Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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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.
Quotation dates: 1825, 1916-1996
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GASHLE, v. Also gashel, gaschil.
1. To distort, put out of shape (Abd.3 1949).Also fig.Abd. 1825 Jam.:
“He's gashlin' his beik”; he is making a wry mouth.Abd. 1922 G. P. Dunbar Doric 39:
Wi' gey gashelt sheen Whilk she skushles aroon.Bnff. 1954 Banffshire Jnl. (19 Jan.) 4:
Giein' me another grin fae her gashelt mou'.
Hence gashelbike, a chatterbox. Cf. 1825 quot. above.Abd. (Rayne) 1916 T.S.D.C. II.:
Ye're jist a rael gashelbike.Dundee 1996 Matthew Fitt Pure Radge 4:
syne hauf-sees owre
ah'll whummle ye
cowp yir harns
ramfoozil an bumbaze
gaschil yir rhetoric
an drehve ye
up the waa.
†2. “To argue with much tartness” (Ayr. 1825 Jam.; Ayr.4 1928, obsol.). Hence gashlin, vbl.n., “a bitter noisy argument, in which the disputants seem ready to fly at each other” (Jam.). Of a dog: to show the teeth, to growl or bark threateningly (Rnf. 1837 Crawfurd MSS. XI. 308).
3. To gossip (Abd.2 1949). Gen. as ppl.adj.Abd.15 1928:
The gashlin ted, he wid 'a taul ye that, wid he?
