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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLOB, Blobe, n. and v.

I. n.

1. A drop of moisture, a bubble.Bnff.⁴ 1926:
“Is the corn (crop) dry?” “No, it's jist a blob o' watter” — meaning hanging full of drops of water.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 82:
Wi' faut an' heat I just was like to swelt, An' in a very blob o' sweat to melt.Per. 1869 W. Pyott Lord Ruthven in R. Ford Harp of Perthsh. (1893) 341:
The tears cam' drappin' doon her cheek Like the mornin' blobes o' dew.Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle iii.:
Andy is like a hogshead — a blob of creesh with a turnip on the top.Rxb. c.1885 W. Laidlaw Poetry and Prose (1908) 68:
A sparkling blob o' caller dew Bends down each grassy blade.

Hence, (1) blobby, “rainy” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 13); (2) blobby-like, rainy-looking.(2) Bch. 1928 (per Abd.¹⁵):
Some blobby-like, the day, na?

2. “A blister on the skin, as by burning” (w.–s.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).

3. The bag of a honey-bee.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail xxiii.:
“Father,” said the fool, “I hae catched a muckle bum-bee; will ye help to haud it till I take out the honey blob!”

4. A gooseberry. Sometimes applied to the fruit of the bramble. Also in comb. honey-blob. Given by N.E.D. as applied to a soft round fruit, but with only two examples, one of which is Sc. and means a gooseberry. Eng. quot. gives the meaning of “a cherry.”Sc. 1746 H. Walpole Letters (ed. Toynbee 1903) II. 223:
As he [Lord Balmerino] returned to the Tower, he stopped the coach at Charing Cross to buy honey-blobs, as the Scotch call goose-berries.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Blob. A large gooseberry; so called from its globular form, or from the softness of its skin.Abd.¹⁹ c.1875:
In my young days we called the small yellow gooseberries honey blobs.Edb. 1845 F. W. Bedford Hist. G. Heriot's Hospital (1859) 346:
Naething but hips and haws . . . with some blobs frae the bramble bushes.

5. “A rash” (Bnff.⁹ 1927).

II. v. E.D.D. gives blob, to swell up, and blobber, to bubble, for Eng. dials. only.

1. tr. and intr. To be covered with drops; to blot.Abd.(D) 1924 “Knoweheid” in Swatches o' Hamespun 81:
An' aye . . . he clawed his towsy roch hide That blobbit wi' swyte, fae side te side.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick ii.:
After he'd gotten't he could mak neither heid nor tail o't, it was that sma'-written, forby bein a' blobbit and crunkled.

2. To rob a bee of its honey-bag (E.D.D.); fig., to plunder.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Thir Notandums x.:
He'll blob him like a bumbee.