Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

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

FRAUCHT, n., v. Also fracht, fraacht, frawght. Sc. forms and usages of obs. Eng. fraught. [m.Sc. frǫxt, I., n., sm.Se frɑxt]

I. n. †1. The act of carrying or a single instance of it.Abd. 1778 A. Ross Helenore 71:
I loot a claught, And took a hundred dollars at a fraught.Bnff. c.1870 in W. Barclay Schools Bnff. (1925) 130:
It wad hae ta'en a' the nowt o' Bohairm ower tae America at ae fracht.

2. The hire of a boat; the price paid for it, a fare, passage- or freight-money (Cai., Arg. 1953).Sc. 1700 Foulis Acct. Bk. (S.H.S.) 281:
Aug. 1: for breakfast at enderkeithing . . . 0. 16. 0. for fraught over for myselfe, pat. jonst., Ja. Gray 0. 16. 6.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 318:
Tarry Breeks pays no Fraught. . . . People of a Trade assist one another mutually.Mry. 1729 E. D. Dunbar Social Life (1865) 57:
To fraught of 36 hogsheads from Cromarty to Burghhead . . . £2. 2. 8.Sc. 1776 Dundee Weekly Mag. (14 June):
She had scarcely as much as paid her fraught when she came to Dundee.Sc. 1834 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) IV. 81:
[They] were on the eve o' emigratin to America. They had secured their fraucht and passage.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 18:
He sent wis wir fraucht, an' bade wis come an' see him.

3. A load, a burden, lit. and fig.; specif. as much as can be carried or transported at one time by one person, hence two pailfuls, esp. of water, two cart-loads of peats, turnips or the like, one carter being able to lead two horses at once (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 54; I. and n.Sc., Ags., Fif. 1953). In Ork. freight is used in this sense (Ork. 1949 “Lex” But-end Ballans 12). Phr.: a fracht o' fire, two loads of peat for fuel (Abd.⁸ 1917). See Fire, n., 2.Abd. 1719 Monymusk Papers (S.H.S.) 76:
To dito at Aberdeen with the first fraught of the meal, . . . other fraughts at £1 18s. each.Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 31:
They met: an' aff scour'd for their fraught.Cai. 1869 M. Maclennan Peasant Life 18:
Jock one evening came upon May who had just filled her pails, and he silently stepped into the hoop and walked away with the “fraught.”Ags. 1891 Barrie Little Minister iii.:
To carry a fraught of water to the manse without spilling was to be superlatively good at one thing.Sc.(E) 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ i. xx.:
What bring ye hame? Nocht bot a fraucht upo' yer conscience.Sh. 1931 Shet. Times (14 March):
The weather-beaten old man, . . . approaching from the rear, a heavy “fracht o' paets” on his back.Bch. 1946 J. C. Milne Orra Loon 35:
And wha shou'd be there but the kitchie-lass Kate For a fracht o' water to bile.Fif. 1992 Simon Taylor Mortimer's Deep 272:
'It's aye aboot three deys efter a fraucht has been brocht in, or efter teinds hae been gaitherit....' Abd. 1995 Flora Garry Collected Poems 18:
An syne ma waesome wechty fraacht
Growes licht, yer sangie warms ma veins

Hence ¶fraughtless, without weight or substance, light, puny.Bch. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 139:
They're maughtless, they're fraughtless, Compar'd to our blue bonnets.

¶4. The burden of the womb, the unborn child.Sc.(E) P. H. Waddell Psalms lviii. 8:
Like woman's lost fraucht, lat them ne'er see the sun.

5. Fig. A large amount, a bounteous supply.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 29:
Ay auntie, an ye kent the bony aught, 'Tis true, she had of warlds gear a fraught.Abd. 1917 D. G. Mitchell Clachan Kirk 42:
He had filled her wi' a fraucht o' the heavenly water.Abd. 1932 D. Campbell Bamboozled 18:
Yon fraucht o' milk ye sweeled doon alang wi' yer chappit tatties at supper.

Hence †frauchtie, -y, liberal, not stingy, hospitable (Abd. 1904 Abd. Weekly Free Press (27 Aug.)). In combs. gweed-frauchty, generous, mou frauchty, satisfying to the mouth, filling, of food or drink.Abd. 1882 W. Forsyth Writings 25:
Aye haud square wi' lip an' leggin', Wauchts o' gweed mou frauchty drink.Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains & Hilly 142:
Fyles ye got a piece i' the efterneen gin ye cam' owre ony gweed frauchty fowk.

II. v. †1. To hire (a boat, also occas. a shipmaster) to transport goods, etc.wm.Sc. 1711 Bk. of Arran (1914) II. 131:
He as Skipper of his own boat was fraughted by severall Merchands to take tobacco on board.Sc. 1741 Caled. Mercury (12 Jan.):
A Proposal . . . for preventing the Loss of Time and other Inconveniences, which at present attend the fraughting of Ships in this Frith or elsewhere, by having in time coming a Register of all Ships that are to be fraughted, kept at Leith by some proper Person, at whom the Merchants wanting to fraught, may call and be immediately served.Sh. 1799 J. Mill Diary (S.H.S.) 118:
They fraughted a boat next day for Lerwick where they preached.

‡2. To load, burden, of a ship and fig. Ppl.adj. fraughtit; fracht is also found, corresp. to Eng. fraught.Sc. after 1746 Jacobite Minstrelsy (1829) 227:
With mighty news I fraughted come.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxvii.:
The honest man insistit on bein' at the expense o' fraughtin' the bowl afresh.Sc.(E) 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms cxxviii. 3:
Yer gudewife, like the fraughtit vine, by the sconce o' yer houss sal stan'.Ags. 1881 Brechin Advertiser (27 Dec.):
Look sharp, auld wife, an' fraught the cutter.Abd. 1928 J. Baxter A' Ae 'Oo' 25:
Their herts, wi' houp o' het mash fracht.