A Scots Quair (101 page)

a-agant
, all agape 

affronted
, humiliated 

afore
, before 

agley
, off the straight, awry 

ahint
, behind 

Ake
, dim. of Alexander 

alow
, below 

a-lowe
, alight 

antrin
, strange, eerie 

ashet
, oval serving-plate 

a-skeugh
, (of shoulder), twisted 

ayont
, beyond 

bade
, stayed 

bap
, soft bread roll 

bar
(n.), joke 

basses
, mats, rugs 

Bee
, bugger 

ben
, inside, towards the inner part of the house 

Benny Dick Tine
, Benedictine 

bents
, slopes covered with coarse grass 

besom
, impudent hussy 

bide
, dwell, stay 

bigging
, (of kirk) building; (of sheaves) stacking 

billy
, fellow 

birkie
, conceited fellow 

birn
, heap, pile, crowd 

birring
, whirring 

bit
, ‘a mildly deprecatory adjectival handle'
LGG
 

blate
, bashful 

blatter
, storm, pelting  

blether
, chatter, talk nonsense 

blow
, boast  

bodies
, people  

bothy
, separate building for housing unmarried male farm workers  

bout
, stretch of land ploughd or of hay or corn cut  

bouroch-och
, crowd, heap  

brows
, fine clothes  

bree
, ‘stock, soup, gravy'
CSD 
 

breeks
, trousers  

breenge
, rush forward  

brink
, provide  

bristle
, scorch  

britchen
, breeching (rear harness strap)  

broch
, large round tower with hollow walls of stone  

Broo
men, the unemployed  

brose
, oat or pease meal mixed with boiling water  

brosy
, (of morals) ‘homespun'  

bucht
, shelter, sheepfold  

buirdly
, burly, vigorous  

bull's
eye, policeman's lantern with thick central lens  

butt
and a ben, two-roomed cottage 

by
, (adv.) near, close  

byke
, nest (of insects) 

cadger
, pedlar 

caller
, fresh 

calsay stones
, cobble stones 

calthrop
, instrument armed
with four spikes, arranged so that one always stands upright, used to obstruct an enemy 

canny
, carefully 

cantrips
, antics 

canty
, lively 

cap
, wooden bowl 

carle
, man, fellow 

cateran
, rogue (orig. robber) 

Chakie
, ‘dim. of Charles'
LGG
 

champ
, trample, crush; muddy, trodden ground 

chapping
, knocking, striking 

chave
, ‘toil back-breakingly'
LGG
 

chief-like
, ‘over-friendly'
LGG
 

childe
(Sc. chiel), ‘a full-grown, responsible male'
LGG
 

chinter
, chop, hack 

chirk
, (to horses) make a harsh, strident noise 

claik
, gossip 

clairt
, smear, make dirty 

clamjamfry
(vb.), plaster (with mud) 

clart
, muck-rake 

cleck
, hatch, give birth to 

cleeked
, (of horse) crippled by leg-cramps 

clishmaclaver
, hubbub of talk 

clorted
, sorild 

close
, farmyard, courtyard 

clour
, Clout, blow, thump 

clyak
, last sheap of corn in harvest-field, end of harvest 

clype
, tell tales, inform on 

coarse
, boorish, wicked 

cog
, (for feeding calves) wooden container made of staves 

cogged
, (in horse's shoes) have wedges fixed 

coldrife
, chilly 

cole
, haycock

corp
, corpse

cotter
, cottager renting small plot; married worker whose cottage is part of his contract

coulter
, blade in front of a ploughshare

coup
, overturn

couthy
, comfortable, sociable, friendly

cowering
, terrifying

crack
, crazy

cravat
, muffler

creash
, fat, fat person

crush
, ‘set' of people

cry
, call, shout

cuddy
, donkey; sometimes horse

cushat-doves
, ring doves

dander
, stroll, temper

darg
, work

dawtie
, darling, pet

deave
, deafen, bore

dickey
, false shirt front

dight
, wipe

dirl
, rattle

ding
, strike, (of rain) pelt

disjasked
, dejected, dilapidated

Dite
, fam. form of George

Dod
, fam. form of George

doiter
, totter

doitered
, witless, confused

dole
, state pay to unemployed

dool
, grief, pain

douce
, quiet, gentle, respectablely

dour
, severe and humourless

dove's flitting
,? an adaptation of
dove's sitting
, properly a family of only two

dowp
, posterior

dreich
, dry, dreamy, prolix

drooked
, drenched

drouthy
, thirsty

eident
, busy, conscientious

eidently
, carefully

eirde
, iron age dwelling

 engraffed
, engrafted

fair
(adv.), very, really

fairely
(ferlie), strange sight, marvel

fairly
(adv.), marvellously, wonderfully

fash
, hurry, make an effort

fast
-snecked, tightly-fastened

feare
, ‘price of grain for the year used to determine ministers' stipends up to early 20th century' csd

fecht
, (past, faught), fight
fee, an engagement as a servant

fee'd
, hired

fegs
, (interj.) indeed, sure

feint
the!, devil the

fell
, great, very

fettle
, lige, vigour

feuching
, ill-smelling

feuch
!, ugh!

