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bonspiel (bon-speel) A bonspiel is a curling tournament. Originally they were held outdoors on frozen lochs. [The origin of the term is uncertain, but it seems to be of Dutch or Flemish derivation: the second part is related to Dutch spel and German Spiel meaning game]
bonxie (bonk-si) The bonxie is the Shetland name for the great skua: The Arctic skua is smaller than the great skua, or “bonxie”, but even more aggressive. [The word is probably of Scandinavian origin]
bool A bool is one of the large black balls used in the game of bowling, or among children, a marble. The games of bowling and marbles are both known as bools. If someone is described as speaking with a bool in their mou or mooth they are regarded as having an affectedly posh accent.
boorach or bourach (boo-raCH) A boorach is a word used in Northeastern Scotland to mean a group of assorted people or things. In the Highlands, boorach has the slightly different meaning of a mess or a disorderly state or heap. [Both senses are from the Gaelic bùrach a digging]
Borderer A Borderer is someone who lives in, or comes from, the area along the border between Scotland and England, in Scottish use particularly someone who lives on the Scottish side of the border.
Borders
Borders The Borders is the area of Southern Scotland near the border with England, extending from the Solway Firth just south of Gretna in the west to a few miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the east. The Scottish Borders is the name of a council area that extends inland from the East Coast to where it meets Dumfries and Galloway, about twenty kilometres inland from the eastern end of the Solway Firth.
bosie (rhymes with cosy) Bosie is a Northeastern word meaning an embrace or cuddle: Gie’s a bosie. The bosie is the bosom: Stick that flooer in yer bosie.
bothan (both-an) In the Western Isles, a bothan is a building where alcohol is illegally sold and drunk. [The name comes from the Gaelic word for a hut]
bothy (rhymes with frothy) The word bothy has a variety of meanings, all of which ultimately have to do with it being a hut used for shelter. Historically, a bothy was a building on a farm providing eating and dormitory facilities for unmarried farm workers, most common in the Northeast. Nowadays, the term has come to mean a hut or cabin where workers, for instance those on a building site, can go to shelter from bad weather, for a tea break, or to eat. A bothy is also a sparsely furnished hut or cottage which hillwalkers or climbers can use for shelter or overnight accommodation. The plural is bothies.
bothy ballad A bothy ballad is a type of folk song which originated among farmworkers in Northeast Scotland. It usually deals with everyday rural life, often in a bawdy manner.
bottling A bottling is the Glasgow name for a pre-wedding ritual in which the bride-to-be is dressed up in outlandish clothes and paraded through the streets by her female friends and relatives to the accompaniment of banging potlids. Any man such a group stumbles across is expected to give them money in return for the privilege of kissing the bride. In some other parts of Scotland where this is carried out, for instance parts of Lanarkshire, it is known as a creeling.
bourach (boor-aCH) A variant of boorach.
bowff or bouff (bowf) 1 To bowff is to smell strongly and unpleasantly, like something which has decayed and gone off: Eeugh! This beer’s bowffin! A bowff is a strong unpleasant smell. 2 To bowff is also to bark, or to speak aggressively or cough in a way reminiscent of barking.
bowly or bowlie (rhymes with jowly) Someone who is bowly or bowly-legged has bow legs: his rounded shoulders and bowly legs.
box 1 The box is an informal name for the accordion, often used in Scottish country dancing or folk music circles: He is a singer and a good box player.2 Someone’s box is their head. This sense is usually enountered in the idioms out of one’s box meaning very drunk, or to do one’s box in meaning to baffle or exhaust mentally.
boy A boy is an apprentice.
brae (bray) A brae is a hill or hillside. In place names such as the Gleniffer Braes, the word braes means a hilly upland area.
braeheid (bray-heed) The braeheid or the heid o the brae is the area at the top of a hill.
bramble In Scotland, bramble is a name for the blackberry fruit and not just the blackberry bush. To go brambling is to go out picking blackberries.
brammer A brammer is a West of Scotland slang term for something very good: Is that a new tie? It’s a brammer. [The word may be a Scottish form of the army slang term brahma with the same meaning, and possibly comes via the former British military presence in India from Brahma, who is one of the most important Hindu gods, and hence worthy of great respect and admiration]
brander A brander is the metal grating covering a drain in the street.
braw
braw Something which is braw is fine or excellent: It’s a braw day. [The word is a Scots form of brave]
bree The liquid in which something edible has been boiled or left to soak is known as bree. Some types of soup are also traditionally called bree, such as partan bree, a type of crab soup. In the Northeast, to bree potatoes or other vegetables is to drain the water from them after they have been boiled. Barley bree is a poetic or old-fashioned name for whisky.
