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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

POSE, v.¹, n.¹ Also poze, pos (Jak.); poss-; poose (Watson). Sc. forms and usages:

I. v. 1. To place (an object) in a specified position, to deposit something, freq. with the object of concealment. Obs. in Eng. in 15th c.; hence, by extension, to hide, cache (Abd., Ags. 1966); with by, up, etc., to hoard (money), save up, lay by (Inv., ne.Sc. Ags. 1966). Also in form posie, id. (Sc. 1880 Jam.).Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 132:
The aul' bodie hiz a houd o' siller poset up, an's eye posin' up mair.Inv. 1948 Football Times (11 Sept.):
Boys and girls used to “pose up” for jaunts.Ags. 1961 Scots Mag. (Jan.) 175:
“There's tuppence on the bottle!” “Ach, pose it and get it on the wey back”.Dundee 2000 Courier 11 Apr :
A reader writes, "An elderly Dundee lady told me she had 'posed' something the other day, meaning she had hidden it. I have often heard this expression in Dundee but I don't know if it is used in other places as well. Curiously, my Scots dictionary gives its meaning as 'to hoard', which is a slightly different thing." Edb. 2005:
Ah'll need tae pose the bairn's birthday present.

2. In phr. poose me that, said by a child when laying first claim to some desirable object (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Cf. Chap, v., 1.

II. n. 1. That which has been deposited or laid down, a heap, pile, collection of objects, a quantity of some substance, occas. also used of a group of persons. Freq. in dim. or deriv. forms posie, -y, posel(ie), pozel(ie), possile (Ags. 1887 A. Willock Rosetty Ends x.; ne.Sc. (posie), Ags. 1966).Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality xxiii.:
Naebody had found out that pose o' carcages.Ags. 1833 J. Sands Poems 41:
Firm, ay, and steady at his post, He rack'd ta posils.Abd. 1873 J. Ogg Willie Waly 56:
See yon children; red an' rosy . . . Noo assembled in a posy.Lth. 1883 M. Oliphant Ladies Lindores viii:
A happy woman, a good man and a bonnie posie of bairns.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 65:
Doon the lum cam' a pozel o' bricks an' shute.Ags. 1946 D. Twitter Tales 5:
Poselies o' sand wir puiten doon here an' there.Ags. 1956 Forfar Dispatch (28 June):
The signal for veesitors here is for me tae open a box and spread athing oot in posels, preparatory tae puitin things neatly awa.

2. Specif., a collection of money or valuables hidden away for safe keeping, a secret store, a hoard, cache (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; Sh., Abd., Ags. 1966), hoarded money, savings (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), pos). Dim. form posie, -y, id. (Ayr. 1880 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., po(o)sie, 1942 Zai). Gen.Sc., obsol. Comb. pose-box, a money-bank.Sc. 1702 Atholl MSS. (10 Sept.):
I have sent you my pose . . that you may cause give what you think fitt out of it, I think twinty lib. Scotts or thirty at most will be anofe.Abd. 1755 Caled. Mercury (16 Aug.):
The Father of the Proprietor of the Ground, an old Man, who for many Years had been ill of the Gout, on hearing of a Pose (a Cant-word for hoarded Money) ran to the Soldiers as nimble as a Hare seized the Treasure, and made off to his own House.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 213:
By you when spulzied o' her charming pose, She tholes in turn the taunt o' cauldrife joes.Ags. 1799 Dundee Mag. (April):
Old women and children kept their pozes in their kist neuks and pirly pigs.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xxiv.:
Misticot's pose had muckle yellow gowd in't.Ayr. 1826 Galt Last of Lairds xxxix.:
Jenny Clatterpans, that has had a lang snug time o't, and has a pose in her kist-nook.Rxb. 1933 A. Hall Sc. Borderer (1874) 14:
He kept his poose in a hole he had formed in the rigging of his master's barn.Slk. 1835 Hogg Tales (1874) 711:
I hae keepit a pose o' my ain in case o' accidents.Fif. 1864 St. Andrews Gazette (19 March):
She had a good pose of half-crowns and pickles of tea laid up from the benevolence of her visitors.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 8:
Afore he geed awa his auld mither gae him a stockin i his hand wi her pose i hid.Slg. 1900 Sc. N. & Q. (Ser. 2) II. 64:
A shepherd on Ben Lomond side, finding a copper coin, searched and found a pose of 56 copper pennies of an Irish coinage of George III.Edb. 1904 E. B. Simpson R. L. Stevenson 200:
“Posies” . . . holes dug in the grass and cunningly covered over with turf, so that it needed a trained eye to discover the site of the pit. In these posies . . . were put “peeries”, marbles, or our favourite tin soldiers. The owners rose betimes to see if their hidden treasure was still secure.ne.Sc. 1930 Bothy Songs (Ord) 39:
Claes are a mochy posie.Inv. 1948 Football Times (11 Sept.):
The modern drop-box for household savings by the very young was known as a “pose-box.”Sh. 1961 New Shetlander No. 58. 15:
Gyittin on, haein nae waant a pose, towt Tammie wi a gaaf.