Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
BRUST, v.1 To burst. Pa.p. brusten, bruss'n. Known to Abd.22, Fif.10, Arg.1 1936. [brʌst, brʌs(t)n]Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 146:
“He that eats while [till] he brusts, will be the worse while he lives,” a jocose Return to them that urge us to eat.Ags. 1818 J. Thomson Poems 35:
The young lad heard her, and his heart Wi' grief was like to brust.Ags. 1987 Raymond Vettese in Joy Hendry Chapman 50-1 54:
the leaves o monie faas brustin alow me. Dundee 1994 Matthew Fitt in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 175:
The young lad joukit atween thaim, thair glowers brustin aboot him lyk flak. Thair een follaed him aa the wey doon the street an intae a roch-lookin pub. em.Sc. 1999 James Robertson The Day O Judgement 13:
Its veins that yince ran cauld an caller,
Daffin an vauntie throu the glens,
Spew up in spleiterin cloods o reik
Tae bile an brust amang the bens.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 284:
The coffin brustit wi' a great explosion.Uls.(D) 1879 W. G. Lyttle Readings by Robin 68:
I seen it a' in a minit, an' I drappit doon on my sate an' brust oot a lauchin.
ppl.adj. brusten, brussin, breathless, exhausted; pursy, fat and flabby. See Bursen.Sc. 1827 Scott Surgeon's Daughter i.:
Canny against the hill, lasses, or we may have a brusten auld carline amang ye!Lnk. 1884 J. Nicholson Willie Waugh 72:
The wabster, sairly brusten, cursed the brae. Gall. 1898 A. J. Armstrong Levellers vi.:
I could mak' a weedin' o' thae brussin chiels mysel' gin things but lay that gate.
Comb.: bruss'n-fow, “sated with food” (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).
[O.Sc. brust, broust, to burst or break; also pa.p. brusun (D.O.S.T.); Mid.Eng. and E.M.E. brust(e), variant of burst.]
