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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TUMMOCK, n., v. Also tumick, tomack, tammock. Dim. tumickin (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 232).

I. n. A small mound or hillock, a tuft or tussock of grass, a mole-hill (sm.Sc. a.1813 A. Murray Hist. Eur. Langs (1823) I. 101; Ayr. 1825 Jam.; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 232; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 157; Uls. 1953 Traynor; Wgt. 1973).Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 25:
Upo' a turf-dyke, straught, they take their stan', Or round a tammock wheel.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. ix.:
A “rouch curr tyke”, seated in a comfortable manner on some foggy tomack.Ayr. 1828 D. Wood Poems 48:
She'll eat the grass about the midden Or grassy tammock.Wgt. 1883 D. McWhirter Ploughboy's Musings 64:
Sae hameward hied the tammocks owre.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 225:
The Moat in Gallawa's a muckle conical tummock, maistly wi a flat tap.Sc. 1928 J. G. Horne Lan'wart Loon 8:
Nae time, enoo, to sairch for nests, Or on a tummock tak' their rests.Gsw. 2000 Donny O'Rourke in Alec Finlay Atoms of Delight 129:
A proper tummock, you can scarcely see at all
The bump in a bog, a marshy mound, a knubby knoll.

II. v. To build up to a high point without stability (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 232, tumick).