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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BAL(L)OO, BALOW, BALU, BALILLILOW, int., n.¹, v. [bɑ′lu:, bɑ′lo:, bɑ′lɪlɪ′lo:]

1. int. A word used in hushing a child to sleep.Sc. a.1724 Lady A. Bothwell's Lament in T.T.Misc. (1762) 20:
Balow, my boy, lie still and sleep, It grieves me sore to hear thee weep.Sc.(E) 1925 “H. M'Diarmid” Sangschaw 32:
The bonnie wee craturie lauchs in His crib An' a' the starnies an' he are sib. Baw, baw, my loonikie, baw, balloo.Uls.² 1929:
Baloo, balow, a nursery term.

2. n. A lullaby, a song and tune with the above utterance; sleep produced by this; hence, bed or cradle.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 20:
Syne down on a green Bawk, I trow I took a Nap, And soucht a' Night Balillilow, As sound's a Tap.Sc. 1794 J. Ritson Scotish Songs I. cix. N.:
Theeditor of Select Scotish Ballads pretends, that in a quarto manuscript in his possession, “. . . there are two balowes, as they are there stiled, the first, The balow, Allan, the second, Palmer's balow; this last,” he says, “is that commonly called Lady Bothwell's Lament.”Bnff. 1847 A. Cumming Tales of the North 97:
I thought how young women, by dissimulation, Are often ensnared by the tune o' ba-loo.Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes, etc. 203:
I'll rock you an' sing you a bonny ba-loo.Ags. 1897 J. Whitelaw in A. Reid Bards of Angus and the Mearns 495:
Noo' come to yer ba-loo, an' tak' a lang nappie.Ags. 1921 V. Jacob Bonnie Joann, etc. 39:
An' I'm singin' baloo, baloo!Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 221:
It's blythe, to hear the blackbird sing A balu to the lammy.

3. v. To sing a lullaby.Ayr. 1924 M. B. Robertson in Swatches o' Hamespun 65:
I baloo to my gorbs [chicks] i' their bed.