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: 1721, 1802-1933
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BURD-ALANE, -alone, adj., adv. and n.comb. Variant of Bird-alane, q.v. [′bʌrdə′len]
1. adj. or adv.
(1) Absolutely alone; without companionship (Bnff.2, Abd.2, Lnk., Lth. (per Lnk.3) 1937). "Fairly well known in Rxb., Slg., Tranent and Stranraer" (Rxb.2 1917).Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 29:
She's dead o'er true, she's dead and gane, Left us and Willie Burd alane.Sc. 1887 R. L. Stevenson Underwoods 111:
Aft when I sat an' made my mane, Aft when I laboured burd-alane.Sc. 1928 J. G. Horne Lan'wart Loon 9:
Weel, weel! he'd leg it burd alane, An' share his ploy an' joy wi' nane.Abd. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer III. viii.:
I never have any engagements, . . . at least, of a social kind. I am burd alane. I know next to nobody.Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays and Lyrics 4:
And the robin again sits burd-alane, And sings his sang on the auld peat stane.
(2) Phs. = unequalled, unrivalled (Sc. 1808 Jam.).Sc. 1802–1803 The Gallant Grahams in Minstr. Sc. Border (ed. Scott) III. 179:
And Newton Gordon, burd-alone And Dalgatie, both stout and keen.
2. n. "A term used to denote one who is the only child left in a family" (Sc. 1808 Jam.).Gsw. 1933 in Glasgow Herald (9 Dec.):
Hopkins — At 25, Thorncroft Drive, Glasgow, S. 4, on 8 December, 1933, Andrew Robertson (burdalane of the family of the late James Hopkins, Esq., Tarbolton) in his 86th year.
