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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HERRIN, n. Also heerin' (Bnff. 1955 Banffshire Adv. (17 March); †harring (Per. 1737 Ochtertyre House Bk. (S.H.S.) 12); †herron (Sc. 1756 M. Calderwood Journey (M.C.) 145); †hearing (Ags. 1712 A. Jervise Land of Lindsays (1853) 342). The herring, Clupea harengus. Gen.Sc. Also used attrib. [Sc. ′hɛrɪn, ′herm, Bnff. + ′hir(ɪ)n, Bwk. + ′harən]

Sc. combs. and phr.: (1) herrin bird, the stormy petrel, Thalassidroma pelagicus (Ayr.⁴ 1928); (2) herring-brie, see Bree, n.¹; (3) herring drewe, see Drave; (4) herrin-goo, the herring gull (Ags. 1957). Cf. Goo, n.²; (5) herring hake, (a) the hake, Merluccius merluccius (Mry. 1852 Zoologist X. 3485; Cai. 1887 Harvie-Brown & Buckley Fauna Cai. 276; Inv., Fif., wm.Sc. 1957); (b) the allis shad, Alosa alosa; (c) the fry of the coalfish, Gadus virens (Abd. 1880 F. Day Fishes I. 295); (6) herrin-head, a head hike a herring's, a sharply receding forehead, one with such, a brainless person (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.); (7) herring hog, the grampus, Grampus griseus, or some other species of dolphin, ? the bottle-nosed dolphin, Tursiops truncatus (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl., Uls. 1957), or the fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus. Appar. misprinted as herring-hoy (Abd. 1815 J. Arbuthnot Fishes 3; Ayr. 1845 Stat. Acc.² V. 90); (8) herrin i' the plate, a boys' game (see quot.); (9) herrin-jennie, a dandy fishing-line (Ags. 1960). See Dandie, n.; (10) herrin Jock, a fisherman, freq. used derogatorily as a nickname; ¶(11) herrin' pot, familiarly for the sea, the ocean, the “herring-pond”; (12) herrinsile, see quot. and Sile (Abd., Kcd., Ags., Kcb. 1957); (13) herring-soam, the fat of herrings, used in divination (see quot.); (14) herring sprod, ? the sea trout, Salmo trutta (Sc. c.1930 Fishery Board Gl.); (15) herring-tack, a catch of herrings (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 443). See Tak; (16) rock herring, the allis shad, Alosa alosa (Gall. 1892 Annals Sc. Nat. Hist. I. 22).(4) ne.Sc. 1950 Scots Mag. (April) 58:
The herrin-gows aboon me cairry sea-claik til the lan.(5) (b) Bwk. 1897 Hist. Bwk. Nat. Club XVI. 203:
My attention was called to the specimen mentioned above [Allice shad], by a Berwick man, who said it was a “Herring-Hake;” another called it a “Damit Herring.”(7) Sc. 1803 Trans. Highl. Soc. 315:
It is discovered only by the appearance of a sort of whales, which are by the fishermen denominated Herring Hogs.Ork. 1883 J. R. Tudor Ork. and Sh. 209:
The whale, one of the kind locally called herring hogs, . . .leaped six feet out of the water.Ags. 1922 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden 85:
There's a sea serpent or a herrin' hog or something doon in that sand hole.(8) Ags.²⁰ 1955:
Herrin' i' the plate: a game in which boys pile their caps in a heap, link arms in a circle round the caps and pull at each other until one contrives to knock over the pile. His cap is then removed and “kicked over the town.”(10) Fif. 1933 J. Ressich Thir Braw Days 106–7:
When them frae the Ainster an' the rest traickit in they would cry “Herrin Jock” at them. . . . There happened tae come a fine sma'-water breeze oot o' the wast and no' a Herrin' Jock showed face!(11) Abd. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer II. xxi.:
But I'm doobtin' afore she win across the herrin-pot her fine passengers 'll win at the boddom o' their stamacks.(12) w.Sc. 1885 J. G. Bertram Harvest of the Sea 21:
In many places where whitebait are captured, fishermen believe them to be young herring — “herrinsile” they are called on the river Clyde.(13) Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 430:
Herring-Soam. The fat of herrings. — Young girls throw this against a wall, and if it adheres to it in an upright manner, then the husband they get will also be so; if crooked, he will be crooked.