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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.

BLUDE, BLUID, Bleed, Blud, Bleid, Bleud, Blöd, n. and v. Also bloed (Sh.). Sc. forms of Eng. blood. See also Blid. [blyd em.Sc.(a), sm.Sc., s.Sc.; blɪd em.Sc.(b), wm.Sc. + blyd (old); blød I.Sc., Ags. + blʌd; blid ne.Sc.]

I. n.1. Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. (1817) xxii.:
For gude blude's scarcer in Scotland than it has been.Sc. 1896 A. Cheviot Proverbs 113:
Gentle deid maks gentle bleid.Sh. 1991 William J. Tait in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 45:
An hert an sowl an boady seem
Pickit wi aa da bloed an ime
O history. Sh. 1993 New Shetlander Sep 29:
Quick, ower quick for da men ta turn me
Fae aa da sight o da blade an da blöd
An da last sprickle ... an fled laek a thing
brunt. Ork.(D) 1907 J. T. S. Leask in Old-Lore Misc., Ork., Sh., etc. I. ii. 64:
Efter restan a peerie meenit an' gettan ceuled an' the bleud rubbed aff, da twa sides hed a kind o' parly.ne.Sc. 1979 Alastair Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 65:
I need the hot medecine o the sun
to cure the swither in the bleed. Mry. 1873 J. Brown Round Table Club 361:
Haly table, cled wi' things that gars a body's bleed curdle in their weins.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 18:
An awful hole was dung intill his brow, An' lappert bleed was smeer'd around his mou'.m.Sc. 1997 Tom Watson Dark Whistle 54:
His lineage hings
Aff breist-bane rid,
His neb an' claws
Wi' ran-dan bluid aye clagged, ... m.Sc. 1997 Liz Niven Past Presents 14:
The skillet skailed, bluid struled
Sutherland cursed tae hae
Sic reid hauns. em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 70:
'That's the trouble wi it - ye canna cry the dugs aff yince their bluid's up.'Edb. 1881 (6th ed.) J. Smith Jenny Blair's Maunderings 44:
I drew up my goun-tails, an walked out like a queen, though my bluid was fairly boilin'.Edb. 1991 J. K. Annand in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 19:
There saw I pearls skailin
And draps o bluid sae reid. wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 21:
"Aye, for bluid," shouted someone not altogether conciliated.
"Is Scots blood," asked Sam, surprised, "not another name for whisky? There's old Tinto: scratch him and see." wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 22:
Introduce ye tae his clan o' cousins, bluid's
Thicker than watter, ... [In the second quot. bleid is prob. the verbal form (O.E. blēdan, to bleed) used for the noun. O.Sc. has blude, bluid, n., from O.E. blōd, of which bleed is the regular ne.Sc. form.]

Phr.: in bluid and bane, in person, in flesh and blood. Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet vii.:
Ay, ay, Mr. Herries of Birrenswork, is this your ainsell in blood and bane?

2. Used with neg.: in sea-taboo usage, a fish caught on a line, a bite.Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.; Sh.⁷ 1935, obsol.:
We're no seen a blud da day.Ags. [1855] A. Douglas History of Ferryden (1857) 84; Edb. 1935 (per Slg.³):
Mither, my father's landed at the little Shorie, an' 'e 'asna gotten a bluid, except twa three dogs.[N.E.D. gives blood, n., IV. 14, a person, as obs., last quot. 1382.]

3. An assault to the effusion of blood. Rxb. 1716 Stitchill Court Bk. (S.H.S.) 174:
Margaret Turnbull is amerciat 50 sh. Scots for ane blood committed be her.

II. v. 1. To cause to bleed.Ags. 1821 A. Wilson Poems 7:
For Geordie's fa'en into the ditch An bluiden a' his mou'.wm.Sc. 1931 J. Ressich The Patentee in Glasgow Herald (14 Feb.):
Jock says: “Aye, I ken what you're thinkin', but ye're a leear an' I'll bluid yer neb if ye say that.”[In both quots. the noun form bluid is used as a verb, in the first quot. with an irregular pa.p. form.]

