gríss.

This fine Smooth bawson cub, the young grice of a gray

Further, there was of meats wheat bread, main-bread and ginge-bread with fleshes, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, coney, cran, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock and pawnies, black-cock and muir-fowl, cappercaillies;

1728, Robert Lindsay, The history of Scotland, from 21 February, 1436. to March, 1565: in which are contained accounts of many remarkable passages altogether differing from our other historians, and many facts are related, either concealed by some, or omitted by others, Mr. Baskett and Company, page 146:

Through a door to one of the galleries, left half open on purpose I was attracted to a dainty hot supper, consisting of stewed mushrooms and the fat paps and ears of very young pigs, or, as they call them, gricen.

1789, William Thomson, Mammuth: or, human nature displayed on a grand scale: in a tour with the tinkers, into the inland parts of Africa. By the man in the moon. In two volumes. publ. G. and T. Wilkie, pg.105

A model of the grice - which was the size of a large dog and had tusks - has been created after work by researchers and a taxidermist.

2006 November 17, “Extinct island pig spotted again”, in BBC News:

(now Scotland) A pig, especially a young pig, or its meat; sometimes specifically, a breed of pig or boar native to north Britain, now extinct.


horning

en-noun

horning (countable and uncountable, plural hornings)

From Middle English hornynge; equivalent to horn + -ing.

(law, Scotland) The issuing of letters of horning.


troosers

Just got in from the Isle of Skye / I'm not very big and I'm awfully shy / The ladies shout as I go by / Donald where's your troosers?


spanghew

en-verb

spanghew (third-person singular simple present spanghews, present participle spanghewing, simple past and past participle spanghewed)

spanghews (present singular third-person)
spanghewing (participle present)
spanghewed (participle past)
spanghewed (past)

From a combination of spang (“to spring”) and an onomatopoeic second element.

(transitive, Scotland, Northern England, rare) To strike (a frog or toad) and cause to fly in the air; to inflate (a frog) and bowl it across the surface of a pond.


taig

From the Irish first name Tadhg, and thus probably cognate to Teagan and Tegan.

(British, especially Scotland and Northern Ireland, derogatory) An Irish Catholic.

Orangey

an Irish Protestant, especially a Unionist


dook

(Scotland) A plug of wood driven into a wall to hold a nail, etc.


dook

(mining, historical, Scotland, northern England) A heading or roadway following the dip of the strata.


gub

"...fucked-up Yank who's too screwed up to lift a forkful of scran into her gub?"

1994, "The acid House", Irvine Welsh, in Eurotrash

Except that the deal's off if some wee scrote of a doctor opens his gub.

2001, Christopher Brookmyre, Quite ugly one morning, page 147:

Between stuffin his gub and swallowin he didnay have much breath for talkin but he managed that as well.


crowdy

en-noun

crowdy (countable and uncountable, plural crowdies)

(Scotland) A thick gruel of oatmeal and milk or water.


meck

(Scotland) Alternative form of make (“halfpenny”).


roop

en-verb

roop (third-person singular simple present roops, present participle rooping, simple past and past participle rooped)

roops (present singular third-person)
rooping (participle present)
rooped (participle past)
rooped (past)
roup (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English ropen (“to cry out”), from Old English hrōpan (“to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōpaną (“to call, shout, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kor- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Scots roup (“to shout, roar, cry out loudly”), Saterland Frisian roupe (“to call, shout”), Dutch roepen (“to shout, cry out”), German rufen (“to call, cry, shout”), Swedish ropa (“to call, cry out, shout”), Icelandic hrópa (“to cry out”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To roar; make a great noise.


ern

en-verb

ern (third-person singular simple present erns, present participle erning, simple past and past participle erned)

erns (present singular third-person)
erning (participle present)
erned (participle past)
erned (past)
earn (alternative)

From Middle English ernen, from Old English irnan, iernan (“to run, move quickly”), metathetic variant of rinnan (“to run”). More at run.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To (cause to) coagulate; curdle (milk) by adding rennet and applying heat.


ern

erns (present singular third-person)
erning (participle present)
erned (participle past)
erned (past)

Of obscure origin. Perhaps an alteration of erme, from Middle English ermen, from Old English yrman, ierman. Compare also Old Scots urn, uren. More at erme.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To pain; torture.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) (of the eyes) To cause to water; smart.


dapperly

en-adj

dapperly (comparative more dapperly, superlative most dapperly)

more dapperly (comparative)
most dapperly (superlative)


snite

From Middle English snyte, from Old English snite.

