Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†COMPURGATOR, n. The name given to a kind of “bum-bailie” in Glasgow (see quot.).Gsw. c.1720 D. Bannatyne in Stat. Acc.² (1845) VI. 229:
Influenced by this regard for the Sabbath, the magistrates employed persons termed “compurgators,” to perambulate the city on the Saturday nights; and when, at the approach of twelve o'clock, these inquisitors happened to hear any noisy conviviality going on, even in a private dwelling-house, they entered it, and dismissed the company. Another office of these compurgators was to perambulate the streets and public walks, during the time of divine service on Sunday, and to order every person they met abroad, not on necessary duty, to go home, and if they refused to obey, to take them into custody. The employment of these compurgators was continued till about the middle of the [18th] century.