breeks Breeks are trousers or, occasionally, underpants. [The word is a Scottish form of breeches]
breenge To breenge is to go somewhere or do something in a hasty and forceful, and usually clumsy or thoughtless, manner: He breenged his way through the crowd. A breenge is a forceful but clumsy rush.
breenger (breenge-er) In West Central Scotland, a breenger is a person who acts impetuously and without proper thought.
breid (breed) Breid is the Scots word for bread. In parts of the Northeast, it also means oatcakes.
bridie A bridie is a type of semi-circular pie or pasty consisting of pastry folded over a minced meat and onion filling. They originated in the town of Forfar in Northeast Scotland, and are therefore sometimes known as Forfar bridies. [They were apparently originally served at weddings, hence the name, which is a shortening of bride’s pie]
brig A brig is a bridge.
broch (rhymes with loch) A broch is a type of wide round stone tower, dating from the Iron Age, which was large enough to serve as a fortified home. The ruins of brochs can still be seen in various places, mainly in the North and the Islands.
Brocher (broCH-er) A Brocher is someone from the towns of Fraserburgh or Burghead in Northeast Scotland. [The name comes from an old sense of broch, a burgh or town, still used as local nicknames for Fraserburgh and Burghead]
brocht (brawCHt) Brocht means brought: He’s been weel brocht up.
brock (rhymes with lock) or bruck (rhymes with luck) Brock is rubbish or broken or leftover pieces: He called the plan “a load o bruck”. [The word ultimately comes from the Old English brecan to break]
brogan (rhymes with slogan) Originally a brogan was a type of Highland shoe made from untanned hide and stitched with leather thongs, but nowadays it is used to refer to any type of heavy walking shoe, especially the brogue, a style of shoe decorated with a pattern of perforations along the seams. [The word comes from the Gaelic bròg a shoe, plus the diminutive ending -an]
broo A variant of buroo.
brook In the Northeast, soot is known as brook. Something which is brookie or brookit is sooty or dirty.
brose (rhymes with rose) Brose is an old-fashioned porridge-like dish consisting of oatmeal or peasemeal mixed with boiling water, a pinch of salt, and sometimes some butter. See also Atholl brose.
bruck (rhymes with luck) The usual Orkney and Shetland form of brock.
bubble To bubble is to cry, snivel, or weep: The wean came in from school bubblin. A bubble is a cry: She had a wee bubble at the end of the picture.
bubbly Someone who is bubbly is in, or on the point of, tears, or is sulking: Ah thought ye wantit to go. Well stick, bubbly!
bubbly jock A bubbly jock is a male turkey. [It is probably so called because of the noise it makes]
bucket In Scotland, a bucket can be a wastepaper bin or dustbin as well as a pail: Chuck it in the bucket, will you?A bucket is any undefined but large amount of alcohol. In this sense the word is usually encountered in phrases such as we’d both had a fair bucket or he takes a good bucket.
buckie
buckie A buckie is a whelk, a type of shellfish with a snail-like shell, some varieties of which are edible. [The term comes from buccinum, the Latin name for a whelk]
Buckie Buckie is an informal name for Buckfast, a tonic wine (brewed in Buckfast Abbey, Devon), the cheapness and strength of which make it popular with those whose aim is to get drunk as quickly as possible: C’mon we’ll get blootered on Buckie before the game.
Buddy A person from Paisley is sometimes referred to as a Paisley Buddy. St Mirren, Paisley’s professional football team, are nicknamed the Buddies. [The word comes from the pronunciation of the Scots word body, a person]
Bully Wee The Bully Wee is the nickname of Clyde football team. [The name comes from bully, an old-fashioned term meaning fine or admirable, plus wee reflecting the fact that Clyde were always one of the less powerful and successful of the Glasgow teams. (They now play in Cumbernauld)]
bum To bum is to boast or brag. A boaster or conceited person can be spoken of contemptuously as a bum. [These senses come from the earlier Scots sense, to make a humming or buzzing noise]
bumbaleerie (bum-bah-leer-ree) The bumbaleerie is an informal, often jocular, term for the backside.
bumfle A bumfle is a wrinkle, crease, or fold in something. If something is bumfled or bumfled up, it is untidily wrinkled or creased: My skirt had got all bumfled up at the back. [The word comes from the earlier Scots bumph meaning a lump or bump]
bummer In informal speech, a heid bummer is someone who holds a position of power or authority in a place or organization: The site gaffer told his men to make an effort because lots of heid bummers drive past there.
