Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

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

HUE, n. Also hew and hu (Sh.).

Sc. usages:

1. Look, appearance, aspect (Sh., Ags. 1957). Now obs. in Eng.Abd. 1801 W. Beattie Parings 34:
Tho' we were dress'd, this creeshy woo' Wou'd soon rub out the mangle hue.

2. A very small quantity, a little portion, often of food or drink, a whit, a very few (Rnf., Rxb., w.Sc. 1825 Jam.; wm.Sc. 1957). Dim. forms wee hue, huie. Phr. ne'er a hue, not a whit, not a degree. Also used adv.Sc. 1813 The Scotchman 118:
Twathree bits o thriftie lassocks, that had been brocht up at the cow's tail, and had gat some hue o his pose.Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick I. vi.:
The hettest bensil o' the sin in the lang days o' simmer can har'ly thow a hue o' the snaw.Slk. 1820 Hogg Tales (1874) 187:
She was gaun to try the hill road, that she might be hame wi' some hue o' day.wm.Sc. 1835 Laird of Logan 281:
The stour kicked up by the dancers was like to mak' the maist of us on-lookers a wee hue hearse.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 41:
But ne'er a hue they're [teeth] better.Rnf. 1873 J. Nicholson Wee Tibbie 60:
Here's a wee hue o' raisins.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 124:
I put a hue of seerup in a bottle.Ayr. 1920 Scottish Farmer (11 Sept.):
A wee pickle saut an' a hew o' pepper.

3. The complexion, (the appearance of) the skin, in phrs. (1) atween (de) hu and (de) hair, by a very narrow margin, with great difficulty, “touch and go” (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)), also as an excl. expressing incredulity (Id.); (2) by hu or hair, at all costs, by hook or by crook; (3) hue and hair, “main force; every effort or inducement” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.); (4) neither hue nor hair, adv., in no way, not a whit (Sh., Cai. 1957); (5) to come to hyd or hew, to return to the original bloom, to be freed from surface dirt.(1) Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
I gat him to dø it atween hu and hair.(2) Ib.:
Tak' de coo t'rough by hu or hair.(4) Sc. 1822 Blackwood's Mag. (Sept.) 311:
Though the House of Commons is neither hue nor hair changed frae what it was, things hae come round.(5) Lth. 1825 Jam.:
It's sae dirty, it 'ill never come to hyd or hew.