Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†COUNCIL-HOUSE, n. comb.

1. A townhall. According to N.E.D. (1893), it is used in this sense “in Sc. and elsewhere.”Rxb. 1833 Mrs Hall Sc. Borderer (1874) 12:
We were the first to enter the Council-house, where, enthroned on the magisterial bench, sat the important bibliopolist arranging his books for the evening sale.

2. Sc. forms of Eng. council house, a house rented from a local authority. Also cooncil hoose, council hoose.Sc. 2002 Sunday Mail 21 Jul 60:
To regular e-mail correspondent Jackie who accused me of being a fat cat living in an ivory tower I would like to point that I was brought up in a two-bedroom cooncil hoose.Sc. 2004 Scotsman 11 Sep 29:
I think I'll just get rid of all my books, never reading another one again, and go to live in a cooncil hoose in Larkhall, eating out the chippie every night, standing at the bar drinking gassy beer and rough whisky, staring at the gantry and thinking of nothing at all.Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 45:
Then he can gie off the croft and live in a council hoose. I canna leave him now though. He's grunting and peching on that spade, killing himself.Gsw. 1998 Herald 1 Sep 17:
We note that one of the properties on the list is a cooncil hoose in Hurlford. But not just any ordinary cooncil hoose, in the village between Kilmarnock and Galston that time forgot.