bum up To bum something up is to claim that it is very good, or to make it out to be better than it really is: Ach, it was okay, but it’s no all it’s bummed up to be.
bunnet The word bunnet usually refers to a man’s soft flat peaked cap. It can however be used of almost any flattish male headgear, such as a Tam o’ Shanter or balmoral, and is sometimes also used of similar hats or caps worn by women.
bunnet hustler A bunnet hustler is someone, usually middle-class or with a well-paid job, who deliberately puts on what they think is a working-class manner, or is excessively proud of their working-class origins; a derogatory Glaswegian term.
burgh (burr-a) A burgh is a town, specifically one which has been granted a charter by the monarch (a Royal Burgh) or by a noble (a Burgh of Barony) which formerly allowed the town certain legal privileges such as the right to hold a town fair and have its own town council: A host of events are being staged in the town to mark the 400th anniversary of the granting of burgh status; the burgh surveyor. [The word is the Scottish form of borough]
burgh hall A burgh hall is the same as a town hall: The meeting is to be held at the Burgh Halls in Linlithgow.
burn A burn is the usual Scots word for a stream or brook. Burn is often used as part of the name of a stream: the Swilcan Burn.
Burns Night The 25th of January, the anniversary of the birth of the poet Robert Burns (1759–96), is known as Burns Night, and a tradition has developed of celebrating his life and work on that date.
Burns Supper A Burns Supper is a meal held on or near Burns Night to celebrate the life and work of Robert Burns. It traditionally opens with a haggis ceremonially being brought into the room to the accompaniment of bagpipes. After someone has recited Burns’ poem “Address to a Haggis”, the haggis is eaten with turnips and mashed potatoes. After the meal, a speaker proposes a toast to “The Immortal Memory” of Robert Burns, before the evening continues with a variety of other toasts. The first Burns Supper was held in Edinburgh in 1815. They were originally men-only events.
buroo
buroo (buh-roo or broo) or broo The buroo is money that is paid to people who are unemployed, or the office at which people sign on for this benefit: Has your buroo money come through yet? To be on the buroo is to be unemployed. [The term comes from Employment Bureau, a former name for a Jobcentre]
bursar In Scotland, the word bursar can refer to a student who holds a bursary as well as to the chief finance officer in a university or college.
bursary A bursary is a scholarship or grant awarded to a student, either from a university or a local authority, usually as a result of financial hardship or obtaining one of the best marks in a special exam held by certain universities (a bursary competition). [The word ultimately comes from the Latin bursa a purse]
burst The phrase a hunger or a burst indicates that the speaker thinks there is always too little or too much of something, but never the right amount: We’re either sitting twiddling our thumbs or rushing about trying to do three jobs at once: it’s aye a hunger or a b urst around here.
but 1 In the Glasgow area, but is often used as the last word of a sentence to emphasize what has been said in the rest of the sentence, especially when this contradicts or qualifies what has previously been said, either by the speaker or by someone else: He’s dead nice. Ah dinnae fancy him but; Ah’m no goin till Tuesday but.2 A but is the kitchen or outer room of a house, especially of the two-roomed cottage known as a but-and-ben. 3 But is the past tense of bite.
but-and-ben (but-and-ben) A but-and-ben is a type of old-fashioned rural cottage consisting of two rooms, usually a kitchen and living room.
Bute (byoot) Bute is an island and historic county in the West of Scotland, at the north end of the Firth of Clyde. It is now part of the Argyll and Bute council area.
Bute House Bute House is a house in Charlotte Square in Edinburgh which is the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland. [It is named after the Marquess of Bute, who bequeathed the house to the National Trust for Scotland in 1966]
buttery A buttery is a type of crumbly, butter-rich, bread roll originating in the Aberdeen area: Two cups of coffee and a couple of butteries, please. Also called (in the Northeast) buttery rowie or rowie.
by In phrases such as put by or lay by, by means aside or away: I’ll put the rest by for you and you can collect it later.By also means past: The rolls are by their best but still eatable; Ach well, that’s Christmas by for another year.
bye A bye or a bye kick is a goal kick at football, taken when an attacker has kicked the ball out of play over the goal line. While it is in general use, most commentators and sports journalists prefer to use the more formal “goal kick”: Are you blind, ref? That was a bye, no a corner! To give something a bye is to decide not to do it, or, if you are already doing it, to stop: “We’re gaun up the toon for a pint. Fancy comin?” “Naw, Ah’ll gie it a bye the night”; That’s a dreadful racket. Gie it a bye, will ye! [This sense comes from the sense of a team progressing automatically to the next round of a competition without having to play a game, either because it has been seeded or because there is an uneven number of competitors]
byke (bike) or bike A byke is a wasps’ nest.
byre (rhymes with wire) A byre is a shed or stable where cows are kept.
