Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1820-1956
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CLAY, n. and v. Sc. uses. For Sc. forms see Cley.
I. n.
1. Dim. clayag, a clay pipe (Cai.7 1937).Cai. 1929 Caithness Forum in John o' Groat Jnl. (27 Dec.):
Well, now you have it; licht up yer auld clayag an' try yir mathematics on 'at.
2. Phr.: the face of clay, see Face.
3. Combs.: ‡(1) clay-an'-dubber, a builder of houses with mud walls; one who does cat-an'-clay work (Abd.15 1920, obsol.); also used attrib. and applied to work done by such a builder; (2) clay bug, "a common clay marble" (Uls. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn.); (3) clay-cat, -kat, a bunch of straw mixed with clay used in the building of a mud wall. See Cat, n.3, (2); (4) clay davie, (a) a farm servant, agricultural labourer (Abd.9 1937; Kcb.4 c.1900); (b) a drainer or navvy (w.Abd. 1916 T.S.D.C. II.; Abd.9 1937); (c) "a thatcher who uses clay to fix the thatch on a roof" (Abd.15 1925); (d) "a kind of boy's marble" (Cai. 1916 T.S.D.C. II.); (e) "a hod" (Abd.7 1925); (5) clay dunt, = 4 (d) (Cai. 1916 T.S.D.C. II.); (6) clay-half, the western part of the Montrose peninsula, where the soil is of a clayey nature; see Shed; (7) clay-hallan, see Hallan; (8) claysched, = (6); (9) clay-thack, thatch held in position by clay (as opposed to ropes); used attrib. in quot. Ppl.adj. clay-thackit, used fig. caked, plastered (with dirt, etc.); (10) clay-theeker, = 4 (c) (Abd.15 1925).(1) Abd.15 1920:
Outbuildings on a croft in the Gamrie district were built about 25 years ago in the clay-an'-dubber style on an outlying area called "Todderyauves."(3)Ags. 1838 Wilson's Tales of the Borders IV. 238:
I would mak the clay-cats, an we might pit up a lum . . . The clay-cats were made, and carried in.Per. 1879 P. R. Drummond Bygone Days 426:
"A wooden fender, too!" - observing a cart-wheel fillie before the clay kat.(4) (a) Abd.15 1920:
"Clay Davie's sin! " shouts one boy to another. "Haud yer tongue! Your father's jist a Jock Hock (ploughman)."(6) Ags. 1820 Montrose Chron. (16 June) 241/1:
To be let . . . from five to six acres of Ground in the Clay-half of Montrose.(8) Ags. 1891 J. G. Low Memorials Parish Church of Montrose 29:
Whiteberry croft was bounded on the east by that portion of the town anciently called the "sand hauch" or sand-half, as distinguishing it from the "claysched" or clayhalf, in which the Whiteberry croft was located.(9) Bnff. 1880 J. F. S. Gordon Chron. of Keith Intro. p. viii.:
Our Domestic "Clay-thack" abodes have yielded to a far preferable Order . . . not only in our Street-Architecture, but in Farm-Houses and Steadings.Abd. 1956:
She cam in tae the hoose clay thackit wi' dirt.
II. v. With up:
(1) To close or seal up with or as with clay. Obs. in Eng. Ppl.adj. with up: applied to the eyes "when boxing has blinded them" (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 136); also to anything choked up (Kcb.9 1937).Slg. 1862 D. Taylor Poems 19, 169:
Doors up and windows up he clay'd. . . . Od I wish my frien, Robin, wad clay up its een.
(2) To inter, bury. Bwk. 1869 J. Landreth Fastern's E'en 41:
In the expressive dialect of the locality he had "clayed up" the latter.
