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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

FLOUR, n., v. Also flo(o)er, floo'er, flouer, floo(w)r; †fleur (Sc. 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah xliii. 23); †flure (Sc. 1898 L. Walford Leddy Marget 212); ¶flewer (Mry. 1927 E. B. Levack Lossiemouth 29). [′flu:(ə)r]

I. n. 1. Sc. forms and usage of Eng. flower: a bunch of flowers, a nosegay, bouquet (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 51; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.). Gen.Sc. Dims. floorie; floorack (n.Sc. 1933 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 388). Also adj. flooery.Edb. 1714 W. Maitland Hist.Edb. (1753) 327:
All who are permitted to cry Gazettes and other Papers, or to sell Roses and Flowers (Nosegays).Sc. 1881 A. Mackie Scotticisms 35:
Each of the bridesmaids had a magnificent flower in her hand.Per. 1910 W. Blair Kildermoch 108:
To steek his e'en an' streak his corp, an' pit a bit flo'er on his grave.Edb. 1979 Albert D. Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 45:
The sowl's a flouer that blossoms in the harnpan. em.Sc. 1979 Alan Bold in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 38:
There's a gowdmine under Largo Law
An' it's still aa in ane piece;
The gowden floo'ers shine wi' it,
The sheep hae gowden fleece. ne.Sc. 1991 Lilianne Grant Rich in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 24:
Noo maisterfu, the floodtide saut-flung sea
Haps ilka glintin rock oot ower its heid
Like wreaths o white flooers on the coffin tap
O them that's deid. Sc. 1991 John McDonald in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 89:
Atween twa days
the gean's cam wechty
wi a freithin o flouers. Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 60:
The caur wisna jist rinnin-it wis really drinkin the street up, an the engin wis birrin wi luve, like bees in spring ower a flooery leys. Dundee 2000 Ellie McDonald Pathfinder 3:
I mak wee draains
doun the margin o the page. ... the leaves an flouers
are lippin owre
the edges o the paper ... em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 88:
' ... It's no worth it.' To the paramedic he said, 'Where are ye takin him?'
'The Royal. How, ye gaunae send him flooers?'

2. Phrs.: (1) flowers of Edinburgh, the obnoxious smells arising from the garbage and night-soil thrown into the street from the houses after nightfall in 18th cent. Edinburgh. Cf. Gardyloo. The expression is referred to as early as 1773 in R. Fergusson's Auld Reikie ll. 39–40, 206–7, On seeing a Butterfly, ll. 45–6, and seems to originate in a pun between O.Sc. †flewers, flavours, odours, and flowers. Cf. the well-known dance-tune, The Flowers of Edinburgh, dating c.1740, where “Flowers” prob. means the young beauties of the town; (2) flowers o' the Forest, see Forest; (3) flour o' the wall, — water, the first water drawn from the well in the New Year. Cf. Crap, n.¹, 4. (5).(1) Edb. 17.. in J. Kay Orig. Portraits (1842) II. 4:
The night “flowers of Edinburgh” being somewhat different in their perfume from the sabæan odours recorded by Milton, the moment ten o'clock struck, his guests were under the necessity of burning pieces of papers, which they strewed on the floor, to counteract the overpowering exhalations from the street.(3) Peb. 1800 Edb. Mag. (Dec.) 476:
Upon the morning of the first day of the new year, the country lassies are sure to rise as early as possible, if they have been in bed, which is seldom the case, that they may get the flower, as it is called, or the first pail-full of water from the well.Abd. a.1897 Cal. Customs Scot. (1939) II. 100:
The water first drawn . . . was called “the floor o' the wall,” i.e. the flower of the well. Whoever was the first to draw water got all the luck of the year.Gall. 1939 F. D. Carnell Old Sc. Custom 32–3:
In parts of Galloway, the old belief still exists that water drawn at midnight before New Year has peculiar luck-bringing qualities and will undoubtedly help a girl who draws it to find a husband before next Hogmanay. The first jugful is termed the “flower” or the “cream” and on the stroke of midnight there is a keen competition among the girls to secure it.

†3. In dim. or deriv. forms flowerie, fleurie, the ace of spades (Teviotdale 1825 Jam.), from the florid ornamentation usually found on this card to mark the payment of excise duty.

