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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

DUNNER, v.¹, n. Also dinner, -ir; dunder; ¶dander. [′dʌnər Sc., but Abd. + ′dɪnər; ′dʌndər I.Sc., Cai., Uls.]

1. v., intr.

(1) To make a noise like thunder, to rumble, clatter, reverberate, resound, to fall with a resounding noise; to thump, bang, esp. on wood (Ork. 1929 Marw.). Ppl.adj. dund(e)ring. Gen.Sc. Also in Nhb. dial.Sc. 1776 D. Herd Sc. Songs I. 42:
The dandring drums aloud did tuik.Sc. 1932 J. Muir in Scots Mag. (Aug.) 349:
Another more likely version was that he couldn't breathe in because the air dunnered out of his body whenever his foot touched earth.Sh. 1948 New Shetlander (Jan.–Feb.) 11:
With the dead of night I waakened — a dundering, awesome noise seemed to pass overhead.Ork. 1904 Dennison Sketches 2:
The men rooted, and bogled, an' dundered on de roothes o' the boats wi' their ayres.m.Sc. 1870 J. Nicholson Idylls 43:
Noo winter dunners doun the lum, and decks the hills wi' snaw.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 180:
The monie-archit pends a' round Wi' clang and bang did ring and sound, As down he dunner'd on the ground.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 106:
But quaiteness fa's, where yince was unco steer. The tacket drivin' dunners nevermair.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 112:
The buzzing fly hangs on the chace, Oure a' the dund'ring glen.w.Dmf.⁷ 1929:
If a heavy motor passes a house, and makes the house shake, we say “the pan lids fairly dunnert on the wa'.”Rxb. 1820 Edb. Mag. (June) 533:
It gard the divots stour off the house riggins and every caber dunner.Uls. 1987 Sam Hanna Bell Across the Narrow Sea 97:
As father and son reached for the weapons the door shuddered under a great dundering blow.

(2) To move quickly and noisily (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).s.Sc. 1793 T. Scott Poems 365:
[They] wad aften in a jiffe to auld Nick Sen' ane anither dunnerin' saul an' hool.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 189:
She tuk alang the road hersel', As fast as she could dunner.

2. n.

(1) A loud rumbling or reverberating noise (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., 1914 Angus Gl.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); a noisy jollification. Fig. = a commotion (Abd.⁹ 1940, dinner).Sh. 1891 J. Burgess Rasmie's Büddie 14:
An I hear in music fallin Ower da dunder o Life's sea. . . .Sh. 1956 Shetland News (4 Dec.):
The dunder in the little hull had been a jolly affair.Abd. 1929 in Bnffsh. Jnl. (29 Jan.) 2/3:
A chance we'd like to vent oor wae An' mak' a dinnir.Lnk. 1850 J. Struthers Poet. Wks. I. cxxix.:
The dunner of the engine with all its subject machinery has ceased.Lnk. 1881 D. Thomson Musings 47:
. . . . . . wild winter's win, . . . doon the lum howls lood an' lang, Wi' mony a deaf'nin dunner.Dmf. [1777] J. Mayne Siller Gun (1808) 45:
By this time, now, wi' mony a dunner, Auld guns were brattling aff like thunner.

(2) A violent, noisy blow (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn., dundher). Also fig.Sc. 1929 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 360:
A nesty day to take a dunner on the heid — for ony sake, lads, keep the pownies frae neichering.Ayr. 1868 J. K. Hunter Artist's Life 84:
I sent the twa against the disreputed herd wi' a dunner that sent him a bit out o' the road.Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 18:
Although his Maggy on his mind, Did sometimes gie a dunner.Kcb. 1885 A. J. Armstrong Friend and Foe 137:
I was wakened, whan I had just fa'en into a dover o' a sleep, by a loud dunner at the door.

3. Used adv. with gang, play = to make a loud, reverberating noise, to give loud, repeated knocks.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 31:
An' at their door [she] played dunner.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 44:
An', wheesht! I hear the tramp o' war-worn feet, That, airtin' hame, gang dunner on the street.

4. Combs.: †(1) dunnerbreeks, “a person, such as an old cobler, with breeches so barkened or stiff and sleek wi' dirt, that they dunner, when struck, like a dried sheepskin” (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 188); (2) dunder-clugs, a facetious name for a Dutchman, from the noise made by his wooden shoes; (3) dunder-spale, “a spale or thin slip of wood tied to a string and whirled round and round: the slip begins to vibrate and produces a drumming, reverberating note” (Sh.¹¹ 1949).(2) Sh. 1898 W. F. Clark Northern Gleams 49:
Hit's a peety 'at dunder-clugs düsna come dis wy aftner.