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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
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.

CAR, n.¹ Also caur, ker.

As in St.Eng; Sc. forms:Ork. 1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 23:
"Thir's a ker comin' doon the road," interrupted Henrietta.wm.Sc. 1979 Robin Jenkins Fergus Lamont 188:
'Whit wad you say a caur like that cost, Wullie?'wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 5:
Haud yir wheesht, he's no the only yin
To be annoyed by a' the gauns-oot-and-in
And the caurs lined up wheel to wheel ...m.Sc. 1990 Douglas Lipton in Hamish Whyte and Janice Galloway New Writing Scotland 8: The Day I Met the Queen Mother 69:
Gie's fifty-pence tae watch yir caur or Ah'll stick the heid on it.Sc. 1991 T. S. Law in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 33:
A whylsin back that wasnae faur
as haednae seen the furst new caur, ...w.Lth. 2000 Davie Kerr A Puckle Poems 15:
Dick Johnston wants, for safety's sake,
caur lay-bys doun Bridgecastle, ...

Specific Sc. uses, now obs:

1. “A rude cart without wheels for bringing in peats and hay” (w.Dmf. 1925 W. A. Scott in Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 20); “a sledge, car of peculiar make” (wm.Sc. [1835–1837] Laird of Logan (1868) 491, Note). Obs. in Eng. since 15th cent. (N.E.D.).Ayr. 1773 Boswell Tour to Hebrides (1936) 198:
They also have a few sledges, or cars as they are called in Ayrshire, clumsily made. . . . They are made of two crooked trees. Two ends drag on the ground; two lean on a horse, one on each side, like the [thills] of a cart; and for a good way there are cross bars between them and a back of sticks.

2. In combs.: (1) car-graith, the harness needed for a car; (2) car-pillion, a kind of saddle used on a horse drawing a car. See Pillion; (3) car-pin, a bolt or large nail used in a car, prob. for fixing the body to the drawing-shafts; (4) car-rung, the crossbar under a car (Rnf. c.1850 Crawfurd MSS. (N.L.S.) C. 41); (5) car-saddle, cursaddle, “the small saddle put on the back of a carriage horse, for supporting the trams or shafts of the carriage” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²). Also cursaddle (Upp. Clydes. Ib.); (6) car-stang, “the shaft of a cart” (Rxb. Ib.; 1923 Watson W.-B., obs.); cf. cairt-stang s.v. Cairt, n.¹(1) Rnf. 1748 Crawfurd MSS. (N.L.S.) C. 41:
Twa auld Cars and Car-graith.(2) Dmb. 1817 J. Walker Poems 89:
An' carefully collect some rullions, Like hose, or breeks, or auld carpillions.(3)Sc. 1746 Lyon in Mourning (S.H.S.) II. 167:
one Iorn carpin and two stepls(5) Sc. 1769 D. Herd Sc. Songs 294:
A timmer tong, a broken cradle, The pillion of an auld car saddle.

3. A tramcar. Also attrib.Sc. 1994 Herald (18 Oct.)  22:
In pursuit of culture, we found ourselves at the Tramway, the old caur depot on Glasgow's South Side which has become a centre of excellence for really obscure art.Edb. 1938 Fred Urquhart Time Will Knit (1988) 84:
"I came down in the car with Nell Dippy,"Gsw. 1972 Molly Weir Best Foot Forward (1974) 79:
Hours later we would come trailing towards the car terminus at Bishopbriggs, with arms full of wilting blue-bells, heels blistered and sore, and queue up patiently for a tramcar,...Gsw. 1988 George MacDonald Fraser The Sheikh and the Dustbin (1989) 25:
"Ah'd sooner hae a cairter lookin' efter me!" wheezed Uncle. "Heh-heh! Aye or a caur conductor! Ma Goad, ma Goad." "Wheesht, Uncle! Whit'll Mr MacNeill think?"Gsw. 1993 Margaret Sinclair Soor Plooms and Candy Balls 26:
Liftin' oor wee Danny
Get up oan the caur,
Where are ye goin', Missus?
Says the conductor, face that soor.