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: 1805-1925
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BOUGAR, Booger, Boggar, Buggar, Bugger, n. Also bouger (Dmf. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (Nov.) 154). A house-rafter. Gen. in pl. and used to indicate the couples, the wood under the slates or thatch and (in Rxb.) the joists. Once Gen.Sc., now obs. or obsol. [′bugɑr, ′bɔgɑr, ′bʌgɑr; also with ending -ər]Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Bougars, cross spars, forming part of the roof of a cottage, used instead of laths, on which wattling or twigs are placed, and above these divots, and then straw or thatch.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 161:
I'll tak a rung frae the bougars o' the house, and rizle your riggin wi't.Sc. 1873 Notes and Queries 4th Ser. XII. 306:
Said of a well-filled church: I hae heard the boogers [beams] cracking at 6 o'clock o' the mornin'.Mearns3 1914:
Gang up intae the buggers o' the ruif.Ags. 1914 T.S.D.C. I. 23:
Boggars, rafters of a house.Knr. 1925 "H. Haliburton" Horace in Homespun 224:
Noo the cock o' John Tamson's toun, Fra his perch i' the bougars aboon, . . . He flew like auld Sautern doun!Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Gen. View Agric. Ayr. 114:
The whole wooden part, or inside of the roof, was denominated the buggars.Rxb. 1820 Edin. Mag. (June) 533/2:
A loud and "gowstie wind . . . soupit owre the houses, and often tirled the thack to the bare bougars."ne.Rxb., w.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
‡Bougar, a tie-beam of a (house-) roof.
Combs.: (1) bougar-stakes, "the lower part of cupples, or rafters, that were set on [reached to] the ground in old houses" (Teviotd. 1825 Jam.2); (2) bougar-, buggarstick(s) (given as obsol. by Watson Rxb. W.-B. 1923, p. 72), "strong pieces of wood fixed to the couples, or rafters, of a house by wooden pins; perhaps originally the same with Bougar-stakes" (Rxb. 1825 Jam.2).(1) Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 148:
For stride-legs, on a bougar-stake, Sat Cupid, wild an' clever.
