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.
†BRATCHEL, n. “The husks of flax set on fire” (Highlands 1825 Jam.2).Sc. 1815 C. I. Johnstone Clan-Albin I. vi.:
She could not forbear expressing her unfeigned pity for the Lowlanders, whom, what are called flax-mills and fulling-mills precluded from all the social delights of beating and skutching, the blaze of a Bratchel, and above all, the superlative joys of a waulking.
