Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WAITH, n.¹, adj. Also waithe.

I. n. A piece of property which is found ownerless, specif. flotsam and jetsam, gen. conjoined with wrack. Now arch. or hist.Sc. 1824 Hogg Confessions (1874) 513:
In an haill and free barony with court plaint . . . wraik, waith, wair, and sundry other commodities.Sc. 1868 Session Cases (1867–8) 495:
Rights to all wreck and waith cast on the shore.Ork. 1896 Scots Mag. (July) 112:
Seals and whales and sea-birds, drowned men and broken ships, all the “waithe and wrack” of the waters.

II. adj. Of an animal: strayed, wandering, roaming loose.Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis :
A waith horse, i.e. a horse that wanders in pursuit of mares.Rnf. 1724 Session Papers, Petition R. Orr (11 July 1759) 13:
He gathered the waith Sheep to the Water of Garnock.Sc. 1828 Blancheflour and Jellyflorice in Child Ballads No. 300 xviii.:
Ye'll take out yon wild waith steed And bring him to the green.Bnff. 1852 A. Harper Solitary Hours 57:
We need never think To gnidge his goule in onie mink, Unless 'ts made o' waith horse hair.ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 197:
A horseshoe was nailed to some part of the boat — generally to the mast. A “waith-horse” shoe was most sought after.n.Sc. 1929 J. M. McPherson Prim. Beliefs 65:
To catch the creature, it was necessary to get “a waith horse” bridle, and cautiously cast it over kelpie's head.