4. Sc. forms and usage of Eng. flour: the meal of wheat, as distinguished from the meal of oats, barley and pease (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Gen.Sc. Hence adj., flourie; fleury (Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. vi. 233); dim. flourock, a flour scone. Also used attrib. and in combs.: flour(ie) breid, wheaten bread (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ork.¹ 1952, flourie-). Cf. Breid, n., 2.; flour-meal, wheaten flour (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 247); floury docken, goosefoot, Chenopodium Bonus Henricus or album (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.), from the powdery substance on the leaves.Abd. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ IV. 322:
It was happy for the poor that flour that year was cheap, for the poorer sort did at that time used flour-bread.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 146:
Whan I was a callant, I ne'er saw flour breid in my faither's hoose.Dmf. 1912 J. and R. Hyslop Langholm 726:
She's taen guid care tae eat a' the flourocks afore she crossed the Jordan.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 63:
And weigh oot floor wi' a carefu' pride.Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 14:
A bit o' a flooer bannock clined wi' a air o' saxpenny marjereen.

II. v.

Sc. form of Eng. flowering.Lnk. 1998 Duncan Glen Selected New Poems 12:
On me the thocht
o the lang, lang years o shot kail
flooerin owre aw Scotland.

1. To embroider flowers or similar designs, esp. on muslin and cambric. Gen.Sc. Vbl.n. flooerin, fine embroidery, esp. that done in Ayrshire in the early 19th cent.; also in comb. flowering-web, id.Rnf. 1814 J. Sinclair Gen. Report Agric. Scot., App. II. 320:
Another source of employment arose, here, from a successful imitation of the Needle-work of the Continent, in the introduction and most rapid extension of the Flowering and Tambour work of Flanders.Ayr. 1826 Galt Lairds vii.:
She made her leeving by seamstress-wark and floowring lawn.Dmf. 1857 J. W. Carlyle Letters (1883) II. 377:
Ann flowered me a most lovely collar.Ayr. c.1860 J. A. Morris Art of Ayr. Needlework (1916) 15:
Often in the outskirts of towns, one would be stopped on the road by a poor worker, with the words “Will ye buy a wee bit flooerin'?” taking it out hesitatingly from beneath her shawl.Ayr. 1894 K. Hewat Little Sc. World i.:
Locally the industry was called “Flowering-web.”m.Sc. 1917 “O. Douglas” Setons xvi.:
I made this goon when I was a lassie for ma marriage. They ca'ed this “flowering.” I mind fine sittin' sewin' it on simmer efternunes.Ayr. 1939 Catalogue Sc. Art. Exhib. in London 209:
Ayrshire white needlework, or “flowering” as it is called locally, is one of the few traditional handicrafts of Scotland. It flourished in Ayrshire in the late 18th century — no examples can be authenticated earlier than 1795–but came to an untimely end in the 19th.Lnk. 2000 Scots Magazine Feb 208:
Flowering, which was a sort of embroidery and an occupation for the women and girls, was another source of income that enabled the villagers to "get by" when times were hard.

2. To weave a flower or similar ornate pattern, esp. in Paisley shawl-making. Hence (1) flooerer, a Paisley pattern weaver; (2) flower-lasher, id. (see quots.) and vbl.n. flower-lashing.(1) Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 5:
There was darners and clippers, and flowerers, Wi' bleachers fu' trig frae the braes.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Notandums 67:
The flooerers cuist their wabs in the fire, the weavers brak their lumes, and the haill toun gaed daft thegither.(2) wm.Sc. 1842 Children in Trades Report ii. i. 32:
The pattern so drawn is sent to the “flower-lasher,” to be arranged for the loom. . . . As each yellow square is seen he twines a string, called a “lash,” behind each thread in the simple.Rnf. 1876 D. Gilmour Paisley Weavers (1879) 23:
Flower-lashing had become an important branch of industry in connection with our local manufacture, and the patterns, instead of being read on in the weaving shop, were given to the weavers on the simple, headed and bridled, ready to attach to the harness-tail.Rnf. 1950 per R. Galloway:
Flower-lasher. An operative in the weaving of Paisley Shawls. This was a very skilled trade. Threads were tied to the warp threads at appropriate points according to the colour required. These threads hung down below the warp and were pulled down by the drawer at the appropriate time to be caught into the pattern, thus changing the colour. The adoption of the Jacquard loom brought this to an end and the word died out with the operatives.

3. In ppl.adj. flour'd, flower'd, of sheep, scabby, losing their wool (Teviotdale 1825 Jam.), and vbl.n. flowering, the white discoloration on the wool of a sheep which precedes the outbreak of scab.Slk. 1869 Trans. Highl. Soc. 346:
In the first stage of the disease a spot of a whiter hue is observed than the general colour of the coat, and is commonly termed "flowering" by shepherds.