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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Scob, Skob, n. Also: scobb, skowb, skobe. [MIr. scolb a wattle, Gael. sgolb, Ir. scolb a splinter, of the same ulterior origin as skelf. Cf. later Ir.-Eng. scollop a thatch-peg (1813).]

1. A flexible rod or twig used to fasten thatch in place on a roof; a thatching-rod. Also coll.(1) 1536 Ayr Common Good Acc.
For skobys & bent to the townis hous, xxviij d. 1548 Edinb. Hammermen 176.
For duffattis skowbis and lautht and for workmanschip of the hous in Nedryis Wynd 1605 Tailor's Acc. Bk. A 36b.
Depursit in beiting of the hous … beir stray at viij s. the thraiwe … iij hundreith scobis, xviij 1634 Dumfr. & Galloway Soc. XVII 304.
For theiking of the scoole £2 16 s. For 600 skobis £1 1662 Donaldson Cramondiana 37.
To 1000 scobs at 2 s. per centum 1696 Minnigaff Par. Rec. 16.
For scobs to the schooll hous 30 pence 1699 Galloway P. 30 Oct.
The said earle is to furnish straw & scobs to the said kiln(2) 1696 Kirkcudbr. Sheriff Ct. Deeds II 719.
[To uphold the said houses sufficiently and keep them water-fast and wind-tight, furnishing] thacke and scobb [necessary for that effect] 16.. Abercrummie in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II 16.
The plenty of wood and water in this countrey which tempt men to fish and cutt scob or wattles for necessary uses

2. A gag, orig. (? and here) a flexible rod used as a gag. 1671 Red Bk. Grandtully II 205.
One of them stabed the keeper in the shoulder, and skobed his mouth that he might not cry. … The keeper's sone … found him [sc. his father] in the posture I have told, and takes the skobe from his mouth, and he presently cryes that the crown was gone