A Scots Quair (102 page)

neb
, beak, nose

neep
, turnip

neist
, next

neuk
, nook, corner-seat

nicker
, whinny

nickum
, mischievous boy

nout
, ox, blockhead

orra
, odd, disorderly, spare

orra
man, lad, odd-job man

outbye
, out in the fields, out of doors

oxter
, (to) embrace; armpit, forearm

paich
, gasp, pant

park
, field

peek
, ‘tiny bead or point of light, little tongue of flame' csd

peek
and preen, dress in finery (with aid of needle and pins)

peely-wally
, anaemically pale

peesie
, lapwing, peewit

petronella
, Scottish country dance

pickle
, few

piece
, sandwich, snack

pig-ree
, pigsty

pleiter
(n.), mess; (vb.) dabble aimlessly

pock
, sack

pow
, head

press
, large cupboard

prig
, urge

pringling
, prickling, tingling

purviews
, grounds

push
, gang, rabble

quean
, girl

queered
, puzzled

raddled
, fuddled, stupefied

rangy
, ‘lanky' lgg

rash
, disease of pigs

rax
, stretch

redd
up, epitomise, tidy, clear (throat)

ree
, perch, pen, midden, pigsty

reek
, smoke, mist

reischle
, rustle, noisy group

reischles
of, ‘oodles', abundance of

rickle
, loose, ramshackle pile

rig
, furrow, dress

rip
, handful of stalks of unthreshed grain, unbound sheaf

rive
, break, tear

roaded
up, put on the road to, off on a journey

rouped
, (of possessions), sold up

rousting
, blustery

row
, roll

runkled
, wrinkled

salts
, a purgative

sappy
, plump, fleshy

scart
(n.), puny, shrunken

scaur
, ‘sheer rock, precipice; a steep, eroded hill' csd

scavenger
, street cleaner

schlimped
, stunted

schlorich
, ‘a wet, disgusting mess' csd

scone
(vb.), beat

scraich
, screech

scrimp
(n.), thin slip

screw
, sage, salary

scrunch
, pig's food

scuddle
, do dirty work

scunner
, disgust; loathsome person

set
(t), serviced (d); encounter, match, act of sex

shargar
, youngest of a brood or litter, weakling

sharn
, ‘dung in a semi-liquid state' lgg

shows
, stalks and leaves of potatoes
 or turnips

shelvin
, part of the sides of a farm cart

shoggle
, sway unsteadily

sholtie
, pony, young horse

shoo
, send away, usher in (from word used in driving animals)

shoom
, hum, buzz

shover
, chauffeur

showd
, swing to and fro

skate
, contemptible idiot

skeeter
(n.), diarrhoea; (vb.) slither awkwardly

skellop
, long strip

skelp
, slap, strike, beat

skeuch
(n.), squint; off-course

skilly-like
, competent, practical

skirl
, scream, shriek

skite
, mad, ‘daft, used flippantly' lgg

skitter
, ‘slither in a jerky, awkward way' csd

slammock
, hectic bout

sleek
, move furtively, slink

sleeked
, sly and cunning

slider
, ice-cream wafer

slock
, slake

slocken
up, quench thirst

slummock
, ‘a lumpish slattern' lgg

smeddum
, energy, ‘guts'

smiddy
, smithy

smit
, infect

smore
, smother

sneck
, door-latch

snell
, biting, bitter

snib
, fasten

snicker
, snigger

snifter
, snivel

sock
, point of a ploughshare

sodden
, boiled

sonsy
, (of woman) buxom (of kirk) roomy, substantial

soom
, swim, skim

soss
, (n.) a dirty, wet mess (vb.) to foul, dirty, mess about with (sexually)

sotter
, ‘to bubble stagnantly' lgg

sough
, sigh

sourock
, sorrel, ‘a little sour plant' lgg; a perverse, surly person

sow
, large oblong stack of straw of hay

sowans
, sour pudding of oat-meal and water

spank
, move briskly

speak
(n.), rumour, talk, piece of idle gossip

spirit
, spurt, flutter

spleiter
, ‘a wettish mess' lgg

spunk
, match, spark; ‘essence, courage, grit; a lucifer match' lgg

spurtle
, ‘a stick for stirring porridge' lgg

squatter
, scatter, flutter

st
(r) amash, uproar, ‘blind fury' lgg

stammy-gaster
(vb.), flabbergast, (n.) disagreeable surprise

stationy
, (railway) station-master

steek
, stitch, sharp pain

steer
, commotion

stirk
, bullock, heifer

stite
, nonsense

stiter
, stagger

store
the kiln (or kin), last out, keep going

stock
, person, ‘guy'

stook
, shock of cut sheaves set up to dry in a field

stot
(n.), bullock, (vb.) bounce, rebound

stound
, feel painful

stour
, dust

strainer
, ‘the main upright of a wire fence' lgg

stravaigings
, wanderings

sumph
, idiot

 supped
, eaten

sutor
, cobbler, (vb.) cobble

swack
, nimble, brisk

sweir
, lazy, idle

sweirty
, sloth, slack period for tradesman

swey
, ‘movable iron bar over a fire, on which pots, kettles etc. can be hung' csd

swither
, (of a pig's head) move uncertainly

swop
, (of a pen) swing, move quickly

syne
, then, next, ago

tacketty
, hob-nailed

ta'en
, taken

taik
, walk, stroll

tanner
, sixpence

tattie
, potato

tee-tee
, teetotal

they
, (a) those

thole
, endure

thrapple
, throat

thrawn
, obstinate

thummikins
, thumbscrew, in which one or both thumbs were compressed tice, entice, coax, wheedle tink, tinker, ‘contemptuous term for a person, specif, a foul-mouthed, vituperative, quarrelsome, vulgar person' csd

tint
, lost

tirr
, tear off (skin), strip

tocher
, inheritance

toff
, upper-class, often fashionably dressed person

Tooje
, a local pet (girl's) name

Tooje
, a local pet (girl's) name

toom
, empty

toun
, farm-settlement, town

trauchle
(n.), careless, incompetent person; mess; long, tiring trudge

trauchled
, burdened, harassed

trig
, tidy, neat

twine
, twist, meander

tyne
, lose

uncalsayed
, unhewn, undressed (of stones)

ulster
, long, loose overcoat

unchancy
, ill-omened, dangerous

unco
, strange, outlandish, enormous

uncouthy
, unfriendly

unsweir
, hectically busy

vallay
, valet

vest
, undershirt

wame
, stomach

wastry
, gross extravagance

wean
, child

well-happed
, well-fleshed

well-kenspeckled
, easily recognisable, ‘trim' lgg

wheeber
, whistle

wheen
, a few

wheest
, hush

wice
, sensible

wight
, blame

wish
(onomat.), move quickly with horses and plough

wynd
, narrow, side street

wyte
(vb.), know, (n.) fault

yammer
, whine, clamour

yavil
, ‘land in harvest the previous year' lgg

yestreen
, yesterday

yherne
, eager

yowl
, howl, yell

  

   

   

First published in Great Britain in 1995
by Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High St, Edinburgh, EH1 1TE

This digital edition first published in 2009
by Canongate Books Ltd

Copyright © Lewis Grassic Gibbon, 1932, 1933 and 1934
Introduction and notes copyright © Tom Crawford, 1988, 1989, 1990

The moral right of the author has been asserted

The publishers gratefully acknowledge general subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council towards the Canongate Classics series

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 84767 446 3

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