Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

AIR,  n.¹ Also err.  St.Eng. air, atmosphere, etc.  [e:r, ɛ:r]

Sc. forms:Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 23:
err Broad Glaswegian pronunciation of: ... 2. air: 'That's that caper up in the err.'

A. The Sc. uses are almost the same as the St.Eng., but the foll. are dialectal.

1. Sir J. Sinclair in 1782 (Obs. Sc. Dial. 144) gives as a Scotticism To take the air off anything, explaining air as chill. This is not St.Eng., but is found in Eng. dial.; the E.D.D. gives: “Air, the chill, in phr. to take the air off the drink”; and quotes Salopia Antiqua (1841) for Shr.: “To take the chill from beer is usually denoted by the phrase ‘tak the hair off the drink.' It's coud, jist out o' the cellar, yoden better tak the yare off it.”Slg.¹ 1931:
Air, chill. Very common in Stirling. To run a little hot water into a cold bath is to “tak' the cauld air aff o't.”

2. The ventilating current of air in a mine is called in both Scottish and north of Eng. mines the air (J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms (1886), and E.D.D.).

3. In phrases like air of the fire the meaning is (sometimes more, sometimes less) influenced by Air, n.²Sh. 1914 Angus Gl. [given by him as a separate word from “Air, firmament, atmosphere,” and expl. as “effluence”]:
Lass, ko di's intru an get da air a da fire. E.D.D. expl. “air of the fire, the heated atmosphere surrounding a fire”; and refers to Sc., quoting also from Ireland and Cheshire. Angus Gl. gives another ex.: “I felt da air o's breath,” and defines “smell, odour.” But both this and his other ex. seem to be instances of a blending of Air, n.¹, and Air, n.² For a air (er) o' wind see Air, n.²

B. Combs.

(1) Air-cock, weathercock. (2) Air-goat, snipe. (3) air-sooker, see quot.(1) Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Sc. Poems (1925) 73:
Now morn, with bonny purpie-smiles, Kisses the air-cock o' St Giles.(2) Arg. 1898 N. Munro J. Splendid 361:
The air-goat bleated as he flew among the reeds.(3) Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 79:
Air-sooker. A weasel, said to be from the notion that it could suck birds out of the air. [But prob. from the hissing noise made by the animal when cornered.]