Larks , thrushes , quails , woodcocks , snites , and pheasants,
The best that can be got for love or money

1630, Thomas Randolph, The Muse's Looking-Glass:


snite

en-verb

snite (third-person singular simple present snites, present participle sniting, simple past and past participle snited)

snites (present singular third-person)
sniting (participle present)
snited (participle past)
snited (past)
snet (alternative)

From Middle English snyten, from Old English snȳtan (“to clear or blow the nose”), from Proto-Germanic *snūtijaną (“to blow the nose”). Cognate with Old Norse snýta (“to blow the nose”), whence Danish snyde and Swedish snyta sig, and with German sich schneuzen. Related to snout and snot.

inh

(obsolete or Scotland, transitive) to blow (one's nose)

(obsolete or Scotland, transitive) to snuff (a candle)


skelly

Probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *skjelga ("to squint"; found only in the reflexive skjelgask (“to come askew; squint the eyes”)), from Proto-Germanic *skilgijaną (“to squint”), from Proto-Germanic *skelhaz, *skelhwaz, *skelgaz (“slanted; sloping; squinting”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to bend; crook”). Compare Danish skele (“to squint”), Swedish skela (“to squint”), Scots skellie, scalie, skellice (“to squint; look to the side”), German schielen (“to squint”).

gloss

"to squint"; found only in the reflexive <i class="Latn mention" lang="non">skjelgask</i> (“to come askew; squint the eyes”)

der

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


skelly

en-verb

skelly (third-person singular simple present skellies, present participle skellying, simple past and past participle skellied)

skellies (present singular third-person)
skellying (participle present)
skellied (participle past)
skellied (past)

"It is he—it is the very man," said Bothwell, "skellies fearfully with one eye?"

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume II (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 87:


mashloch

(Scotland, obsolete) A type of low-quality bread made from flour and other grains.


withset

withset (third-person singular simple present withsets, present participle withsetting, simple past and past participle withset)

withsets (present singular third-person)
withsetting (participle present)
withset (participle past)
withset (past)

From Middle English withsetten (“to resist, set against”), from Old English wiþsettan (“to resist; condemn”), equivalent to with- (“against”) + set.

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To set (a place) with an ambush.


whitely

en-adj

whitely (comparative more whitely, superlative most whitely)

more whitely (comparative)
most whitely (superlative)

15th c., Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid, lines 213-214,
The secund steid to name hecht Ethios,
Quhitlie and paill […]

[…] among three to loue the worst of all, / A whitly wanton, with a veluet brow, / With two pitch balles stucke in her face for eyes.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

I perceive you know him, and am apt to believe also, That you were related one to another; for you have his whitely Look, a Cast like his with your Eye, and your Speech is much alike.

1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC:


gilpy

(obsolete, Scotland) A boisterous child of either sex.


glegly

en-adv

glegly (comparative more glegly, superlative most glegly)

more glegly (comparative)
most glegly (superlative)


umwhile

From Middle English umwhile, umwhyle, umbewhile, from the phrase umbe while (literally “at times, at some time”). Analyzable as um- + while. More at while.

which devolved on this unhappy woman by a settlement of her umwhile husband.

1831, Sir Walter Scott, Waverly, or Six Years Since:

(obsolete outside dialects, chiefly Scotland) Erstwhile; late; former.


umwhile

(obsolete outside dialects, chiefly Scotland) Formerly; late; whilom.


whippy

en-adj

whippy (comparative whippier, superlative whippiest)

whippier (comparative)
whippiest (superlative)


cummer

From Middle English commare, from Old French commere (modern French commère), from Late Latin commāter.

(Scotland) The relationship of a godmother to the other godparents (godsibs or gossips), and the legal parents, of a child.

(Scotland) A female companion or intimate (of another woman).

(Scotland) Lass, the feminine equivalent of fellow.


forlet

en-verb

forlet (third-person singular simple present forlets, present participle forletting, simple past and past participle forlet)

forlets (present singular third-person)
forletting (participle present)
forlet (participle past)
forlet (past)
forelet (alternative)
forleet (alternative)
forleit (alternative)
forlete (alternative)
foreleit (alternative)

From Middle English forleten (“forsake, reject, renounce, omit, lose, forgive”), from Old English forlǣtan (“to leave”), from Proto-Germanic *fralētaną (“to leave, dismiss”), equivalent to for- + let. Cognate with Scots forleet (“to forsake, abandon”), Saterland Frisian ferläite (“to forlet, abandon”), West Frisian forlitte (“to forlet”), Dutch verlaten (“to desert, abandon”), German verlassen (“to leave”), Swedish förlåta (“to excuse, forgive, remit”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To forget.


devvel

"Weel," said the beggar, "that's the likeliest bit of ony—it will be but a muckle through-stane to kiver the gowd; tak the pick till't, and pit mair strength man—ae gud downright devvel will split it, I'se warrant ye—Ay, that will do—Odd, he comes on wi' Wallace's straiks!"


devvel

en-verb

devvel (third-person singular simple present devvels, present participle devvelling, simple past and past participle devvelled)

devvels (present singular third-person)
devvelling (participle present)
devvelled (participle past)
devvelled (past)
devel (alternative)

(transitive, Scotland) To hit (something) hard.

