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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LAG, adj., n.¹, v. Sc. usages:

I. adj. 1. Lingering or lagging behind, tardy, sluggish, slow, backward (Sc. 1755 Johnson Dict.; Fif., Lth., sm.Sc. 1960). Now rare or obs. in Eng. Also in deriv. laggie, id. (Per. 1897 R. M. Fergusson Village Poet 160).Sc. 1726 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 198:
Bridegroom, she says, you'll spoil the dance, And at the ring you'll ay be lag.Ayr. 1786 Burns Address to Deil iii.:
An' faith! thou's neither lag nor lame, Nor blate nor scaur.Sc. 1790 J. Baillie Works (1853) 819:
E'en he that comes latest, and lag is, May feast upon dainties enow.Abd. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 132:
Strummin about a gill we're lag, Syne drowsy hum.Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 125:
When you leave the lag clay, The part that's immortal, to bliss soar away.e.Lth. 1885 J. Lumsden Rhymes 20:
Auld wisdom's yoke's owre lag o' limb Thae geniuses to haul up!Wgt. 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables frae French 74:
They saw Her limpin' wearie, an' they werena lag, An' thocht that she was siccar for their bag.m.Sc. 1979 Ian Bowman in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 40:
But the elders, they werena lag nor blate,
aa cryin to stane me for whit I'd din,

Combs.: (1) lag-end, the latter part of a period of time, the tail-end (Sh. 1960); (2) lag life-time, the remainder of one's life.(1) Dmf. 1822 A. Cunningham Tales (1874) 229:
Let us be married on Saturday; let the fault fall on the lag end of the week.(2) Abd. 1844 G. Rust Poems 134:
To better act my lag life time.

†2. As applied to certain days of a week in which there is no pay-day. Used in mining communities where wages were paid fortnightly.Fif. 1909 R. Holman Char. Studies 21:
On the following Monday, or what is known as “lag” Monday, come representatives of nearly all the grocery shops within a radius of many miles.Fif. 1952 R. Holman Diamond Panes 72:
It was held generally on a “lag” Friday, with no work next day.

II. n. 1. The last in a series or in a concerted activity, a game or the like, a laggard, loiterer, one who lingers or falls behind (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., laggie). Used as a call at marbles in claiming the advantage of playing last (Abd. 1902 E.D.D., lag at the bools!). Also in Eng. dial.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 99:
He wiz lag oot o' the squeel.Abd.¹³ 1910:
Last at playing marbles. “Lag, lag, for last to row.”

Comb. lagabag, laggiebag (Fif. 1825 Jam.), the last or hindmost [ < lag + aback]. Also in Eng. dial.

2. In pl.: odd stalks of straw on a harvest-field left uncut by scythe or reaper (Abd.⁷ 1925).

III. v. To put a wooden frame or branks round a cow's neck to prevent her thrusting her head through hedges, etc. (Uls. 1960).