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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLAES, Blaize, Blaise, n.², pl. Also blaze (Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 47), blaies (Sc. 1793 Earl of Dundonald Descr. Culross 5), bleeze.[ble:z]

1. A bluish-grey indurated clay or soft slate. The word is derived from adj. blae, used as a pl. n., and was prob. applied first to the laminated variety. (See quots.) Gen.Sc.Sc. 1724 State, Fraser of Fraserfield, etc. Lett. A. 345 (Jam.):
The mettals I discovered were a coarse free stone and blaes.Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 10:
Blaes, shale; laminated clay; indurated mud.Ayr. 1890 Trans. Highl. Soc. II.107:
Several bleeze or shale heaps-refuse in taking out the ironstone.Sc. 1913 H. M. Cadell Story of the Forth 16:
Blaes. The Scots name for carbonaceous, as opposed to oil shale [or the carbonaceous shale of the coal-measures, as opposed to coal (Abd.¹⁶)].Sc. 1957 Northern Scot 16 Feb :
Moshie, on the other hand, required...a pavement of packed cinder or blaze.Edb. 1845 Stat. Acc.² I. 3:
Above, are layers of a coarser limestone, called by the workmen blaes, alternating with layers of bituminous shale.Rnf. 1920 Memoirs Geol. Survey Scot., Gl.:
Blaes, mudstone, or shale in the geological sense, not containing much bituminous matter.Gsw. 1920 Glasgow Herald (9 June):
The committee had before them a report . . . as to the cost of levelling the blaes heaps.Gsw. 1920 Memoirs Geol. Survey Scot. 59:
The section at Nitshill Quarry was “coal with thin irregular strata of blaize, 2 ft. 6 in.”

Comb.: blaes and balls, “blaes with ironstone nodules imbedded” (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 10).

2. (See quot.)Ayr.⁴ 1928:
Blaise, refuse from burnt ironstone.