Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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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.
BARM, BAURM, n.1 The N.E.D. and Concise Eng. Dict. give barm as St.Eng. = yeast. The Un. Eng. Dict. says yeast and leaven are now the most common words for barm, except provincially.
1. Two proverbs which seem to be distinctively Sc. are here given.Sc. 1825 Sc. Proverb in Jam.2:
Put out your barm where you took in your ale; i.e. shew the effects of your ill-humour where you met with the offence.Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs 167:
Seek your sa' where you got your ail, and beg your barm where you buy your ale.
2. “A drink made of yeast, treacle, ginger and water” (n.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 49).
3. fig.
(1) In phr. pit oot her (etc.) barm, express one's feelings, bad humour.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 153:
But I didna think it warth while to correc' her; it's aye best to let a wumman pit oot her barm in her ain way.
(2) Insult.Mry.1 1913:
Her neighbour annoyed her with taunts and barms.Mry. 1933 (per Bnff.12):
She doesna like hiz. It's aye taunts and baurms.
(3) Blame.Mry.2 1933:
I got the barm o't.
Comb.: barm biscuit, also in reduced form barm, a round biscuit, made overnight of fermented dough, with sugar and lard added: “doughed” in the morning with soda flour and then fired on the stone sole of the oven (Arg.1 1933). [Also known by Arg.2]Arg. 1930s anon. Campbell's Land :
Then Lizzie rose in all her charms
Tae go tae Dougie's for the barms. Arg. 1992:
In Campbeltown known both as barms and barm biscuits, these locally popular items of bakery were prepared with flour and yeast and included leftover cake-mix etc, which gave them their sweetness; I haven't heard the names outside Campbeltown.
