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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BIGGIN(G), Biggen', Biggan, n.²

1. A building, a cottage. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1718 Nairne Peerage Evidence (1873) 33:
Mannor places houses biggings yairds orchyairds.Sc.(E) 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah 9:
An' up till the height o' Jehovah, till the biggin o' Jakob's God!Ork. c.1836 Dr Wood in Ork. and Sh. Misc. (1908) I. vii. 264:
Guid hour upon this buirdly biggan; Frae the steethe stane to the riggan!Abd.(D) 1923 R. L. Cassie Heid or Hert i.:
The dwallin'-hoose . . . a lang, laich, sklaitit biggin', wi' fite harl't wa's.Ags. 1728 Private Document:
Houses Biggings and haill Pertinents.m.Sc. 1982 Syd Scroggie in Hamish Brown Poems of the Scottish Hills 9:
The lark in the sky,
A friend in the bigging
And happy am I.wm.Sc. 1987 Anna Blair Scottish Tales (1990) 145:
She opened her shutters, and there, out on the loch and at the cots and biggins round the shore she saw the reason for the silence. A black flag flew from the ship and makeshift copies of it from half a dozen houses in the hamlet. Plague had come to Loch Leven, brought from the East by the merchant ship.Gsw. 1713 Records Burgh Glasgow (ed. Marwick) (1908) 511:
Lying in Kelvinhaugh, with the houses, biggings, yeards.Lnk. 1997 Duncan Glen From Upland Man 3:
A white-washed and hauf-thatched biggin.
And unspoilt gress aw roond.
Juist the trace o a path frae white barred gate
to the front door.Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems and Songs 43:
I'm seeking your aid in a wee pickle straw, To blaid my frail biggen'.Uls. 1897 A. M'Ilroy When Lint was in the Bell xii. 137:
“It mun hae been a fine biggin' in somebody's day,” was what we often remarked about the ruins of the old castle.

2. “A cluster of houses: a hamlet” (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.).Sc. 1828 Scott F. M. Perth ii.:
[Thou] hast seen many a river besides Tay, and many a fair bigging besides St Johnston.Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Sh.⁴ 1934:
Biggin, collection or cluster of houses, a b[iggin] o' hooses.

3. A wall built to support the roof of a longwall working, a packwall (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 10). Sc. 1819 Scots Mag. (Jan.) 35:
I was in great fear of being suffocated for want of air, I immediately ran to a bigin that was connected with another pit.