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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.

S(c)ho, v. Also: s(c)hoe, shooe, schue; shee. P.t. schoit, schod. P.p. s(c)hod, schodd, schoid, schode, shoed, shoad, shodde. [ME and e.m.E. scheo(en (a1225), sho(n (a1300), shoo(n (Trevisa); p.t. s(c)oide (Layamon), schodde (Trevisa), p.p. shod (Chaucer), OE scógan.] tr.

1. To provide (oneself or another) with shoes or the like; to clothe the feet, with or as with shoes. Also proverb.In p.p. sometimes = wearing shoes. c1520-c1535 Nisbet Mark vi 9.
Bot schod with sandalis Id. Ephesians vi 15.
Be ye … clethit with the habirioun of richtuisnes and your feet schode — 1535 Stewart 28493.
[He] passit hame agane … Vpone his [fit], als oft bairfeit as schod 1605 Dundonald Par. Rec. 85.
Ordained yit again to mak his repentance … bairfoted, becaus he cam schod this day 1606 Birnie Kirk-b. xviii.
How mal-apert are men to aproche not onely shodde, but with shod-shooles to seugh vp the sanctuary-ground?proverb. a1598 Ferg. Prov. No. 740.
Shod [v.r. schodd] in the cradle, bairfoot in the stubble Ib. No. 790.
The sowters wife is worst shod [v.r. shoed]

2. To provide (a horse) with a horse's shoes; to nail (horseshoes) to feet.(1) ?1438 Alex. ii 7888.
Now pray I that ȝour geir be dicht And ȝour hors shod all at richt 14.. Acts I 346/2.
Of a man condampnit to deid … the crownaris sall haue the dantit hors nocht shod 1487 Ib. II 183/2.
It is said in the said statute of davntit hors vnschod that … the said crovnaris sal haue davntit hors depute to werk & nocht to the sadill that wes neuer schod nor vsit to schone 1496 Treas. Acc. I 321.
To Dande Doule to scho tua hors of the kingis, iij s. iiij d. 1502–3 Ib. II 358.
To the Franch smyth that schoit the cursouris 1568 Crail B. Ct. MS 27 July.
Be the smyth that schod the hors 1596 Dalr. I 99/20.
For this cause the horse thay dar nocht schoe with yrne schone Ib. 350/4.
The Bruse … schortlie callis a smith, quhome he causes to schue thrie suofte horses backward 1600–1 State P. (Reg. H.) No. 108/10, 15.
Thomas Foulis smytht … wes schoand Robert Brownis hors 1646 Haigs of Bemersyde 233.
The … smyth hes bund himself … to scho tua horse to Dauid Haig 1679 Kirkcudbr. Sheriff Ct. Processes No. 320 (22 July).
Robert Lennox … ordered Patrick Ræn to shooe hir [sc. a mare](2) a1538 Abell 7*b.
Makdonald vykkyt schod a wedo wyth yryn schon 1596 Dalr. II 39/16, 17.
With horschone he schod his wife, and set thame on her solis with nailis as the horsse vses to be schod 1661 Soc. Ant. XXII 252.
Shoe was the divills horse … and … she was shoad like ane mare or ane horse

3. To furnish (an artefact) with a protective band, or plate, of metal; to fit (a wheel) with an iron rim or tire. 1478–9 Acta Aud. 82/1.
A pluch schod xxx d. 1496 Treas. Acc. I 290.
To Thom Barkaris man and his cheld … to scho quhelis 1560 Edinb. Old Acc. II 98.
j^c nalis to scho the cran 1566 Inv. Wardrobe 169.
Tua cairtis … with aixtreis quheillis schod 1585 Elphinstone Mun. 193/1.
Ane pair of quheillis schod with irne and buschit with bras 1598 Edinb. Test. XXXI 324b.
Tua gangand cairtis the ane of thame schod with irone 1644 Ib. LX 376b.
Ane pleuch schoid with irone with cairt & soik

4. In extended sense: To cover over (peat diggings) by replacing the grassy turfs previously removed. 1657 Peebles B. Rec. II 40.
That the mos be first brokine at the nether end of the mos, and that the mos be covered or shod agane

5. In certain special phrases.To be schod in the gob, ? to have a strong speaking voice, ? to have ‘the gift of the gab’. To be shod … straite, ? to be in difficulties. To schoe the guise (geis), ? Cf. e.m.E. = ‘to spend one's time in trifling or in unnecessary labour’ (OED, 1583), to get drunk (1611). To scho behind, to shoe a horse's back feet (a risky undertaking if the horse is nervous and apt to shy, see Kittill adj. 1 b transf.).(1) 1581 Hamilton Cath. Tr. in 1573-1600 Cath. Tr. (STS) 83/15.
Thou sees souters, tailyeurs … and vthir mechaniks quha ar sufficient doctors gif they be schod in the gob, and cry out that the Pape is the Antichrist … and blasphame lauful magistrats(2) a1605 Montg. Ch. & Slae 661 (Wr.).
‘Call Danger back againe,’ quoth Skil, ‘To see what he can say to Wil, We see him shoad so straite’(3) a1598 Ferg. Prov. No. 296.
Go shoe the geese [1641 sho the geiss, 1706 shee the geese] 1621-40 Melville Commonpl. Bk. 11.
He that medlis with all thingis may go schoe the guise(4) 1609 in Acts IV 421/2.
Let nather ony knawlege come to … my brotheris earis … for [he] is kittill to scho behind and dar nocht interpryse for feir