Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1825, 1935
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†BLACK BITCH, n.
1. “A bag which, in former times at least, was clandestinely attached to the lower part of the mill-spout, that through a hole in the spout, part of the meal might be abstracted as it came down into the trough” (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.2). See also Blind bitch s.v. Blin, adj., 4 (4).Kcb.1 1935:
The “black bitch” was a special bag used in the days when the meal was hand-sifted, into which the roughest of the meal and the last of the siftings were put. The contents formed an extra multure for the miller.Rxb. 1825 Jam.2:
A worthy proprietor in Roxb[urgh] . . . had just settled every thing respecting the lease of his mill, when a third person who was present, said to the miller, “I hope you'll no' keep a black bitch?”
2. A nickname for a native of Linlighgow, from the dog on the town's coat-of-arms (Slg., w.Lth. 1975).
[Given as obs. by Watson Rxb. W.-B. 1923.]