(transitive, Scotland) To stun (someone) by hitting.


devel

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of devvel (a hard blow)


devel

devel (third-person singular simple present devels, present participle develling, simple past and past participle develled)

devels (present singular third-person)
develling (participle present)
develled (participle past)
develled (past)

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of devvel.


jakey

There is a noise, now that she's properly awake, but it's not the hard laughter of youths, nor the drunken singing of the old jakeys who sometimes set up camp in one of the empty flats.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 4:


megstie

Eh, megstie ! " cried the woman, laying down the leather- cap and the tied-up parcel, and holding out both her hands in astonishment.

1828, The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith, David Macbeth Moir:

Megstie me, gudeman," cried Mrs Gables, " are ye speaking of ganging o'er to the Whigs ? you that was such a desperate Tory. I'll no alloo't

1832, Blackwood's Magazine, (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 649:

(Scotland, obsolete) An expression of surprise.


bairnlike

en-adj

bairnlike (comparative more bairnlike, superlative most bairnlike)

more bairnlike (comparative)
most bairnlike (superlative)

[…] and then it was a pleasure to me — yes, a pleasure, Mr. Lowrie, to spend a' my spare time by his bedside, and listen to his bairnlike thoughts about Divine things.

1876, Sarah R. Whitehead, “Daft Davie”, in Daft Davie and Other Sketches of Scottish Life and Character:

She offered him sixpence for a letter, any letter he liked, but of course he refused it. Then she prigged with him just to let her hold one in her hands, for said she, bairnlike, “I used to get one every day.”

1896, James Matthew Barrie, Sentimental Tommy, Toronto: The Copp, Clark Company, page 131:

His green eyes sparkled with an exuberance that looked almost bairnlike.

1991, Rebecca Sinclair, Wild Scottish Embrace, Kensington Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 237:

Thomas turned thirteen. […] Yet he had not thrown off the trappings of a child. He was small and bairnlike, and his skin was smooth. His voice, when he sang the psalms, was as faint and feeble as a boy of nine's, rising sweet and tremulous.

2016, Shirley McKay, Martinmas, Birlinn Ltd, →ISBN:

(Scotland and Northern England, rare) Like a bairn; childlike.


black cock

(Scotland, Wales, Northern England) Alternative form of blackcock (“the black grouse”).


black game

(Scotland, Wales, Northern England) The black grouse.


whaup

It looks eerie at bright midday, when the sun is shining and whaups are crying among the seaweeds; but think what it was on that awesome night, with the Powers of Darkness brooding over it like a cloud!

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

A whaup flapped up with its liquid, rising cry and he found himself wheeling round in in a dizziness of blue as he tried to follow its flight.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 368:

(Scotland) The curlew, Numenius arquata.


tarrock

Perhaps ultimately from Greenlandic taateraaq (“kittiwake”).

(Scotland, dialect) The common guillemot.


bairnly

bairnly (comparative more bairnly, superlative most bairnly)

more bairnly (comparative)
most bairnly (superlative)

Woman thour't but a bairnlie playke, / Wi' nought but beauty's blossom; / But, thour't a flow'r of heavenly pow'r, / Wi' pity in thy bosom:

1813, Allan Cunningham, “The Rosie Cheek”, in Songs: Chiefly in the Rural Language of Scotland, verse 3, page 50:

Andrew examined the wounded part, and declared it was just a flea bite. "It's a wee red," said he, "and before half an hour's bye ye'll ne'er fin't. Man, Charlie, it's bairnly to make sic a wark for a bit tig on the haffet […]"

1822, John Galt, chapter 5, in Sir Andrew Wylie, of That Ilk, volume 1, page 36:

"So she will be, indeed!" says Catriona. "But I will never forgive her for all that. I will never, never forgive her, and let me hear tell of her no more."
"Well," said I, "this beats all that ever came to my knowledge; and I wonder that you can indulge yourself in such bairnly whims. Here is a young lady that was the best friend in the world to the both of us, that learned us how to dress ourselves, and in a great manner how to behave, as anyone can see that knew us both before and after."

1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, published 1905, page 301:

There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories.

1894, Ian Maclaren, “A Wise Woman”, in Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush:

I canna tell ye hoo it was, but that was the kind o' feelin that cam ower we—that it wad be a bairnly-like thing, an' a cooardly-like thing forby, no' to gae in wi' the lave, an' record my vote eithor on the tae side or the tither. Ye can respec' a man wha taks the wrang side, sae lang as he believes it richt; but hoo can ye respec' a man wha refüses to tak ony side […]

1896, P[eter] Hay Hunter, James Inwick: Ploughman and Elder, pages 161–162:


misfare

en-verb

misfare (third-person singular simple present misfares, present participle misfaring, simple past and past participle misfared)

misfares (present singular third-person)
misfaring (participle present)
misfared (participle past)
misfared (past)

From Old English misfaran, corresponding to mis- + fare.

