Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

PIG, n.¹ Also †pige. Sc. form and usages: 1. As in Eng. in combs. and phr.: (1) pig crue, -croo, -crew, a pigsty (Ags., Per. 1965). See Crue; (2) pig frame, one of the side pieces placed on a cart when pigs are being transported (Arg.¹ 1937); (3) pig-hoose, a pig-sty. Gen.Sc.; (4) pig('s) lug, lit., a pig's ear (see Lug); fig. a strip or edge of lead worked up and remaining surplus when a plumber is making a lead box (Sc. 1950 B.B.C. Broadcast (12 May)). Cf. soo's lug s.v. Soo. Phr. to mak a pig's lug o, to make a mess of, to botch, mismanage (Ags. 1965); (5) pig('s) meat, pig-food, swill. See Meat, n., 1.; (6) pigmire, a muddy, trampled piece of ground, a slough, quagmire (Uls. 1965); (7) pig's whisper, “a loud whisper, one meant to be heard” (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.), a stage-whisper.(1) Uls. 1923 J. Logan Uls. in X-Rays 81:
There was mair hampers, an' boxes, an' barrels at oor hoose than wud hae made six pig-crews.(3) Lnk. 1947 G. Rae Sandy McCrae 65:
Did ye ever spend the forepairt o' a nicht in a pig-hoose?(4) Sc. 1876 W. P. Buchan Plumbing 28:
By bending up the ends and turning round the corners, which latter system in some places receives the cant terms of "pig-lugging" or "dog-earing" the corners.(5) Kcb. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xxxv.:
A pail of pigs' meat in her hand.(6) Lnk. 1902 A. Wardrop Hamely Sk. 18:
We can gang tae the park, when it is a park, no a pigmire.(7) Dmf. c.1885 A. Marchbank Covenanters 82:
“Barefit, are ye there?” said the stout old man in a pig's whisper, trying to look as careless as he could.

Deriv. pigger, a pig-slaughterer.Ags. 1890 A. N. Simpson Muirside Memories 64:
Never since boyhood had he earned a penny other than by sticking pigs, and I am rather inclined to the belief that nature had meant him for a pigger.

2. A small, stunted lamb, which is fattened for the market instead of being kept for breeding, a draught-lamb (Dmf. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 243).Dmf. 1812 W. Singer Agric. Dmf. 362:
The wedder lambs, the second ewe lambs the draught lambs, called pigs.s.Sc. 1849 Edb. Ev. Courant (18 Aug.):
Of the purer blackfaced, the highest priced were off Rigghead . . . Smallies of the same class, or, as they are often familiarly termed, pigs, 5s 6d.

3. By extension, in cloth-making: a piece of material which has been rejected as inferior and unsuitable for the market.Slk. 1876 R. Hall Galashiels (1898) 368:
When “pigs” come back frae buyer chiels Wha dinna care a straw.

4. Dim. form piggie, (1) a game in which a ball (the “pig”) is aimed at a hole (the “market”) guarded by a ring of boys with sticks who try to prevent it going in (Sc. 1910 Scotsman (9 Oct.)). Cf. Kirk, IV. 3. and Gussie, 6.; (2) reduplic. dim. form piggie-wiggie, the game of tipcat (Uls. 1965). Also found in Eng. dial. in form piggie.(2) Dmf. 1920:
Piggie-wiggie: a children's game, played with a 4-sided stick, pointed at both ends, with the figures I, II, III, IV on each side respectively. The game consisted in hitting an end of the stick with a larger stick sending it some distance away, and seeing which figure turned up on the top. The player who first reached up to an agreed amount won.