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.
BIBLE, n.
1. A book of any kind, gen. big. Given as obs. in N.E.D.s.Sc. 1836 J. M. Wilson Tales of the Borders II. 150:
“Ay, ay,” thought Dryhope, “is there sae meikle doot o' my case, as to require the touchstane o' thae ponderous law bibles?”
2. Specif. applied to the Old Testament only. Obs. in Eng. in 16th c. Abd. c.1805 D. Brown Life J. Duncan (1872) 6:
The children were "put" into the New Testament, and then into "The Bible"- which completed their reading education. Kcb. 1812 A. Murray Hist. Eur. Langs. (1823) 1. xl.:
I at length got a New Testament, and read the historical parts with great curiosity and ardour. But I longed to read the Bible, which seemed to me a much more pleasant book.
Combs. and deriv.: (1) bible-betterness, betterment in a religious sense, spiritual regeneration. Only in Galt; (2) bible-brod, -board, one of the covers of a bible (Sh. 1975). See Brod, n.1, 4.; (3) bibler, a school-pupil in the higher classes which used the Bible as a text-book. Hence †bibler's seat, a name given by Edinburgh schoolboys to a pinnacle of Edinburgh Castle rock. (1) Ayr. 1836 Galt Rich Man (1925) 21:
A glaik of hope that promised to make me better, no, maybe, of a bible betterness. (2) Kcd. 1822 G. Menzies Poems (1854) 61:
Our family births and names recorded all Long years ago, upon the "Bible-board". (3) Sc. 1883 J. Nasmyth Autobiog. 20:
As it was only the bigger boys who could read the Bible, the strongest of them consummated the feat by climbing up the Castle rock, and reaching what they called "The Bibler's Seat".
