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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

HUD, n. Also hudd, hude ho(o)d. [hʌd]

‡1. The back of an open fireplace, consisting of a stone or clay block resembling a seat (Dmf., Slk. 1825 Jam.; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 149, hud, hod; Sc. 1911 S.D.D., hude; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Dmf., Rxb. 1957). See also Cat-hud, id. Combs. hud-nook, the corner beside the fireplace (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.); hud stane, the stone which acts as the hud (Dmf., Teviotd. 1825 Jam.).s.Sc. 1793 T. Scott Poems 316:
Nae mair we by the biel hud-nook, Sit hale fore-sippers owr a book.Dmf. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ II. 289:
There is a species of clay, which the smiths use for fixing their bellows in their furnaces, and of which the country people make, what they call, Hudds, to set in their chimnies behind their fires, which, they say, does not calcine, or split with the heat.Bwk. 1823 A. Hewit Poems 60:
Soot in a strait I've made my ink Frae aff the hud.s.Sc. c.1830 Proc. Bwk. Nat. Club (1916) 79:
A young man or woman takes the soam by one of the ends and throws it against the wall near by the fireplace commonly called the hood, and if it sticks there they will be lucky in all their love undertakings and vice versa unlucky.Dmf. 1859 Wilson's Tales of the Borders XVIII. 105:
Her cat and cricket, which chirped occasionally from beneath the hudstone.

2. A small shelf or recess at each side of an old-fashioned fireplace used as a hob for pots and kettles (Dmf. 1825 Jam.; ‡Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Kcb., Dmf., Rxb. 1957).Dmf. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (Nov.) 203:
There was the Cutty still lying on the Hud, wi' the embers of the last blast she drew sticking in the throat o't.Kcb. 1897 A. J. Armstrong Robbie Rankine 3:
The fire was bleezin' cheerily, and the muckle pot was sittin' on the hud.Dmf. 1912 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo 86:
And every noo and again takin' a blaa o' a short, black cutty pipe, which she keepit at the back o' the hud.

‡3. The seat by the fire on a blacksmith's hearth (Rxb. 1825 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B.; Dmf. 1957).

4. A portion of a wall consisting of stones placed transversely in order to strengthen the structure (Gall. 1825 Jam.). Hence hud(d)-stane, -stone, a stone employed for this purpose (Ib.).Gall. 1810 S. Smith Agric. Gall. 86 note:
Besides the improvement of locked tops, he invented also snecks or hudds, i.e. spaces built single at short intervals: a very useful contrivance: for if any accident happen to a part of the dyke, these snecks prevent the evil from spreading far. . . . One hudd-stone will do at the grass; but the more the better. When a double dyke between the hudds is built as high as the first hudd-stone, a stone sufficiently long is placed so that one half of it may cover the hudd, and the other half the double dyke.Dmf. 1957 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 99:
A butt and a hudd, according to the late John Broadfoot, of Sanquhar, consists of alternate lengths of stone-dyke built double and single in panels.