Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CLOSHACH, CLOSSACH, Clushach, n. Confined to ne.Sc. [′klɔʃəx, ′klɔsəx, ′klʌʃəx]

1. “The carcase of a fowl” (Mry.¹ 1925; Abd.²² 1936); “a person lying in a heap; a dead body” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.).Bnff. a.1829 J. Sellar Poems (1844) 52: 
Will buried be deep in the tomb, Just wi' our clossach.Abd. c.1870 Old Rhyme (per D. J. Mitchell):
Beggar's advice to a family disputing the division of a goose: The gray gweedman, the gray goose-heid, The gray gweedwife, the nibbock o't, The fower lads, the fower langs, An' the peerman, the closhach o't.

2. “An untidy mass” (Abd.⁶ 1913; Abd.² 1936); “a large mass of anything, particularly of anything semi-liquid” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 27, clossach).Bnff. 1924 Burnie's Jeannie in Swatches o' Hamespun 16:
Taul ye her o' yon clossach o' croods in the middle o' yon haaf-pun o' butter ye tried to paan on to me?

3. A hoard of money saved up (Bnff.², Ags.² 1936).Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes, etc. 109:
And left a clushach i' the moggan In times o' 'stress to keep them joggin'.Abd.(D) 1903 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 81:
Auld Parkie's said to hae a gryte closhach o' siller.

4. In phr. the haill clossach, “the whole quantity, or the whole number” (Bnff. 1866 D. Bnff. 27; Bnff.², Abd.⁹ 1936).