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: 1743, 1826-1839, 1890-1936
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BRITTLE, adj. and v. Sc. usages.
I. adj.
†1. Shaky, on the verge of insolvency.Ayr. 1826 Galt Last of the Lairds xxxv.:
Broken merchants, ravelled manufacturers, and brittle bankers.
2. Difficult, “kittle” (Fif.10 1936).Sc. 1890 J. Kerr Hist. of Curling 352:
I promise . . . I will fit fair, sweep well, take all the brittle (angled) shots I can.Abd.9 1936:
He's gey brittle i' the temper.Ayr. a.1839 Galt The Howdie and Other Tales (1923) 3:
James Blithe was my first and only jo, and but for that armed man, Poverty, who sat ever demanding at our hearth, there never was a brittle minute in the course of our wedded life.
†II. v. “To render friable” (Sc. 1825 Jam.2). Ppl.adj. brittled.Sc. 1743 R. Maxwell Select Trans. Agric. 109:
Early in the Spring, harrow it, to mix the Clay brought to top (which will be brittled by the Winter-frosts) with the Ashes.
