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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.

GLAURIE, adj., n., v. Also glaury, glaary, glarie, -ey, †glarry; ¶glairy. Compar. glaurier. [′glǫ:re, ′glɑ:re]

I. adj. Muddy, dirty (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 249; Per., Slg., Knr., m.Lth., Bwk., Kcb., Uls. 1954), slimy. Of weather: sticky, clammy.Rnf. 1788 E. Picken Poems 38:
Through glaury holes an' dybes nae mair Ye'll ward my pettles frae the lair.Lth. 1813 G. Bruce Poems 141:
For our Police sic order keep, That shou'd a kittlen, Be thrown that day wi' glarie sweep, They'd get a settlin.Ags. 1855 “Robin” Rimes and Poems 28:
Across and slantways glarey streaks did pass, And lookit like the slimy marks o' snails.Lnk. 1880 Cld. Readings (2nd ed.) 158:
Dancin' thro' the brig wi' mair gladsome step an' joyous ripple, than ever graced the glaury Kelvin.Dmf. a.1881 Carlyle in Atlantic Monthly LXXXII. 451:
Long-continued plunges of wet, then clammy, glarry days on days of half wet.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 48:
A glaury loan, a tumblin' kirk, Twae glandered mears, a dwaibly stirk.Sc. 1936 J. G. Horne Flooer o' the Ling 52:
The glairy ploo I'm fain to follow.ne.Sc. 1952 John R. Allan North-East Lowlands of Scotland (1974) 134:
Their week at the potatoes was more than a way of getting some extra money for whisky. They enjoyed it, even when the days were wet and the fields were glaury. wm.Sc. 1987 Anna Blair Scottish Tales (1990) 46:
But Anty Dolly never came to Glasgow again and most folk in the city felt themselves the poorer for his loss ... except of course the Baillie Hunkers, who never again aroused quite the same awe in people who had seen him dancing with a performing bear and spread-eagled in the glaury puddle of the old Vennel. Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 3:
Fur yon hid steekit her weird-single dother, she wis ay the ane gart bide at hame, tae turn as fooshty an fyachie's the mill-puil ower bi Clashmore, that niver ran naewye bit ay bedd in the ae place, growin greener an glaurier an dubbier an cloortier ilkie year, till e'en the puddocks tuik scunner at it, an gied it scorn.

II. n. A clay marble (wm.Sc.¹ c.1900; Arg. 1936 L. McInnes Dial. S. Kintyre 14, glaary).

III. v. To dirty, soil, as with mud (Bwk.³ 1954).Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 28:
A tin ink-stan', an' writin' table, Wi' ink an' soot a' glaried sable.