Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1722, 1775-1827, 1896-1911
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GED, n. Also †gedd, †gidd, †gade; gad (phs. a misprint).
1. The pike, Esox lucius (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 220; Inv.1 1900; Rxb. 1915 G. Watson Nat Hist. Lists iv.; Ayr. 1923 Wilson Dial. Burns 165; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 244; Mry.1, Bnff.4 1935; Abd., Peb., Kcb., Dmf. 1954). Also gedge (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. (see Intro. § 23 (A)). Dim. geddie. Comb. ged-heuk, a hook for catching pike (Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan III. x.). Also in n.Eng. dial.Slk. 1722 W. McFarlane Geog. Coll. (S.H.S.) I. 355:
The fishes in it [Selkirk loch] is pycks, pairches and geds.Mry. 1775 L. Shaw Hist. Moray 78:
It [Loch Spynie] abounds with Pykes or Gidds.Ayr. 1787 Burns Tam Samson's Elegy vi.:
And eels, well-kend for souple tail, And geds for greed.m.Lth. 1811 Wernerian Soc. Mem. I. 541:
Lucius, Common Pike; Ged. This inhabits Duddingstone Lake; but is not often seen.Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxvi.:
He undertook to prove the possibility of draining the lake . . . "from whilk no man could get earthly gude e'enow, unless it were a gedd or a dish of perch now and then."Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck viii.:
He suppit twa bickerfu's o' paritch an cleekit out [of the loch] a hantle o' geds and perches wi' his toum.Kcb. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xxxv.:
I should spit you through, like a paddock to bait a line for geds.Abd. 1910 J. Grant Legends of Mar 100:
I should feel great pleasure in pitching him into the river for a feast to the 'gads'.
†2. Fig. A greedy person, a glutton. For comb. Johnny Ged's Hole, see John, n., 2.Cld. 1825 Jam.:
He's a perfect ged for siller.Kcb. 1911 G. M. Gordon Clay Biggin' 26:
She . . . said lauchingly til him: "Ye greedy ged, ye hae taen the vera breeth oot o' me."
†3 "Any thing under water which fastens a hook so as the line cannot pull it out" (Sc. 1818 Sawers).Sc. 1827 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 306:
The tae end o' the line is fastened, lik a hard gedd . . . in the ashet — and the ither end's in my stammach . . . sae that I canna chow't through and through.
