Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1815-1924, 1979-1998
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,1,1]
BALLANT, BALLAN', n. Mod.Sc. form of Eng. ballad. A popular tale, gen. founded on some old tradition, couched in simple metre and often accompanied by music or sung. Gen.Sc. Also attrib.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xlv.:
They [the smugglers] stick to it that they'll . . . hae an auld wife when they're dying to rhyme ower prayers, and ballants, and charms, . . . rather than . . . a minister to come and pray.Sc. 1825 Jam.2:
Ballant, a ballad; the general pronunciation among the vulgar throughout S[cotland].Mry.(D) 1924 J. C. Austin in Swatches o' Hamespun 79:
There's Mergit Fyfe, the browster wife, Wha deals in booze an' ballants.Ags. 1848 J. Myles (ed.) A Feast of Literary Crumbs (1891) 34:
A bunch o' spunks or bawbee ballan', Or hank o' stringin'.Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 43:
Bottom: Damned affeir o't. Lippen tae me. Scrieve me a blad fornenst the play tae say we're no daein ony hairm wi our dirks, an Pyramus isnae killt ava, an forby that I Pyramus am nae Pyramus but Bottom the Wabster. Syne they'll no be feartit.
Quince: We'll dae that than, screivit in strict ballant form.m.Sc. 1979 Donald Campbell in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 67:
Fient a bard'll scrieve a ballant
for a strumpet when she's deid.Fif. 1998 Tom Hubbard Isolde's Luve-Daith 5:
We set ti the darg wi the anerlie gear we brocht,
Wi Tristan's ballants an Isolde's balsam;
You sang ti heeze the dauntit fae defeat.Gall. c.1870 M. Harper in Bards of Gall. (ed. Harper 1889) 161:
To weave in its praise a bit ballant or sang, Hoo the visions o' young days come croodin' sae thrang.
Phrase: A hole in the ballant, orig. the ballad-singer's excuse when his broadside was torn, the phrase was extended to mean "a blank or omission of any kind" (Ags.2).Sc. 1892 R. L. Stevenson The Wrecker v.:
Alexander Loudon, Born Seventeen Ninety-Twa, Died — and then a hole in the ballant.Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle xx.:
"A hole in the ballant," commented the Provost. "Have another skelp at it, Factor."
