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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PAP, n.¹ Also paap; †pape; paup; pawp; pop, pup (Ork.). Dim. pappie, paapie. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. pap, now arch. or dial., a nipple, teat, in human beings and animals.

1. As in Eng. Gen.Sc. Also in proverbial phrs. and fig. and transf. Adj. ¶paupy, round the breast or paps, pectoral.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 37:
An' for her temper, maik she ne'er had nane; She'd mak twa paps cast out on ae breast-bane.Ayr. 1817 D. M'Killop Poems 139:
Had I a veil that could be liftit, About the paupy part Then you would see that I was giftit, Wi' a real Scotsman's heart.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 244:
The cauves brak through the milking slap, Their minnies' pawps they draw.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 49:
Sheu callowed twa bonnie selkie calves, that wur nee seuner on the rock or dey grippid for de pap.e.Lth. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-Head 279:
His pap o' a wee mouth is his mither's, a' the rest stares the daddy in the face.

Combs.: (1) pap-bairn, a child at the breast, a suckling; (2) pap-milk, breast-milk (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.; Sh. 1965); (3) sook-'e-pappie, a babyish, petted child; also an immature, rather childish individual (Sh., Cai. 1965); (4) witches' paps, the foxglove, Digitalis (Arg. 1936 L. MacInnes S. Kintyre 9).(1) Abd. p.1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shep. MS. 113:
Syne by the peep and dawning of the day A still and saft pap-bairn she lay.Ags. 1825 Jam.:
To one who acts quite in a childish manner, it is frequently said; “Ye're behaving yoursel juist like a pap-bairn.”s.Sc. 1898 E. Hamilton Mawkin i.:
As mothers drool over their pap-bairns.(2) Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 210:
“The pap milk'ill need ta be oot o' dy nose” — You will be required to act the man.

2. The uvula (Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson). Most freq. in phr. pap o the hause, -hass, id. (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Cai., Ayr. 1903 E.D.D.; ‡Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; m. and s.Sc. 1965), — o the throat (Cai., ne.Sc. 1965), also erron. the thyroid cartilage, Adam's apple (Watson), and applied as a place-name to a small conical hill (Id.). Cf. 3. and see also Hause.Sh. 1788 Diary J. Mill (S.H.S.) 84:
A severe cold, which brought down the Uvula or Pape so call'd.Sc. 1814 C. I. Johnstone Saxon & Gael I. viii.:
She got sic a load o' cauld at that ball, the pap o' her hass down, an' a' defaite thegither.Sc. 1874 A. Hislop Sc. Anecdotes 28:
There was an unco kittlin' in the paup o' his hass.Ayr. 1895 H. Ochiltree Redburn v.:
Gapin' as if ye had a barley awn sticking i' the pap o' yer hass.Fif. 1914 County Folklore (F.L.S.) VII. 406:
In relaxed throat the condition is referred to as “the pap o' the hass being down”. It is believed that there is one single hair in the head, which, if found and pulled, will “bring the pap o' the hass up.” The difficulty is, of course, to find it.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 19:
Ma paap-o-the-hass is yookin ti let oot some richt, guid, braid Haaick.Lth. 1945 Weekly Scotsman (14 April):
A wee bit “kittle at the pap o' the hass”.

3. One of a group of two or more conical hills, usu. in pl. Freq. in place-names. Cf. Gael. màm, id.Sc. 1703 M. Martin Western Isles 231:
There are four Hills of a considerable heighth; the two highest are well known to Sea-faring Men, by the Name of the Paps of Jurah.Sc. 1774 T. Pennant Tour 1772 217:
The other paps are seen very distinctly; each inferior in height to this, but all of the same figure, perfectly mamillary.Sc. 1873 W. Black Pr. Thule xxv.:
The great “Paps of Jura” were hidden in the mist.

4. Fishing: a piece of whalebone, about eighteen inches long, which connects the ball of lead with the lines to which the hooks are attached (Sh. 1825 Jam., 1866 Edm. Gl., 1914 Angus Gl., Sh. 1965).

5. Building: a nipple on a metal pipe “to permit being bored and tapped for a branch connection” (Sc. 1952 The Builder (20 June) 942); a nozzle or outlet on an eaves gutter (Sc. 1946 Spons' Builders' Pocket-Bk. 441).Sc. 1875 W. P. Buchan Plumbing 4:
A "close-end" on each end of the gutter, and a nozzle, pap, or drop, as it is variously termed, to conduct the rain into the rainwater-pipe.

6. One of the segments of an orange, a Lith (Abd.¹³ 1910; ne.Sc. 1965).

7. The sea anemone, Actinoloba dianthus (Bnff., Abd. 1935 Fishery Board Gl.; Kcd., Fif. 1965). Also deil's pap (Fif. 1965), sea-pap, id.Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife 131:
Mammae marinae, the fishers call them Sea Paps.