Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

‡BARLEY-FEVER, n. [′bɑrlĕ-′fɪvər]

1. “Sickness occasioned by drunkenness” (Jam.⁵ 1879 for w.Sc.).

2. Intoxication.Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) xxiv.:
Though then in his sixty-first year . . . this was the first time he ever had fallen a victim to the barley-fever!Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 129:
He found his guests . . . all labouring under that severe, though happily not epidemic distemper, known by the name of “Barley fever.”