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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

YEAR, n. Also †yeir, †yer-. Hence †yeirlie (Ayr. 1730 Burgh Rec. Prestwick (M.C.) 90), yerlin, yearling (Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 112). Sc. forms and usages. See also 'Ear, n.

1. As a pl. (from the uninflected O.E. pl. ȝēar). Gen.Sc. and Eng. dial.Ayr. 1786 Burns To his Auld Mare iv.:
It's now some nine-an'-twenty year.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix.:
They didna 'gree at a' for twa or three year.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xli.:
Fa kens fat may happen ere five year come an' gae.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Raiders Foreword:
That concerning Helen of Troy, which lasted ten year.ne.Sc. 1929 M. W. Simpson Day's End 28:
A gey curn year — twal' oot come Caun'lemas.Slg. 1949 W. D. Cocker New Poems 4:
It's gettin' on for fifty year.m.Sc. 1994 Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay Forever Yours, Marie-Lou 29:
Twenty-seven year ah've worked fur that bastard...ah'm forty-five...started work fur the bastard when ah wis eighteen... Dundee 2000 Matthew Fitt But n Ben A-Go-Go 5:
Aside the smoked-gless keek panel, a quartet o info screens wis inbiggit tae the Omega Kist's face. Three o them joogled data anent Nadia's vital signs; ... Nadia's thocht pad wis a clear unblenkin ee o blue that had no been puggled wi information for three year echteen month.

2. In pl. in expressing a specific date, where Eng. omits. Gen. in formal legal documents.Gsw. 1715 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (B.R.S.) 535:
The tuelfth of May mvi. and fifty-five years.Lth. 1731 D. Robertson S. Leith Rec. (1925) II. 51:
The twenty sixth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one years.

3. Derivs.: (1) yearin, the season's produce, crop (Ork. 1929 Marw.), after Norw. åring, O.N. árangr, id.; (2) yearling, in transf. sense: a public official who is allowed to hold his appointment for one year only. Obs.(1) Ork. 1912 Old-Lore Misc. V. ii. 68:
Hid was puir yearin' an' cauld snawy winter at meed his kye geong apae liftin'.(2) Per. 1830 Perthshire Adv. (9 Sept.):
Use and wont has made it a point of honour to remain in office for two years, and to be made a “yearling” is an acknowledged disgrace. Some years ago the Guildry resolved . . . to make the Deans of Guild continual yearlings.

4. Combs.: (1) yearaul(d), -ald, -alt (Ork.), yerld, yirld, year(a)l(l), yearil, year-old, adj. and n., a yearling (Cai. 1905 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc.; (2) year's bairns, persons born in the same year, coevals; (3) year's-mates, id.; (4) Yearsmas, Hogmanay, New Year's Eve. Other versions of the rhyme read Candlemas.(1) Sc. 1816 Scott Black Dwarf i.:
The luckpenny I am to gie him for his year-aulds.Bnff. 1872 W. Philip It 'ill a' Come Richt ii.:
There's twa gweed kye i' the byre, an' the year'l.Abd. 1882 W. Alexander My Ain Folk 56:
Letting blood freely of his year aul's as a precautionary measure.Kcd. 1894 J. Kerr Reminiscences III. 64:
Some yearil stirkies at the sale.Sh. 1898–9 Shetland News (6 Aug., 8 July):
Doo kens what owertook Tamy's tree-yirl'd — I can say shü wis a koo. . . . Shü tir da lawpells aff o' da twa yerl'd hog.Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. vi. 224:
A bony bit o' a twa yearald dudded whyoo.(2) s.Sc. 1836 Wilson's Tales of the Borders II. 303:
We were year's bairns, as they say.(3) Mry. 1836 Lintie o' Moray (1851) 44:
Where be our years-mates, years mates mine?(4) Sc. 1929 F. M. McNeill Sc. Kitchen 175:
Atween Yule and Yearsmas, Auld wives shouldna spin.

5. Phrs.: (1) monie a year and day, for a very long time, ad. the legal expression a year and a day, a fully completed year (ne. Sc., Ags. 1974); (2) yearly society, see quot.; (3) the year, this year. Gen.Sc. See also The, II.(1) Abd. 1880 G. Webster Crim. Officer 8:
The Wast Indies, far he was mony a year an' day.(2) Fif. 1845 Stat. Acc.² IX. 905:
There are also “Yearly Societies” in the town of Dunfermline, both for sick and funeral purposes, the constitution of which is peculiar. Each member pays not less than 1s. weekly, the whole of which he is entitled to receive back at the end of the year, if not previously paid.(3) Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 21:
Heary, is Nory fifteen out the year?Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 88:
She has no ca'd about a wheel the year.Per. 1894 I. Maclaren Brier Bush 288:
A' never mind him booed till the year.wm.Sc. 1950 M. Hamilton Bull's Penny i.:
To ding down a house I'd new-thatched myself the year.