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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

RAUCLE, adj., n., v. Also raukle, rac(k)le, rackel, -il; ruckle (Ags. a.1892 Bards Ags. (Reid 1898) 134); rauchle, -el, raughle, -el; rachle. [rǫkl, rǫxl]

I. adj. 1. Bold, impetuous, impulsive, rash in speech or action (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Also in n.Eng. dial. Comb. rackle-handed, id. (Sc. 1818 Sawers). Deriv. rauclesome, id. (Fif. 1967).Sc. 1715 R. Wodrow Corresp. (1843) II. 39:
I suspect this will be a very rackle-handed committee.Sc. 1824 J. Wilson Tournay i.:
Ducholly is a wee thought thin-skinned in matters of military preceesion — he's ready and rackle-handed forbye.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 166:
He'll find her [Britain] yet the same in war — A raucle, ready-haundit kimmer.Per. 1895 R. Ford Tayside Songs 178:
When rauchle, gamesome laddies, oor hearts alowe wi' glee.Sc. 1988 Forbes Macgregor in Joy Hendry Chapman 53 23:
I remember Jenny Lee giving a poor old minister a roasting with her raucle Lochgelly tongue at a temperance talk in class.

2. (1) Of persons or things: strong, sturdy, stout, robust, standing up well to hard usage or old age (Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 693; Cld. 1825 Jam.; Ayr. 1904 E.D.D.). Deriv. rackleness, raucleness, vigour and freshness in old age (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Comb. rackle-handit, having strong, powerful hands.Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St. Patrick I. xv.:
Our bit curragh's no that rackle sin it got a stane on Monanday was aughtnights.Sc. 1821 Scots. Mag. (March) 201:
That rackle vet'ran up the brae.Slk. 1836 Fraser's Mag. (May) 617:
I hae had but two gudemen, stout, rackle chaps, baith o' them.Fif. c.1850 R. Peattie MS.:
Rackel-handit smiddy Jock, A' blackened ower wi' coom an' smoke.Rnf. 1861 J. Barr Poems 158:
Wale for ane wi' rackle nieves, And strength to haud a pleugh.Fif. 1875 A. Burgess Poute 69:
It — as a recklis — rackil wild invention.Ags. 1901 W. J. Milne Reminisc. 292:
Syne Grigg o' the Steen, rackle handit an' stark, Ca'd oot, “Noo, ma freends, lat huz a' get tae wark”.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 48:
He's rackle-handed
and I feel still his brosie glasp hauddin ticht
my bairnlie fingers. He glowres, his broon een
drumlie, hachers, grumphs: "It's nae richt"
as the snortlin tractor stotters doon the dreels. Dundee 1996 Matthew Fitt Pure Radge 7:
his hert
stoonds
his jaa
gaes ticht
his rauchle haun
maks a nieve in its glove

(2) fig.: hard, stern, inexorable, acting in a rough, grim or unbending manner. Deriv. rauchly, and comb. rackle-handed, id.Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck x.:
Is the rackle hand o' steelrife power to make a handle o' that to grind the very hearts of the just and the good?Sc. 1823 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 339:
Though country justices may sometimes be what is vulgarly called rackle-handed, they are, withal, efficient and thorough-going.Per. 1879 R. Ford Tayside Songs 300:
Like Robin's sel', thou's got a dower, Ower human hearts a rauchle power.Abd. 1882 W. Forsyth Writings 13:
An' sall it be? Whare honor rests, Sall rauchle greed lay on her han'.Ags. 1894 A. Reid Songs 32, 79:
Arles o' the fit that's comin' Swith to ding the rauchly cauld . . . Sae rauchly were their warlock clauchts, Wi' dunts o' stane an' fiery flauchts.Sc. 1953 Scots Mag. (June) 174:
Abeen them raxed a runkl't broo That care hud cloor't wi' rauchle han.

3. Of persons, rarely of things: rough, crude, tough, unrestrained, uncouth, rustic (Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 35). Deriv. rachlie, dirty and disorderly (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Uls. 1953 Traynor).Ayr. 1786 Burns Jolly Beggars Recit. 4:
Then niest outspak a raucle carlin, Wha kent fu' weel to cleek the sterlin.Edb. 1829 G. Wilson Sc. Laverock 181:
Revenge upon the racle loon.Lnk. 1895 T. Stewart Miners 89, 205:
'Mang raucle colliers — sair misca'd “A reckless wild unfeeling squad” . . . Oor turf biggit biels on the Leven, lang syne, Antique an' rauchle, but fair to see.Ags. 1895 Caledonia I. 192:
Lang rachlie Nannie, thro' age growin' cannie.Sc. 1928 Scots Mag. (May) 142:
Aye, he wis Scotch eneuch noo — raucle a'maist, ye micht say.

4. Of speech: rough, unpolished, bold, blunt to the point of rudeness. Comb. rauckle-tongued, having a ready unrestrained manner of speech. Now only liter.Ayr. 1786 Burns Earnest Cry xxiii.:
Auld Scotland has a raucle tongue; She's jist a devil wi' a rung.Ayr. 1833 J. Kennedy G. Chalmers 198:
Ye'll maybe think that I'm a wee thocht raucle-tongued, that is, a kenning loud, and barefaced in my way.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 124:
But noo puir Tibbie's ruckle tongue . . . Wad louner'd him.Rnf. 1870 J. Nicholson Idylls 46:
Baith canker'd auld carle, an' raucle-tongued jaudie.e.Lth. 1908 J. Lumsden Th' Loudons 25:
Tho' rauckled [sic]-tongued an' leein'-mou'd ye be.Sc. 1945 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 79:
Those throat-searchings and raucle mouthings of which the older tongue knew nothing, and which so many believe to be one of the virtues of the vernacular.

II. n. Nonce usages: 1. A rough, rugged fellow, an unmannerly person, a boor.Wgt. 1877 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 199:
Yon red-headed raughel, ye'll no' get him, nor the table aither.Kcb. 1900 Gallovidian No. 6, 59:
A great lang rauchel of a fellow . . . who was reckoned a fearless sort of dare-devil who cared nothing for ghosts, fairies, kelpies, broonies.

2. A harsh nagging way of speaking.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake 203:
She had a raucle o' a tongue, An' made his fashes double.

III. v. Only in ppl.adj. rachlin, applied to a noisy, unruly, scatterbrained person.n.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
A rachlin queyn, a woman who talks loud and at random.