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 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LAKE, n. Sc. usage: a small stagnant pool (Rxb. 1825 Jam.), esp. one formed at ebb-tide on the shore (Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Letter vii.). Also attrib. See also Loch.Dmf. 1758 A. Steel Annan (1933) 97:
Lett to Johnstone, Provost, a lake for fishing.Dmf. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ II. 17:
This is also called lake-fishing, from the nets being always set in lakes, or hollow parts of the tideway.Dmf. 1824 Obs. Salmon Fishery Scot. 7:
On the extensive flats or sand-banks in the Solway Frith, large excavations are made by the eddies of the current, which, at ebb-tide, form on the bank large pools, — or lakes, as they are termed by the fishers. At these lakes, the fishers erected what was at first called a tide or floating-net, in consequence of the net being so constructed, that it was the operation of the tide itself which secured the fish.Fif. 1884 G. Bruce Reminisc. 346:
No “lake” nor “creek” then seen, but breakers thundering all around.