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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

YONT, adv., adj., prep. Also yownt; yoint. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. yond. [jont]

I. adv. 1. Yonder, over there, thither, on or to the other side (Sc. 1808 Jam.; em., wm.Sc. 1974); sometimes, esp. in Ags contexts connoting a visit or social call made by one person to another, freq. to the speaker himself, = Eng. over, across. Hence to cry or look yont, to call over, “drop in”.Per. 1814 Scots Mag. (March) 216:
The pot's brought yont, afore them a'.Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck i.:
He cam yont to stop the ewes aff the hog-fence, the wind being eissel.s.Sc. 1835 Wilson's Tales of the Borders I. 120:
Sae, after I had brocht them to ken what I was, I awa yont to my mither's.Ayr. 1870 J. K. Hunter Life Studies 288:
I wad tak' a step yont.Lnl. 1881 H. Shanks Musings 325:
Tae meet ye yont at Johnnie's Knowe.Ags. 1892 F. F. Angus Susie xxi.:
You have only to cry yont for it and ye will get it onytime.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 74:
They said they were mibby genna look yont the nicht.Fif. 1901 G. Setoun Skipper of Barncraig xxv.:
Just as he cam' to the beild o' the dyke yont there.Hdg. 1908 J. Lumsden Th' Loudons 75:
Yont to the Station, Mick, An' wait the twa last trains.Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 143:
Yont, whaur the birk-trees bloom in leafy row.

Combs. and phrs.: (1) hither and yont, hither and thither, this way and that, to and fro (Ags. 1974); (2) yont-by, over yonder, across (sometimes indicating in the direction of the speaker); (3) yont ower, right over, away.(1) Sc. 1736 Ramsay Proverbs (1776) 76:
What want you up and down, ye have hither and yont.Per. 1881 D. Macara Crieff 164:
It's jummel'd ma brains a' hither an' yont.Ags. 1924 M. Angus Tinker's Road 45:
Hither and yont their dust is blown.(2) Ags. 1822 A. Balfour Farmers' Three Daughters IV. 158:
Geordie Shanks came yont by, an' tald me a' aboot the ring.Ags. 1887 A. D. Willock Rosetty Ends 163:
Substraction an' multiplication got a big rest yont-by at the schule.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden (1922) 18:
I'll come yont by an' see what like things is.(3) Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 6:
Ony o the ways, it [the Peinelheuch Monument] geh a steiter, an yownt-owre it tirlt!

2. Farther away or along, onwards beyond, at a distance, aside, apart (Sc. 1908 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Rxb. 1942 Zai; Abd., em.Sc., Dmf. 1974). Also in compar. form yonter, after Yonder. Phrs. to get or haud yont, to go on one's way, keep going forward; in imper. as a call to a sheep-dog: run further out so as to round up (Per. 1974); to pass yont, to pass away, to die.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 114:
Stand yont proud Czar, I wadna niffer Fame With thee.Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 92:
Bide yont frae this black squad.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 67:
The sun now frae the twal hour point Had nearly skifftit twa hours yont.Ayr. 1821 Scots Mag. (April) 352:
I dinna care a feg tho' anither T. Moore shud step furrat sax or aucht score o' yeirs yonter.Sc. 1824 Scott St Ronan's W. xv.:
I wad fain hotch mysell farther yont.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xi.:
Peter and the stranger did not rise to put the ladies into the pew, but simply “hirsled yont,” and made room for them at the end of it.Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xxx.:
I'll be getting a wee yont amang the bents.Per. 1908 Gsw. Ballad Club III. 115:
It's eight o' clock, an' a quarter yont.Edb. 1915 T. W. Paterson Auld Saws 53:
Keep up yer hairt! An' still be haudin yont.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 62:
When Bob Broon, the wricht, passed yont himsel'.Rxb. 1927 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick 25:
Sit yoint! = move along! (a seat).m.Sc. 1944 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 87:
Further yont, on the other side of the school.

II. adj. 1. Far, distant (Sc. 1808 Jam., the yont side). Phr. a yont side, on the far side of, beyond. See A, prep.²Sc. 1719 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 126:
I'd better been a yont Side Kairn-amount.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 52:
She is at the yont end o' her days.Ags. 1819 A. Balfour Campbell I. xiv.:
Could hae counted kin to the yont side o' King Robert the Bruce.Per. 1897 R. M. Fergusson Village Poet 22:
My faither wis a Herries, ane o' yer kind, sir, though I doot the connection is gey far yont.

2. That, yonder. Also in Eng. dial. Cf. Yon, adj.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 270:
My fock do won among yont distant bent.

III. prep. 1. Beyond, on or to the other side of (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; Rxb. 1942 Zai; m. and s.Sc. 1974). See also Ayont.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 144:
Yesterday I met her yont a Know.Ayr. 1786 Burns To the Deil vi.:
Aft yont the dyke she's heard you bumman.Kcb. 1814 W. Nicholson Poems 5:
Was E'nbro' 'yont or 'nist the Forth, If France lay east, or west, or north.Sc. 1842 D. Vedder Poems 86:
'Twas three minutes yont the time.Lnl. 1890 A. Bisset Spring Blossoms 47:
Ye've left yer glaiket teens ahint ye, An' warsled yont the length o' twinty.Ags. 1915 V. Jacob Songs of Angus 51:
There's muckle lyin' yont the Tay that's mair to me nor life.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 7:
There, yoint the waeter, lay Ancrum!Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 100:
Yont the Pass o' Balmaha.

Phr. yont-the-ingle, the recess around and behind the fireplace under the wide chimney, in old rural farmhouses. Used attrib. in quot.Sc. 1829 G. Robertson Recollections 82:
The great lum was discarded, the smoke-vent being carried up in the heart of the gable wall, with no longer a yont-the-ingle hiding-place.

2. Along, further along, onwards through or over (Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ags. 1974).Lnk. 1792 W. Young Airdrie Fair 5:
Their manes plait up wi' red an' blue, As they gang yont the cawsey.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake 26:
Guid nicht, an' mony thanks, For I maun yont the gaet be spankin.Ags. 1891 Barrie Little Minister vi.:
We heard some ane running yont the road.Bwk. 1897 R. M. Calder Poems 96:
The dominie comes yont the back Wi' looker-on to hae a crack.Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 95:
Are ye comin yont the toun?Fif. c.1920 R. Holman Sketches 38:
I often gaun yont the glen and sit beside the wee burn.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 12:
Yoint the road, an bye the station, A crosst Jed Waeter.