Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1786-1902
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AWMOUS, AUMOUS, Almous, Amous, Awmus, Aumus, Awmos, Aumos, n. The Sc. forms of alms. (See also Amis.) [′ɑ:məs, ′ǫ:məs]
1. (Gen. in concrete sense) food or money given in charity to the poor (orig. the giving of such alms). Gen.Sc., but disappearing.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xii.:
I'll aye come for awmous as usual.Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays and Lyrics 24:
The Gangerel . . . Wha, through the day, for aumos begs.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh 127:
Ye maunna be muckle acquainted in this quarter, or ye wadna hae come here seekin' awmous.Ayr. 1824 A. Crawford Tales of my Grandmother 183:
But come awa' an' gie me my awmous.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 35:
An alms; charity; generally the fu o' the gude wife's han of oatmeal.Gall.(D) 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 160:
The former had tae gie them their awmus.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1837) V. 166:
For a' their prayers an' their praises, their aumuses [etc.]. — Ib. III. 233; liberal awmosses.
2. From indicating a charitable gift, it came to mean a good deed, a meritorious act; often applied gibingly to some threatened punishment, as a mere act of justice.Sc. 1825 Jam.2:
It wou'd be an aumous to gie him a weel-payed skin. [Cf. Henryson The Wolf and the Lamb l. 19, "It wer almouss thé for till draw and hing."]Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 42, 257:
I'll gie auld Potiphar his ammous in a way hell no like.
3. Combs.: (1) Awmous bannock, a bannock given in alms.Dmf. 1877 R. W. Thom Poems (1883) 1:
The awmous bannock an' gowpen o' meal Intil his wallet an' pock.
(2) Awmous bowl = awmous dish (see below).Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 266:
Yet "clashing Nanny" was a guid kind sowl, Nane hicher cramm'd a beggar's awmous bowl.
(3) Awmous deed, an alms; also fig.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals of the Par. i.:
I walked about from door to door, like a dejected beggar, till I got the almous deed of a civil reception. [Almous dedes in Hampole c.1340.]
(4) Awmous dish, a dish in which food (gen. meal) was received or given as alms.Sc. 1859 Autobiog. Beggar-boy 9:
Amongst the wanderers in these days, there were a great number in Scotland who carried the meal poke. Many of the farmers' wives kept what was then called an aumous dish; this was a small turned wooden dish, and was filled according to the deserts of the claimants or the feeling of the donor.Ayr. (?1786)1799 Burns Jolly Beggars (Cent. Ed.) first recit. ii.:
While she held up her greedy gab Just like an aumous dish. [Alms dish in Mid.Eng. from 14th cent.]
(5) Awmous-pock, — powk, a beggar's bag for carrying meal received in alms.Lnl. 1881 H. Shanks Musings under the Beeches 323:
They'll hae tae sell their awmous pocks, man.Dmf. 1822 A. Cunningham Trad. Tales II. 75:
A lamiter's crutch and an awmous-powk.
(6) An elder's aumos, a small dole dispensed by an elder of a church; any small sum of money disbursed.Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 27:
Not ev'n an elder's aumos I'll disburse.