(now Scotland) To fare badly; to be unlucky.


coronach

coronachs (plural)
coranach (alternative)
coranich (alternative)
corrinoch (alternative)
corronach (alternative)
cronach (alternative)

From Scottish Gaelic corranach and Irish corānach.

The village maids and matrons round / The dismal coronach resound.

1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.XV:

[A] hired mourner, the Irish "Keener" at the conclamatio or coronach, where the Hullabaloo, Hulululu or Ululoo showed the survivors' sorrow.

1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XXX, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 311 footnote:

(historical, Scotland, Ireland) A dirge or lamentation.


sacket

(Scotland) A small, especially rascally or stupid, person.


awsome

en-adj

awsome (comparative more awsome, superlative most awsome)

more awsome (comparative)
most awsome (superlative)

“Aye, Sibbie, it was an awsome sight,” quoth Archy.

1825, The Scots Magazine, volume 97, page 295:

The landlord nodded gravely, then spoke aloud:— “I was out last night; it was indeed an awsome time.

1846, Robert Mackenzie Daniel, The Young Baronet:

1. objectively. Inspiring fear; awsome, dreadful; = Fearful 1.

1908, “ferdful”, in James A. H. Murray et al., editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IV, London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 160:


yowe

yowes (plural)
yeo (alternative)
yoe (alternative)
yow (alternative)

From Middle English yowe, yeue, forms of ewe, from Old English eowu. Compare Scots cognate yowe.

The ram was marked wi' keel at the reet o' the tail an' the yowes upon their hips.

1902, James Thomson, Recollections of a Speyside parish:

(dialectal, UK, Scotland) A ewe; a female sheep.


otherways

(Scotland, obsolete) In a similar or comparable way; similarly.


fusome

fusome (comparative more fusome, superlative most fusome)

more fusome (comparative)
most fusome (superlative)

While glakit fools, owr rife o' cash, Pamper their weyms wi' fusome trash, I think a chiel may gayly pass;

1799, Robert Fergusson, Poems on various subjects, page 113:

Waes me! waes me! siccan a fusome sight as I am.

1825, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Lochandhu: A Tale of the Eighteenth Century, page 63:

Out, fie, the fusome carlie! The ill contriving carlie!

1851, Edwin Paxton Hood, Genius & Industry: The Achievements of Mind Among the Cottages, page 111:

And ye be gaun to court a wife, ye do tell to me, ' Tis ye sall hae my Fusome Fug, Your ae wife for to be, be, Your ae wife for to be.

1859, Child, English and Scottish Ballads - Volume 8, page 142:

(Scotland) Alternative form of fulsome; offensive; loathsome.


many a mickle makes a muckle

People are often ruined before they are aware of the danger, by buying everything they think they want, without adverting to a Scotch adage—than which nothing in nature is more true—"that many mickles make a muckle."

1793 April 21, George Washington, Worthington Chauncey Ford, compiler and editor, “Letters to Anthony Whiting, 1793”, in The Writings of George Washington, volumes XII (1790–1794), New York, N.Y., London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, published 1891, →OCLC, page 382:

take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves

(chiefly Northern England, Scotland) A lot of small amounts, put together, become a large amount.

聚沙成塔 (jùshāchéngtǎ, literally “gathering sand grains completes a tower”)

les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières

塵も積もれば山となる

ちりもつもればやまとなる

sehari selembar benang, lama-lama menjadi kain

ziarnko do ziarnka, a zbierze się miarka

копе́йка рубль бережёт (kopéjka rublʹ berežót, literally “a kopeyka saves a ruble”)

zrno na zrno pogača kamen na kamen palača

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step


untenty

untenty (comparative more untenty, superlative most untenty)

more untenty (comparative)
most untenty (superlative)

"The cursed Highland salvages!" muttered the captain, half aloud; "what is to become of me, if Gustavus, the namesake of the invincible Lion of the Protestant League, should be lamed among their untenty hands?"

1819, Walter Scott, A Legend of Montrose:

I have told you already I would never be so untenty as to commit myself.

(Scotland) Inattentive; clumsy; incautious.


ilka

But the bobby kens me fine--I've bailed John oot twice, for a guinea ilka time, and they recognize steady customers there like anywheres else! "

1919, Sir Harry Lauder, Between You and Me:

(Scotland, Northern England, archaic) Each or every


mutch

From Middle Dutch mutse, from amutse, from Late Latin almucia (“almuce”); compare amice, mozzetta.

(now rare, Scotland) A nightcap (hat worn to bed).


stooshie

Probably from Scots stooshie, possibly a contraction of English ecstasy. Perhaps related to English stoush.

The Traveller going through Customs goes alone, wondering what is causing the stooshie up front and nervously letting someone go before him […]

1978, Institute of Bankers in Scotland, Scottish Bankers magazine:

First of all, there’d been that horrible stooshie over the wifie in Ballygrant with MS who was growing her own cannabis in her greenhouse.

