Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1808-1825, 1922-1929
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BLAIN, n.2 and v.
1. n. A bare spot, a blank, vacancy; miss, omission.Abd.(D) 1922 G. P. Dunbar Whiff o' the Doric 51:
For ilka blain she chanced tae mak', A kiss she had tae gie.Lth. 1808 Jam.:
A blain in a field, a place where the grain has not sprung.Bnff. 1812 D. Souter Gen. View Agric. Bnffsh. App. 51:
Instead of corn, nothing is to be seen but useless trumpery, and very often empty blains.
Hence blainy, adj., of crops: bare in patches.Abd.(D) 1929 J. Alexander Mains and Hilly 127:
A man wis tellin' me 'at wis in Aiberdeen nae lang seen 'at a' the road in he didna see a blainy fiedle o' neeps.Lth. 1825 Jam.2:
"How are your aits this year?" "Middling weil, except some rigs in the west park, that are a wee blainy." n.pl. blains, empty grain.
2. v. "To become covered with blanks; applied commonly to a field with frequent blanks in the crop" (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 217).
Hence blaint, ppl.adj.: "(1) covered with blank spots; applied to a field in which parts of the crop do not spring. (2) Empty; blasted; applied to grain and the ears of grain" (Ib.; Bnff.2 1934).
[Phs. metaph. use of Blain, n.1, a mark, blemish, etc. (Jam.).]