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ca’ or caa (caw) Ca’ means the same as call (in all its senses). Ca’ also means to drive or propel: to ca’ nails into a wall. To ca’ canny means to be cautious or take care: Ca’ canny along this road. To ca’ the feet frae someone is to send them sprawling.
caber (rhymes with labour) A caber is a heavy section of trimmed tree trunk thrown in competition at Highland Games. The caber must be thrown so that it lands away from the thrower and on its heavy end. The sport of throwing cabers in competition is known as tossing the caber. [The word comes from Gaelic cabar a pole]
caddis Caddis is a Northeastern word for fluff, especially the kind which accumulates under a bed.
cadger A cadger is a person who travels from place to place buying and selling goods, especially fish. A cadger is also a carrier of goods.
cadie (rhymes with lady) In Central Scotland, a man’s flat cap is sometimes referred to as a cadie.
cahoutchie or cahoochy (ka-hootch-ee) Cahoutchie is an old-fashioned word for rubber: a cahoutchie ball. [The word is adapted from the French word for rubber caoutchouc]
cailleach (kale-yaCH or kal-yaCH) In North and West Scotland, a cailleach is an old woman: My memory of her is of a vague chain-smoking cailleach in eccentric garb and heavy henna. [The word is Gaelic]
cairt 1 A cairt is a cart. 2 A cairt is also a playing card.
cairtie (care-tee) A cairtie is the name given in some areas to a child’s homemade vehicle constructed from pram wheels, wooden boxes, etc. Also called (elsewhere) bogie, geggie, hurlie, or piler.
Caithness (caith-ness) Caithness is a historic county at the extreme northeastern tip of the Scottish mainland. It is now part of the Highland council area.
Caledonia Caledonia is the poetic name for Scotland or the Highlands: Caledonia, stern and wild. Something which is Caledonian relates to Scotland or the Scots: He failed to appreciate the nuances of Caledonian humour. [Caledonia was the Roman name for Northern Britain]
Caley (rhymes with rally) The word Caledonian, when part of a place or other name, is often shortened to the informal Caley: D’ye go doon the Caley Road?Caley or Caley Thistle is used as a nickname of the football club Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Caley Thistle were beaten by St Johnstone in the third round.
call In Scotland’s Presbyterian churches, a call is an invitation to a clergyman by a congregation to become its minister: The minister of Scalpay Free Church in Harris has accepted a call to Toronto Free Church.
callant (kal-ant) or callan A callant is a young man or a lad. [The word comes from the Dutch kalant customer, fellow]
caman (kam-an) In shinty, the caman is the long stick with a curved head with which the players hit the ball. [The word is Gaelic]
camanachd (kam-an-aCH) Camanachd is the Gaelic name for shinty which is often used in connection with the sport. The Camanachd Association is the game’s ruling body. The Camanachd Cup is the premier annual cup competition.
Campbeltown (kam-bell-town) A Campbeltown whisky is one produced around the town of Campbeltown at the southern end of Kintyre. The town was formerly one of the main Scottish distilling centres, although there are now only three working distilleries there.
camstairy
camstairy (kam-stair-ee) or camsteerie (kam-steer-ee) Camstairy means quarrelsome, stubborn, or unruly.
canary To have a canary is to throw a tantrum or have an emotional outburst: She’ll have a canary when she sees this mess.
Candlemas The 2nd of February, Candlemas, is one of the four quarter days or term days in Scotland.
canna (rhymes with manna) or cannae (rhymes with granny) In many parts of Scotland, canna means cannot: Ye canna park here; I cannae be bothered.
canny Canny has a number of meanings the first of which, astute or cautious with money, is in general usage throughout Britain. Canny also means good or nice: bonnie wee thing, canny wee thing.Canny can mean lucky or fortunate. In Scottish (and Northeast English) dialect, canny means rather or quite: I’ve been waiting a canny long while.
cantrip or cantraip A cantrip is a spell or magic charm: By some devilish cantrip slight, each in its cold hand held a light. To cast cantrips is to perform magic spells: A witch, that for sma’ price, can cast her cantraips, and give me advice. A cantrip is also a playful trick or a sleight of hand.