2003, Christopher Brookmyre, One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night:

Ill-will can mak a stooshie, but love can settle a stramash.

2006, Jamie Stuart, Proverbs in the patter:

The right hon. Gentleman is making a great stooshie about time in relation to this Bill, but was it not the case that, when the SNP [Scottish National Party] Scottish Government introduced their continuity Bill in the Scottish Parliament, they operated a ruthless guillotine to prevent proper scrutiny of it?

2019 October 22, Stephen Kerr, Member of Parliament for Stirling, “Second Reading of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons)^(https://web.archive.org/web/20191024000813/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-10-22/debates/277C5A20-456D-469B-A415-D04AFFD83248/EuropeanUnion(WithdrawalAgreement)Bill), volume 666, archived from the original on 2019-10-24, column 860:

(Scotland) The disruption caused by a disagreement or misunderstanding.


snib

He did not like me coming in except if I was going to bed. I heard him saying to my maw about a snib for the door.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 99:

(Scotland, Australia) A latch or fastening for a door, window etc.


snib

en-verb

snib (third-person singular simple present snibs, present participle snibbing, simple past and past participle snibbed)

snibs (present singular third-person)
snibbing (participle present)
snibbed (participle past)
snibbed (past)

Window is snibbed on the inner side. Framework is solid. No hinges at the side. Let us open it.

1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, page 90:

All moved to the front street, where Grierson snibbed on his tail-light and turned to ask the trooper, "They've got the main road ploughed up farther on, haven't they?"

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 162:

(transitive, Australia, Scotland) To latch (a door, window, etc.).


skelp

skelp (third-person singular simple present skelps, present participle skelping, simple past and past participle skelped)

skelps (present singular third-person)
skelping (participle present)
skelped (participle past)
skelped (past)

From Middle English skelpen, probably of imitative origin. The noun is from Middle English skelp, from the verb.

But Mistress Munro would up and be at the door and in she'd yank Andy by the lug, and some said she'd take down his breeks and skelp him, but maybe that was a lie.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 24:

My stomach was just sore and I was rubbing it. But he just reached and skelped me on the leg and I fell down and he waited for me to get up and he skelped me on the b*m.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 67:

(transitive, Scotland, Northern England) To beat or slap.

(intransitive, Scotland) To move briskly along.


skelp

(Scotland) A squall; a heavy fall of rain.


hoolie

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

Bertie held mum's hand tightly as the wind was by now blowing a hoolie and Bertie did not feel very safe as he felt that he was close to being blown off his paws on more than one occasion.

2012, Rosalind James, Bertie Rides Again, page 33:

We have all felt queasy (at best) when the wind and tide are battling it out in a hoolie and got cold, wet and miserable.

2012, Andy Lear, The Joys of Yachting, page 17:

The weather was fine when we first went in but unfortunately it started blowing a 'hoolie' in the evening.

2014, Mike Smith, Ships 'n Boats 'n Tales Afloat, page 66:

(Scotland) Alternative form of hooley (“strong wind”).


lith

From Middle English lith, lyth, from Old English liþ (“limb, member, joint, tip of finger, point”), from Proto-Germanic *liþuz (“limb”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots lith (“part of the body, joint”), West Frisian lid (“part of the body, member”), Dutch lid (“limb, member, section”), Middle High German lit (“limb, member”), Swedish led (“joint, link, channel”), Icelandic liður (“item”), Dutch lid (“part of the body; member”) and gelid (“joint, rank, file”), German Glied (“limb, member, link”).

cog

(Scotland) A segment of an orange, or similar fruit.


keeling

Compare Icelandic keila, Swedish kolja, Danish kulle.

(archaic, Scotland) A cod, especially a small one.


jaikie

(Scotland) A lad (especially a hard-drinking young man in an urban environment)


mischieve

en-verb

mischieve (third-person singular simple present mischieves, present participle mischieving, simple past and past participle mischieved)

mischieves (present singular third-person)
mischieving (participle present)
mischieved (participle past)
mischieved (past)
mischief (alternative)

From Middle English myscheven, from Old French meschever, from mes- + chever.

thenne sire Tristram wold make no lenger delayes but lasshed at sir Lamorak / & thus they foughte longe /[…]/ Thenne sir Tristram seid to sir Lamorak in alle my lyf mette I neuer with suche a knyght that was soo bygge and well brethed as ye be / therfore said syre Tristram hit were pyte / that ony of vs both shold here be meschyeued

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IX:

I have read of Augustine, that once by wandring out of his way, he escaped one who lay in wait to mischieve him;

1650, Moses his choice, with his eye fixed upon heaven, page 54:

[…] ſo when the two Ladders were taken down, no Man living could come down to me without miſchieving himſelf; […]

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 191:

(now Scotland) To damage, do harm to; to injure.


airth

I've hearn some folks pretend that it comes from the bowels of the airth, but it don't; its^([sic]) a thing of the air, and I've a notion it travels a mighty long way from its startin' place afore it reaches us. "

1857, S. H. Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes:

"As I was tellin' ye," he said, "I allers loved fishin' an' knowed 't was the best thing in the hull airth.

