A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1530-1583, 1653
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Scatch(e, Skaitch, Skaitge, Skutch; Skack, n. [Late ME and e.m.E. scache (1420), OF esc(h)ache (12th c. in Wartburg).] A pole used in construction, ?a scaffolding-pole, also, the uprights of a ladder. b. A stilt. —1530 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) I 38.
For ic firryn sparris for the skaitgis to futgangis 1563–4 Edinb. Old Acc. I 469.
Planscheour naill and … garrow naill to eik the ledder with and naill on the skaitchis 1578–9 Haddington Treas. Acc.
For skutches to the futgang, ij s. 1583 Edinb. D. Guild Acc. 178. —
Ane aikkan rufe spar to be roungis & skackis to the saidis ledderisb. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais ii i.
Others grew in the legs and to see them you would have said they had been … men walking upon stilts or scatches