A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Umber, n.3 [17th c. Eng. hombre (1660-1), (l')ombre (1662), umbre (1668), F. (h)ombre, Sp. hombre man.] Ombre, the card-game. Also, appar. attrib. with packing, ? with reference to a pack of cards (cf. e.m.E. pack ‘to arrange or shuffle (playing cards) so as to cheat or secure a fraudulent advantage’; OED, s.v. Pack v.2 5). —1702 Dunbar Social Life I 128.
I am not so greatt a fool as to make feasts that wise men may eat them, nor yet so greatt a presbeterian but I can eatt a leg of a goose and play at umber on Yool-day —? attrib. 1706 Foulis Acc. Bk. 449.
Spent and lost at cards with him, Captain Scot, and Murray at umber packing with the Commander at Dycks … £1 19 s. 6 d.
