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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Quotation dates: 1826, 1915-1932

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AWEERS, adv., pred. adj. In to be aweers o', followed by a gerund = to be on the point of, to want little to. Rarely aweers to, with inf.Bnff.2 1932:
It wiz a fine teen that. I wiz aweers o' takin' the fleer masel.Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 73:
Wi' his ain shadow aweers to fight.Abd.(D) 1915 H. Beaton At the Back o' Benachie 50:
Ye're aweers o' garrin' ma hair stan' on eyen.Bch.(D) 1926 P. Giles in Abd. Univ. Rev. (March) 113:
Some o' the aul' wivies . . . war aweers o' thinkin' 'at the end o' the wardle wiz com.

[From on or in weers. See Weer, which in Mid.Eng. and O.Sc. means "danger" (also "fear," and "uncertainty"). "In were of deth" (in danger of death), Lydgate (1412–1420); cf. Mod.Sc. "Lums in wiers to get a dird," Tarras Poems 42 (1804).]

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