1889, Annie Trumbull Slosson, Fishin' Jimmy:

I guess there ain't nothin' on airth he loves better 'n that holler piece o' wood, and the toons that's inside o' it.

1901, Henry van Dyke, The Ruling Passion:

(chiefly Scotland, Mid-Ulster) Alternative spelling of earth.


doot

"Mair'd be a bother; an' I doot not ye'll mak' it all richt, lad."

1902, Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows:

Andrew knew that Geordie would not have had a smoke for a long time, and this was his way of leaving him with a pipeful of tobacco.
"I think my pipe's on the mantelshelf," returned Geordie, "but I doot it's empty."
Andrew took down the pipe, filled it generously […]


doot

No doot he'll try to pass himself off as an officer, for to get better quarters!"

1917, John Hay Beith, All In It: K(1) Carries On:


didna

And he gi'ed him anither shake--then, laying haud of his nose, he swore that he would pu't as lang as a cow's tail, if he didna that instant restore him his lost property.

1827, Various, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10,:

Don't ye remember I wore it to the picnic? an' then it didna suit, an' I put it back in the box.

1888, Helen Hunt Jackson, Between Whiles:

When I said that a man's name was on a bullet, I didna mean that it was written there."


carle

Eh, Mr Henry! but the carle gae him a screed o' doctrine! Ye might hae heard him a mile down the wind—He routed like a cow in a fremd loaning.

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter I, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 9:

Had he instead of on the Doge's throne Stamped the same brand upon a peasant's stool, His blood had gilt the threshold; for the carle Had stabbed him on the instant.

1820, Lord Byron, “Marino Faliero”, in The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4:

Ye may fancy I'm talking like a sour, disappointed auld carle.

Spake the sad and sorry carle: "We seek the Land where the days are many: so many that he who hath forgotten how to laugh, may learn the craft again, and forget the days of Sorrow."

1913, William Morris, The Story of the Glittering Plain:

I am no sheephearde with a Curre, attending on the flockes:

1567, Arthur Golding; Ovid's Metamorphoses; Bk. 1 lines 622-3

I am no Carle nor countrie Clowne, nor neathearde taking charge


fule

That army gent, Major Boston, as is agent for all the College lands down the valley, he be a poor weak fule, and when all these tinants come to him and say that they must either hev the land at five shillings an acre or go, he gits scared, he du, and down goes the rent of some of the best meadow land in the country from thirty-five shillings to five.

1888, H. Rider Haggard, Colonel Quaritch, V.C.:

"Why, you dog-goned old fule, you cain't hit thet bawl."

1914, Zane Grey, The Light of Western Stars:


fule

"What's the fule thing shaking for?" said he; "I mean nothing but civility to you.

1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2:


lippen

lippen (third-person singular simple present lippens, present participle lippening, simple past and past participle lippened)

lippens (present singular third-person)
lippening (participle present)
lippened (participle past)
lippened (past)
licken (alternative)

From Middle English lipnen (“to trust”), of obscure origin. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English litnen (“to trust”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlíta, compare Swedish lita (“to trust, depend, rely on”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To entrust; trust to (someone/something).

Do not lippen to him! / I was lippening on you.

"And never lippen to what you see from the window," she said. "The eye is deceitful as well as the heart."

1896, Margaret Oliphant, The Library Window:

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To trust; to expect; to depend or rely (on).


hurple

A word of unknown origin, perhaps cognate with Scots hirple (“to limp”) or Dutch hurken (“to squat”), plus the suffix -le.

After he sprained his ankle, he walked away with a hurple.

(Scotland) An impediment similar to a limp.


thring

en-verb

thring (third-person singular simple present thrings, present participle thringing, simple past thrang or thrung or thringed, past participle thrung or thringed)

thrings (present singular third-person)
thringing (participle present)
thrang (past)
thrung (past)
thringed (past)
thrung (participle past)
thringed (participle past)
dring (alternative dialectal)

From Middle English thringen, from Old English þringan (“to press, squeeze, crowd”), from Proto-West Germanic *þringwan, from Proto-Germanic *þrinhwaną (“to press, throng, crush”), from Proto-Indo-European *trenkʷ- (“to beat, hew, press”).

der

(transitive, Northern England, Scotland) To thrust; crowd; press; squeeze.

(intransitive, Northern England, Scotland) To push; to force one's way.


skeely

en-adj

skeely (comparative skeelier, superlative skeeliest)

skeelier (comparative)
skeeliest (superlative)

From Scots skeely, Scottish form of skilly.