2. intr.. To bleed, to emit blood (Ork. 1975). Cf. Blood, v. Abd. 1995 Flora Garry Collected Poems 24:
She'd rowe up their bleedit sair bits, sen them duncin furth again.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 66:
He was bluidin' gey sair.m.Lth. 1796 H. MacNeill Waes o' War 17:
On a cart wi' comrades bluiding. Ayr. 1833 J. Kennedy G. Chalmers 79:
He sent her hame ae day bluidin' at baith mooth an nose. Wgt. 1877 "Saxon" Gall. Gossip 112:
Sally went off as if her nose was bluiding.

III. Combs.: (1) ‡bluid-bocht, blöd-boucght, bought with one's life-blood; (2) bluid-brak, a haemorrhage; (3) blöd drap (see quot.); (4) bludfastin, blöd fastin, “absolutely fasting, having eaten nothing during the present day” (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.). Given also by Jak. s.v. blødfastin. Cf. Black-fastin(g); (5) blud friend, bluid —, blöd-freend, “a relation by blood. Commonly used in Sh.” (Sh.⁷ 1935); (6) bleud-freended, related by blood; (7) bluid-o'-the-cross, “the spotted persicaria (characterised by a dull red spot on each leaf: whence the name)” (ne.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); (8) bluid-red, as in St.Eng. blood-red, except in the fig. sense, downright, “dead” (earnest); (9) blood-run, bloodshot. Bleed-run given as Abd. form by Jam.² 1825; Bnff.², Abd.⁹ 1935. Given as Eng. and obs. by N.E.D. with quot. a.1674; (10) blud-, bluidspring, -sprung, in great haste, immediately; (10) bluid-tongue, “the goose-grass, Galium aparine” (w.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Given for Sc. and Chs. in E.D.D.(1) Sh.(D) 1916 J. J. H. Burgess Rasmie's Smaa Murr, Siptember 8:
What's blöd-boucght is ower holy ta fling ta da dugs.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae 'Tween Clyde and Tweed 28:
I stood for God, my Shepherd, on the heichts o' Rullion Green, To keep the bluid-bocht soul o' Scotland free.(2) Abd. 1893 G. MacDonald Heather and Snow xxix.:
He was that forfouchten 'at he hed a bluid-brak in 's breist.(3) Sh.⁷ 1935:
He's no a blöd drap ta me, ilto he hes da sam' name — i.e. he is no relation to me.(4) Sh.(D) 1899 J. Spence Sh. Folk-Lore 146; Sh.⁷ 1935:
He leaves instructions that the ashes of the taand [brand of fire] and the tar that remain in the pot be made into three pills, and these are to be given to the cow blöd fastin on three mornings.[Blöd prob. used as an intensive: fasting to the loss of blood or strength. Cf. Ger. blutarm, Du. bloedarm.] (5) Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.:
Dey'r blud friends.(6) Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Orcad. Sk. Bk. 27:
For they wur baith bleud-freended.(8) Sh.(D) 1918 T. Manson Humours Peat Comm. I. ix.; Abd.²² 1935:
I'm not. I'm in bluid-red ernest. It's a fack I'm gaen ta tell you.(9) Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems II. 12:
With skinny Cheek, pale Lips and blood-run Eyes.(10) Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.:
He set aff bludspring.Sh.(D) 1919 T. Manson Humours Peat Comm. II. xxxiii.; Sh.⁷ 1935, bluidsprung:
Jirry, get da dug an roond up da calf bluidspring.

Phr.: at the blud-, bleedspring, idem (Cai.⁷ 1935).

IV. Phr.: blude abune the breath, bleud —, “to wound above the respiratory organs” (Ork. 1920 J. Firth Reminisc. Ork. Par. (1922) Gloss.).Ib. 72:
There was a superstition that if the disappointed lover could contrive to pull a kip (lock) of hair from the head of his successful rival, or “bleud him abune the breath,” the [wedded] pair would be doomed to ill-luck.