Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HEMP, n. Sc. usages:

1. A hemp rope or halter, often in allusion to the gallows-rope. Hence hemp-looking, villainous, fit for hanging.Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck iii.:
I never saw twa mair hemp-looking dogs in my life.Kcb. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xviii.:
I heard the cows in the byre rattling at their hemps through the rings.

2. Sc. attrib. uses: (1) hemp grass, -gress, the stem of the plantain, Plantago major (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.) or its seeds (Ib.); †(2) hemp lingle, twine made of hemp; †(3) hemp-rigg, a ridge of land on which hemp was sown, now only in farm-names. Misprinted as hempning (Gall. 1880 J. Douglas Bk. of Gall. 10); (4) hemp-seed, = (1) (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); (5) hemp sparrow, the hedge sparrow, Accentor modularis (Bwk. 1889 G. Muirhead Birds Bwk. I. 83). See Hempie, n.²; (6) hemp-string, (a) n., gallows-rope; (b) v., to hang on a gallows.(2) Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 222:
Nor Hynds wi' Elson and hemp Lingle, Sit solling Shoon out o'er the Ingle.(3) Kcb. 1724 Kelton Session Minutes MS. (5 July):
And thrust her from him till she fell on the hemp rigg forgainst the door.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 259:
Ridges of fat land whereon hemp was sown in the olden time; and in these modern days, when land is a praising for goodness, it is said to be as strong as hemp-riggs.(6) (a) Ags. 1887 A. D. Willock Rosetty Ends 105:
He wad form a bonnie tossil at the end o' a hemp string.(b) Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 153:
For rearing whiles a shilling or twa, They'll be hemp strung.

3. Used fig. in phr. to have clean hemp in one, to be plucky, courageous (Cai.⁴ c.1920, Cai. 1957).