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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

FICKLE, adj.¹, v., n. Also fichle, fichil, feckle. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. fickle.

I. adj. 1. Difficult, tricky (Ork., ‡Abd., Per., m.Lth., Rnf. 1950).Edb. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 150:
Some says I ha'e a fickle job, Baith troublesome an' fashious.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 100:
Hid's no' the lad wha's tong' can creuk Roond fickle words o' an auld beuk.Bwk. 1897 R. M. Calder Poems 255:
There's mony a bairn been urged to strive When fickle tasks were grievin'.

2. Of places, footholds, etc.: treacherous, insecure, unsteady.Lth. 1883 M. Oliphant Ladies Lindores II. xvi.:
It's a fickle corner in the dark. . . . A wrong step. . . .Per. 1900 E.D.D.:
That is an unco fickle scaffold. Ye've fickle grun' to gang on.

II. v. 1. To puzzle, perplex (Lth. 1808 Jam.; Inv., Fif., Lth., Peb., s.Sc. 1951); to “stump.”Fif. 1812 W. Ranken Poems 117:
She's working now as weel's she dow, To clean her rhymes o' pob an' tow, Tho' sair it does her fickle.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xviii.:
“Sir,” replied the controversialist, “You cannot fickle me sae easily as you do opine.”s.Sc. 1847 H. S. Riddell Poems 11:
Yet fickled as we thus are here, Our fate might been a waur ane.Lth. 1856 M. Oliphant Lilliesleaf xxviii.:
It fickled Rhoda as sore as her German book, if she had put it into my hands, would have fickled me.Sc. 1934 J. Buchan Free Fishers xvi.:
Eben will come by sea, the wind and tide bein' what they are — ye'll no fickle Bob wi' wind and tide.

Hence fickler, a puzzle, a baffling problem, a tricky task or question (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; m.Lth.¹, Rxb.⁵ 1950).

2. “To outdo (another) by a dare” (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).Sc. 1825 Aberdeen Censor I. 155:
The Laird was like to burst wi' rage at being fickled by sic a hag-ma-hush carle.

III. n. 1. A puzzle (Rxb. 1942 Zai), a riddle; a dilemma (Bwk. 1942 Wettstein); perplexity.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin i.:
At what precise period o' the Christian Dispensation . . . the Bodkins first obtained a settlement in Buttonhole, is a fickle that has perplexed my noddle.Fif. 1897 “S. Tytler” Lady Jean's Son xv.:
They retired to the kitchen to try Eppie Caw and auld Nick with “fickles.”Sc.(E) 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ iii. xxvii.:
Ye'se nevir be i' lown nar lowse frae feckle.

2. A challenge to a difficult feat, a dare (Fif. 1909 Colville 128, fichil; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). In pl., a game of such feats (Rxb. 1923 Ib.).

IV. Combs.: 1. fickle H's, noughts and crosses (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); †2.fickle-pins, “a game in which a number of rings are taken off a double wire united at both ends” (Per., Knr. 1825 Jam.; Fif. 1890 A. Burgess Poute 65, fichil-).