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: 1707-1958
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CABER, KABER, KEBAR, n. Also in forms cabre, cabir, cabar, cabber, cauber, kebbar, kebber, kebbo, kebbre, keebar, †kiber. [′kɑbər, ′kebər, ′kibər, ′kɛbər]
1. A long, heavy pole, usually made of a pine or fir tree; esp. in phr. to toss the caber, to throw such a pole so that it lands on the thicker end and falls away from the thrower, a contest in Highland games, the winner being he who throws the “caber” farthest. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1909 Colville 67:
It's a ticht caber 'at has neither knap (knot) nae gaw (crack, flaw) in't.Abd. 1928 Abd. Press and Jnl. (22 Oct.) 6/5:
The haill rick-ma-tick o' the moleskin-breekit chiels sittin' on't as gin't wis a caber for the sawpit!Ags. 1872 J. Kennedy Jock Craufurt 39:
They say he brags the kintra side To draw the sweer-tree, putt the stone, Or toss the caber on the green.Hdg. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-Head and Trotters 37:
Hammers, and cumbrous caubers now Like willow wands are swingin'.Gsw. 1711 Burgh Records (ed. Marwick 1908) 674:
Item, at the canale cutting of cabers, sharping them at the end.Kcb. 1896 S. R. Crockett Cleg Kelly xxviii.:
I could toss the caber with any man.
2. A beam, rafter (Bnff.2, Abd.22, Ags.1, Fif.10 1938), specif. a side or subsidiary rafter, in contrast to the Couples or main rafters; "the small wood laid upon them [the rafters], immediately under the divots or thatch" (Sc. 1825 Jam.2, cabir, kebber). Sc. 1718 Ramsay Chr. Kirke iii. xviii. in Poems (1721):
They frae a Barn a Kaber raught.Mry. 1830 T. D. Lauder Moray Floods (1873) 121:
Rory Fraser, shoemaker, his daughter, and two children . . . were sitting aloft on twa or three deals, placed on the kebbers of the house, wi' the water up at their feet.Abd. 1707 Sc. N. & Q. (1st Ser.) X. 45:
To the Fire house 1 Cupple, Pans, Roofs and Cabers, 9½ trees.Mearns 1857 A. Taylor Lummie 3:
The floor o' clay was never sweepit; Black draps frae sooty keebars dreepit.Per. 1835 J. Monteath Dunblane Traditions 69:
Then there were laid on the kebars, parallel to the couple-legs.Fif. 1938 St Andrews Cit. (29 Jan.) 3/5:
This pauky display o' Saundy's wut Raised up sic a cheer that the kebbors shuk.Lnk. 1881 D. Thomson Musings 18:
But ah! when he cam' to his ain native biggin' The thack was a' aff't, an' the cabers were bare.Lth. 1813 G. Bruce Poems 16:
An' tho' the kibers dirl an' shake, Wi' fierce auld canker'd Boreas.Ayr. (?1786) publ. 1799 Burns Jolly Beggars (Cent. ed.) second recit.:
He ended; and the kebars sheuk Aboon the chorus roar.Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Gen. View Agric. Ayr 114:
Over these were hung sticks about the thickness of a man's arm, called cabbers; and smaller ones set on the top of the wall were termed upstarts.Rxb. 1820 in Edin. Mag. (June) 533/2:
[The wind] gard the divots stour off the house riggins and every caber dunner.
3. “Used in some parts of S[cot]. for a large stick used as a staff” (Sc. 1825 Jam.2, cabir); “a clumsy, unwieldy stick” (Cai. 1907 D. B. Nicolson in County of Cai. 68, caber); “a twisted stick” (Cai.4 c.1920, cabre). Known to Abd.22 1938.
†4. “The transverse beams in a kiln, on which the grain is laid for being dried” (Sc. 1808 Jam., cabir). See also kill-kebbers, kiln kebbars, s.v. Kill, n.1 Ags. 1752 Inventory of Biggings (per Fif.1):
To a corn kilne with Simmers and Cabers.
5. In pl.: “the thinnings of young plantations” (Sc. (Highlands) 1879 Jam.5, kebbres). Not known to our correspondents.
6. Applied fig. (1) to persons: a big, coarse, clumsy man (Bnff.7 1925; Bnff.2, Abd.2 1938); “a strong person of a somewhat stubborn disposition” (Bnff. 1880 Jam.5; 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 92, kebbre); (2) to horses: “an old lean useless horse” (Cai. 1907 D. B. Nicolson in County of Cai. 68, cabre; Bnff.2 1938).(1) Mry.(D) 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sketches viii.:
Ay, he was a roch cabar, fond o' the dram.Rnf. 1807 R. Tannahill Poems and Songs 136:
Weel, tak thee that! — vile ruthless creature! Sic fate to ilk unsocial kebar, Who lays a snare to wrong his neighbour.(2) Bnff.7 1925:
Far got ye that great muckle caber o' a horse, Soothie?
7. Combs.: †(1) kaber-feigh, the contest of “tossing the caber”; (2) caber-tree, pole used for tossing at Highland contests (Bnff.2 1938).(1) Sc. 1860 A. Leighton Trad. Sc. Life 74:
You, the strong Alister, the first o' climbers, the champion at the wrestle, and the king at the kaber-feigh, what lie ye there for?(2) Bnff. 1901 J. S. Rae in Bnffsh. Jnl. (3 Sept.) 6:
Ho! redd ye my lads for a reel on the heather A toss o' the hammer or caber-tree rare, O!
8. One of the main antlers of a stag. Hence deriv. caberslash, a deer with switch horns, i.e. antlers without branches. ne.Sc. 1904 W. M. Smith Romance of Poaching 72:
Farquharson told him that he had just killed a stag which had a very singular head of eleven points with three horns. A thick malformation, ten inches long, tapering to a point and slightly spiral, grew forward between the main cabers, forcing them right and left, and causing them to grow almost horizontal.Ags. 1958 C. Gibson Highl. Deer Stalker 106:
They shot a stag as well, that day-a wounded "switch" or "caberslash." which had apparently wandered over from an adjacent forest.
