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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LAIR, n.³, v.³ Also lare, laer (Sh.), lear; leir; lere (Abd. 1865 G. Macdonald Alec Forbes lxvi.). Sc. forms of Eng. lore. See P.L.D. § 32. [le:r. The occas. pronunciation li:r is due to confusion with Lear, q.v.]

I. n. 1. Learning, education, lore, doctrine (Sc. 1755 Johnson Dict.; Cai. 1902 E.D.D.; Sh., n.Sc., Ags., Fif., Peb., Ayr. 1960). Freq. in combs. as in book lair, college lair.Sc. 1718 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 71:
For in Clark-Lear he was right prime.Per. 1766 A. Nicol Poems:
I was at school 'bout half a year; That letter'd me first in the lear.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II.:
They'll hip the maist fek o' their lear, Sin Gregory's dead.Ayr. 1786 Burns To Sc. Repres. xix.:
An strive, wi' a' your wit an' lear, To get remead.Sc. 1816 Scott B. Dwarf iii.:
You that have been at college, and the High School of Edinburgh, and got a' sort o' lair where it was to be best gotten.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie i.:
If he wasna a deacon at book lair, he kent as weel as the maister himsel' how mony blue beans it taks to mak five.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 80:
Honour, as it did effeir, The man o' merriment and leir.Ags. 1860 A. Whamond James Tacket vii.:
There was a mysterious virtue connected with college lear, which, now-a-days, we can scarcely understand.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 113:
Whin fairly dung wi beuk lare skill.Lnk. 1881 A. Wardrop J. Mathison's Courtship 56:
Sae you needna come here, She's aware o' your lear, An' your lingo, sae cheatin' an' lood, auld man.Abd. 1882 W. Alexander My Ain Folk 107:
For ony kin' o' beuk lear [he] cudna tell ye a B fae a bull's fit.Sc. 1887 Stevenson Underwoods 77:
It's possible — it's hardly mair That some ane ripin after lear May find an' read me.Abd. 1890 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) XIII. 92:
Couthie hert mak's skeelie han', An' daes instead o' leir. He tuik a flaskie, heeld him up An' doctor'd him wi' care.Kcb. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xx.:
I read but little, never having been greatly given to lear.Sh. 1898 “Junda” Klingrahool 30:
If meditation, books, or laer Could ever bring surcease of care.Abd. 1948 Abd. Press & Jnl. (1 Dec.):
East Coast fishers don't say that their families have left school or finished their education; they say, “They've gotten lear.”Sc. 1983 John McDonald in Joy Hendry Chapman 37 45:
her een stare ayont us
(dumfoonert fir aa oor lear). m.Sc. 1998 Lillias Forbes Turning a Fresh Eye 16:
"Yon's growin, yon's deid,"
Nid-nodded he, richt eident at the darg
He might hae been the maister at the schule
Heid stecht wi lear
His twa feet ticht in God's grat muckle boots.

Deriv. learless, unschooled, without learning; comb. lear-ma(i)ster, a teacher, instructor (Sc. 1808 Jam.).Rnf. 1815 J. Finlayson Rhymes 76:
How can I, a learless wight, Pretend to think I'm in the right.Rnf. 1852 Crawfurd MSS.:
A B Buff, Gie the lair-maister a cuff.Sc. 1865 R. W. Buchanan Inverburn (1882) 42:
Aye finding wonders, mighty mysteries, In things that ilka learless cottar kenn'd.Ags. 1894 Brechin Advertiser (29 May) 3:
He did that — an' David Middleton was his lear-maister.

2. A habit, custom, usu. in phr. ill-lair (Cai. 1902 E.D.D., Cai. 1960). Hence ill-laired, having bad habits, badly brought up, spoiled, of a child (Cai. 1920 John o' Groat Jnl. (9 Jan.), Cai. 1960).

II. v. 1. To teach, educate. See Lear. Only in ppl.adj. Deriv. lairer, a pupil, a learner (n.Sc. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 177).Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 54:
On this great day the city-guard, In military art well lear'd.Ayr. 1824 A. Crawford Tales Grandmother 182:
I'm no sae weel laired as the minister.

2. To learn.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 140:
An lest their kintry cannae sweer, They lair new aiths.