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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

REDE, v.¹, n. Also read(e), reide; red(d), redde; rad (Sc. 1866 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 51). Pa.t. ¶rede; pa.p. redd.

I. v., tr. 1. To advise, counsel (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis; Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson), to warn. Obs. in Eng. since 16th c. Now chiefly poet. and in 1st. pers. sing. pr.t.Sc. 1765 Scots Mag. (Jan.) 43:
This night ye drink the sparkly wine; I redd ye drink your fill.Ayr. 1785 Burns Death and Dr. Hornbook ix.:
I red ye weel, take care o' skaith.Sc. 1795 Outlaw Murray in Child Ballads No. 305 A.8:
I redd you send yon bra Outlaw till And see gif your man cum will he.Sc. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxix.:
I redd ye keep your mouth better steekit, if ye hope to speed.Sc. 1823 Carlyle Letters (Norton) II. 197:
Then, I read you, betake yourself to the duty with might and main.Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 37:
I wadna red them, for their half-year's fee, Wad twin'd his nose, or ca'd his word a lie.Lnk. 1883 J. Hamilton Poems 339:
I rede ye o' the fate that bides ye.Per. 1895 R. Ford Tayside Songs 269:
My mither paiters loud an' sair, Misca's men-fouk like a' that, An' redds me aye to single stay.Gall. 1912 Book of Gall. 1745 (Douglas) 1:
I rede ye keep yer hauns aff The Wild Scots o' Galloway.Ags. 1921 V. Jacob Bonnie Joann 11:
An' wha is't redes me to tak' a wife? A puckle o' single men!wm.Sc. 1937 W. Hutcheson Chota Chants 23:
A sage rede the farmer's halflin To plant a wheen apples in.

2. To interpret, explain, esp. of a dream or riddle. Phr. my dream is redd, my doom is sealed (Abd. 1964). See also Read, v., 3.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. iii. ii:
Nor come I to redd fortunes for reward.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 137:
I'm right, I'm right! My dream is read, an' this is bony Jean.Rnf. 1807 R. Tannahill Poems (1900) 21:
O dule an wae! My dream's been redd richt sune!Slk. 1827 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) vi.:
I'se warrant there sall something follow thir dreams; I get the maist o' my dreams redd.Sc. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Resart. i. viii.:
The secret of Man's being is still . . . a riddle that he cannot rede.Uls. 1879 W. Lyttle Paddy McQuillan 76:
There's yer dreem redd this minit.ne.Sc. 1887 G. G. Green Gordonhaven 51:
Mony a ane gets their dreams redd in a wye they little thocht o'.Kcb. 1891 M. A. Maxwell Halloween Guest 236:
It's a comfort for me to ken that my dream will sune be rede, but oh, mither, dinna greet for me.n.Sc. 1911 T. W. Ogilvie Poems 2:
And puzzlin' over life and death, A riddle that I canna rede.

3. To think, consider, reckon, ponder. Obs. in Eng.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 76, 107:
For to your cost by now I reed ye ken What 'tis to tak the hill . . . I reed your honor does this better ken.Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 86:
He's ane, I red, that ye can eithly spare.Lnk. 1806 J. Black Falls of Clyde 124:
Now's the time I red O' moon, whan they are wont to gang to bed.Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 204:
An' dogs wha hae a kintra's hate Sou'd redd weel wha they bark at.Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 57:
Yon fiery yongster's like to courdie's a'; The Danes an' he, I reid, will shak' a fa'.Bwk. 1876 W. Brockie Confessional 181:
Far aff, I rede, by sea an' lan'.

II. n. Advice, counsel (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis; Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson); plan, determination, decree. Now arch. or poet.Ayr. 1786 Burns To a Young Friend xi.:
And may ye better reck the rede, Than ever did th' adviser.Sc. 1816 Scott B. Dwarf vii.:
Now, what I chiefly come to ask your rede in, is how to make her sure?Sc. 1821 Jacobite Relics (Hogg) App. 401:
There's a reade in heaven, I read it true There's vengeance for us on a' that crew.Ayr. 1846 Ballads (Paterson) 29:
This reade shall guide me to the end.Lnk. 1853 W. Watson Poems (1877) 104:
A parent's canny redd, to steer In duty's yoke.Sc. 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms i. 2:
An' owre that rede o' his, day an' night, sigheth he.Ags. 1880 J. Bowick Montrose Chars. 20:
Let parents give their sons some better rede.Sc. 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ i. ii. 6:
This is the heichest an' maist usefu' rede — the raal knowledge an' lichtlifiean o' ane's ain sel.