Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

COLLOP, n. A thickish slice of meat. Often minced collops, slices of meat minced before cooking (Sc. 1929 F. M. McNeill Scots Kitchen 135). Collop is given as “hardly current now in Eng.” (Un. Eng. Dict.). Fig. = a portion (see Scott quot.). Gen.Sc. [′kɔləp]Sc. 1718 Ramsay Chr. Kirk iii. xxiii. in Poems (1721):
Ithers frae aff the Bunkers sank, Wi' Een like Collops scor'd.Sc. 1814 Scott Waverley (1817) xxiii.:
“A steak-raid,” that is “a collop of the foray,” or, in plainer words, a portion of the robber's booty, paid by him to the laird, or chief, through whose grounds he drove his prey.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 128:
It's a sary collop that's taen aff a chicken.ne.Sc. 1884 D. Grant Lays and Leg. of the North (1908) 8:
Until her e'en were baith as red As collops newly cut.Edb. 1844 H. Macneill Poet. Wks. 88:
Removes ilk dish whar late, fu' dainty, Stood roasted hen, and collops plenty.

Comb.: †coltop-tangs, tongs for roasting slices of meat or game before a fire.Ayr. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize I. xiv.:
Roasting me o'er the low like a laverock in his collop-tangs.