A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1600-1646
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0]
Porr, Porh(e, Pour, n. [North. ME and north. e.m.E. porr (1357–8), por, porre, a fire poker; also in the mod. Sc. and north. Eng. dialects in both the following senses, as porr, pore, pur(rie; cf. Porr-,v.] a. A thrust with a weapon. b. ? A poker. —a. 1600-1610 Melvill 273.
And meitting with his marrow, with rapper and dagger, missing his ward, he gettes a porh at the left pape, wharof he dies 1600-1610 Ib. 275.
A porhe of a rapper, wharof he died 1609 Criminal Trials III 75.
Ȝe, taking out ȝour bludie dager, said, ‘he could nocht be the war, becaus ȝe had gevin him bot ane pour'b. 1645–6 J. Hope Diary (1958) 148.
The slugges wer drawen out and sturred to make them cleire of the metall with gavelockes and porres
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Porr n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/porr>