“I now enjoy more flattering company than you ever provided—a fine, fine woman, McCandless, who owes her life to these fingers of mine—these skeely, skeely fingers!”

1992, Alasdair Gray, Poor Things, Bloomsbury, published 2002, page 27:


lear

en-noun

lear (countable and uncountable, plural lears)

From Middle English laire, leire, lere, northern Middle English variants of lore, loare (“doctrine, teaching, lore”), from Old English lār (“lore”). More at lore.

(now Scotland) Something learned; a lesson.

when all other helpes she saw to faile, / She turnd her selfe backe to her wicked leares / And by her deuilish arts thought to preuaile [...].

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

'Foul befa' him and his lear too! It maun be o' some new-fangled kind, I think. Our auld minister had lear enough, baith Hebrew and Latin, and he believed in witches and warlocks, honest man, like ony ither sober, godly person.'

1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, act 3, page 100:

They dressed up in maids' array,
And passd for sisters fair;
With ae consent gaed ower the sea,
For to seek after lear.

1898, Francis James Child, editor, Lord William, or Lord Lundy, Child's Ballads:

(now Scotland) Learning, lore; doctrine.


lear

en-verb

lear (third-person singular simple present lears, present participle learing, simple past and past participle leared)

lears (present singular third-person)
learing (participle present)
leared (participle past)
leared (past)

From Middle English learen, leren (“to learn", also "to teach”).

(transitive, archaic and Scotland) To teach.


wouldnae

If I was to lose my job and not be able to pay my mortgage they would take my house away, they wouldnae say, 'Well, sorry about that but here's a big payoff anyway.

2009 January 24, Simon Hattenstone, “Sir Fred, just say sorry”, in The Guardian:


ugsomeness

The horor and ugſomnes of death is ſorer than death it ſelf.

1549 April 22 (Gregorian calendar), Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[27 Sermons Preached by the Ryght Reuerende Father in God and Constant Matir of Iesus Christe, Maister Hugh Latimer, […].] The Syxte Sermon of Maister Hugh Latymer, whiche He Preached before K. Edward [VI], the XII. Day of Aprill.”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 81, recto:

When sinlesse nature did sinlesly scunder at the infinite ugsomenes of the cup of wrath,—"Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."

c. 1660–1672,, John Livingstone, “Letter from Mr John Livingstone to a Friend (No. VI)”, in Tweedie, Rev. William King, editor, Select Biographies, volume 1, Edinburgh: Wodrow Society, published 1845, page 273:

(Northern England, Scotland, obsolete) The condition or state of being ugsome.


a little of the creature

a leetle of the creater (alternative obsolete)
a little of the critter (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-a little of the creature.wav

So I took ‘a leetle of the creater’ – that warmer of the cold, and cooler of the hot, – and it made me feel so good that I concluded it was like the negro's rabbit, ‘good any way.’

1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska, published 1987, page 42:

Nothing; only it is poor sport to go on a dub without a little of the critter.

1853, Anna Maria Collins, Mrs. Ben Darby, page 23:

And when he met her, he told her what he came about, and said that he never would mind what the women prayed for, but it was greatly against his health to be obliged to drink his wine and whiskey raw, and he'd a longing desire for a little of the creature neatly mixed up with lemon and sugar, and water [...].

1836, “Legends of Blarney Castle”, in The Knickerbocker, volume VIII:

(US and Scotland, colloquial) A small drink of alcoholic spirits.


infare

From Middle English infer (“entrance”), from Old English infær (“ingress, entrance, ingang”), from Proto-Germanic *in + *farą (“a going”), corresponding to in- + fare. Related to Old English infaru (“inroad, incursion, invasion”). Compare German einführen (“to introduce”).

cog

At our next meeting we set the day for our wedding; and I went to my father's, and made arrangements for an infair, and returned to ask her parents for her.

1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska, published 1987, page 64:

He stretched his arms above his head and drew a long sigh of pleasurable reminiscence. “We hed a right sorter sociable evenin'. I'll be bound they air all over yander at the infair now.”

1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 11:

The older women spread the viands for the "infare," as the wedding dinner was called, upon the table, and we stood about it to eat amid shouts and laughter and an exchange of wit as good natured as it was horrifying to bridal ears.

1910, Corra Harria, A Circuit Rider's Wife, Digitized edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2007:

Maybe I had better explain that infare meant the bride's going home--to her new house, … Wherever held, it was an occasion of keen and jealous rivalry--those in charge being doubly bent on making the faring in more splendid than the wedding feast.

1913, Martha McCulloch Williams, Dishes & Beverages of the Old South, Digitized edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:

Again Laney interrupted her husband. "My mother said they even had infare dinners the next day after the wedding. The infare dinners were just for the families of the bride and groom, and the bride had a special dress for that occasion that she called her infare dress. The friends of both parties were there at the big feast on the wedding day, but not at the infare dinner."