fey
, visionary, other-worldly

fleer
, ‘to scoff, to flare' lgg; to ogle

fleers
, temper-fits

flick
(n.), trace

flite/flyte
, scold, joke

forbye
, besides

f(r)ere
, companion, comrade

fusionless
, pithless, feeble

futret
, weasel, stoat

gait
, way, road extent

galluses
, trouser braces, suspenders (us)

gang
, go

gant
, yawn

gape
, the extent to which the mouth can be opened

gawk
, awkward, clumsy person (often a teenager)

gawpus
, ‘clumsy, stupid lout' csd

get
(Sc. ‘giet'), child, brat

gey
, strong, terrible; disreput¬ able, wild ‘(sardonically) rather, very'
LGG

gey
man, great expert (ironic)

gird
, scold

girn
, scold, ‘whine hardily'
LGG

glaur
, ‘black, viscid mud'
LGG

glaured
, muddied

gleg
, horse-fly

gleg
-vexed, plagued by horse-flies

gley
, squint

glint
, peep, glance shyly

glower
, scowl

glunch
, ‘to mutter half-threateningly, half-fear fully' lgg

goloch
, earwig, nincompoop

goodfather
/son,-in-law

gowk
, stare foolishly; a fool

gowked
, stupefied

graip
, iron-pronged fork used in farming or gardening

greet
, (past, grat), weep

greeve
, (of weatherr) with enough rain to satisfy farmers, ‘good' lgg

greip
, open cowshed drain

growk
, grumble, look suspiciously

gryphon
, griffin, mythical beast, half-eagle half-lion

guff
, bad smell

gurring
, snarling

gype
, stupid lout

gypedest
, stupidest

gyte
, mad

habber
, stammer, gabble

haimes
, ‘the two curved pieces of wood or metal forming or covering the collar of a draught horse' csd

hackstock
, butcher's or wood-cutter's block

half-tirred
, half stripped

handless
, clumsy, incompetent

hantle
, a great deal (or many), very

hantled
, finished, crafted

 
hap
, wrap, enfold, cover

hashed
, tired out, ‘dead beat'

hasps
, fastenings

haugh
, river meadowland

haver
, talk nonsense

havers
!, nonsense!

heired
, inherited

heritor
, landed proprietor

heired
, inherited

heuch
, deep glen

hiddle
, hiddling, huddle, cluster

hippen
, baby's diaper

hirple
, limp

hoast
, cough

Hogmanay
, New Year's Eve

hotter
, simmer

howe
, vale, wide plain bounded by hills

howk
, dig, hooded crow

hubbley-jock
(or bubbly-turkey),

hurl
, drive, trundle

idleceit
, idleness

ill-fashionce
, bad manners, vulgar behaviour

ill-getted
, misbegotten, mischievous

jagger
, ‘jigger', upset, ruin

jing-bang
, the entire lot, group

jake
up, raise, lift

jobe
, prickle

jook
, dodge in and out

jookery-paekery
, trickery, underhand scheming

joskin
, male farm worker, bumpkin

keek
, glance, look

keelie
, tough, male slum-dweller

kepp
, guard, restrain

kirn
, churn

kist
, chest

kittle
, excite, stimulate; (n.) excitement

kittle
up, start up, excite

knacker
, one who buys and slaughters useless horses

kye
, cows, cattle

lair
, bog down, stick fast, soil

lave
, the rest of them

lead
, carry harvested grain in from the field

leather
, flail, wallop

leet
, list of selected candidates for a post

leman
, courtesan, concubine

let gang
, allowed to go

ley
, ‘fallow land' lgg, second year or older pasture following hay

ley-park
, meadow field

lib
, castrate

lick
, speed

lift, sky

limmer
, hussy, jade, ‘sharp-tongued woman' lgg

lipped
, leapt

lippen
, trust

lithe
, shadow, protection

loaning
, grassy track, or ground near a farmhouse

longer
, languor, boredom

loon
, (farmer's) boy, fellow

loosening-time
, end of the working day

Losh
!, Lord! (mild oath)

loup
, jump, leap

lour
, menacing blackness (of clouds)

lowe
, glow

lug
, ear

lum
, chimney

lum
hat, top hat

malagrouse
, dishevel, damage

marled
, mottled, streaked

meck
, halfpenny

meikle
, big, much

messages
, errands, shopping

mind
, remember

mirk
, darkness

moil
, toil

moonlight
flit, removal of household goods at night to avoid
 paying debts

mouser
, moustache

mow
, signal with mouth and lips

muck
, clean out dung

mucker
, bugger lgg

muffler
, scarf for the throat

mutch
, close-fitting linen cap once worn generally by married women