1941, Slave Narratives, Volume IV, Digitized edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2006:

Today, most weddings are followed by some sort of celebration, although not by infares, shivarees, or any similar institution.

She'd show me her doll, and talk about play-parties she'd been to, infares and dances.

2000, Robert Morgan, The Mountains Won't Remember Us and Other Stories:

The musterings, auctions, infares, feuds, and frolics are here, the holdup, the war whoop, eagle oratory, revival shouts, hard work and hard times, and every aspect of pioneer morality from the bashful lover at the bean pot to the camp-meeting baby.

2007, Ted Olson, Kathy H. Olson, James Still:

In the past, drinking had been a thing for parties, or infares as they called them locally, or something before dinner to whet one's taste.

(Scotland, US) A party or other celebration held to mark someone's entrance into a new home, especially the arrival of a bride at her new home; a wedding reception.


stut

en-verb

stut (third-person singular simple present stuts, present participle stutting, simple past and past participle stutted)

stuts (present singular third-person)
stutting (participle present)
stutted (participle past)
stutted (past)
steet (alternative)
stutt (alternative)
stuit (alternative)
stoot (alternative)
stout (alternative)

Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *stuttijan. Cognate with German stützen (“to support”), Dutch stutten (“to support”), Danish støtte (“to support”), Norwegian støtte (“to support”), Swedish stötta (“to support”), Icelandic styðja (“to support”).

When the upper storey of the house was altered the roof had to be stutted up for the time being.

(Scotland, Northern England, transitive) To support, prop up.


stut

stuts (plural)
steet (alternative)
stutt (alternative)
stuit (alternative)
stoot (alternative)
stout (alternative)

These stuts buckled.


brosy-faced

en-adj

brosy-faced (comparative more brosy-faced, superlative most brosy-faced)

more brosy-faced (comparative)
most brosy-faced (superlative)

From the Doric dialect of North East Scotland, pertaining to brose.


hause

A variant, like hawse (“part of a vessel's bow containing hawseholes”), of Middle English halse (“neck”); see hawse for more.

(Scotland, Northern England) A col, a lower neck or ridge between two peaks: a mountain pass.


jingbang

jingbangs (plural)
jing-bang (alternative)

It made my heart bleed; but the men had a great respect for the chief mate, who was, as they said, "the only seaman of the whole jing-bang, and none such a bad man when he was sober."

1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Go to Sea in the Brig Covenant of Dysart”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 61:

Bloom was pointing out all the stars and the comets in the heavens to Chris Callinan and the jarvey: the great bear and Hercules and the dragon, and the whole jingbang lot.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: The Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 225:

And he called them Bloody Scotch savages, and was in an awful rage and at the term-time he had them sacked, the whole jing-bang of them, so sore affronted he had been.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, “Sunset Song”, in A Scots Quair, Polygon, published 2006, page 16:

(chiefly Scotland, colloquial) A thing, a lot, a shebang.


dafty

You don't need to open my door for me, you dafty!

2016, Kiki Archer, Lost in the Starlight, page 142:

(Scotland, Northern England) A daft person.


ochdamh

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic ochdamh (“eighth”), from Old Irish ochtmad, from Proto-Celtic *oxtūmetos.

(Scotland, historical) An obsolete Scots unit equal to ¹⁄₈ daugh, notionally comprising 50 Scottish acres.


meinie

meinies (plural)
mayne (alternative)
mayné (alternative)
meiny (alternative)
meynee (alternative)
meynie (alternative)

From Middle English meine, meyne, from Anglo-Norman maigne and Old French mesnie (“household”), from Vulgar Latin *mānsiōnāta, from Latin mānsiō, mānsiōnem (“house”). Compare menial.

And whanne they in the caſtel wyſte hou ſire Palomydes had ſped there was a Ioyeful meyny / and ſoo ſir Palomydes departed / and came to the caſtell of Lonaȝep
"And when they in the castle wist how Sir Palomides had sped, there was a joyful meiny; and so Sir Palomides departed, and came to the castle of Lonazep."

1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum lxiv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book X, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 525:

(now rare, Scotland, Ireland) A household, or family.

For the mutable ranke-ſented Meynie, / Let them regard me, as I doe not flatter, / And therein behold themſelues.

c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

(now Scotland) A crowd of people; a rabble.


sned

sneds (plural)
snid (alternative Scotland)
sneed (alternative Scotland)
snade (alternative Scotland)
snedd (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English snid (attested only in the sense of saw and slaughter), from Old English snid, snide (“a cut, incision; cutting implement, saw”), from Proto-West Germanic *snidi; merging with Middle English snede (“a morsel, bite; scythe”), from Old English snǣd (“something cut off, morsel, bit; scythe handle”).

inh

(Scotland) A cut, a cutting; a slash, a slight wound; a lopping or pruning.