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.
CREAGH, CREACH, Craich, n. Obs. except hist. [krex]
1. A Highland foray, a plundering raid, gen. for the purpose of driving off cattle.Sc. 1814 Scott Waverley (1817) xvii.:
On the creagh, when he foretold to us we should bring home a hundred head of horned cattle, we gripped nothing but a fat baillie of Perth.Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant 175:
You're the chief of this creagh.Sth. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 XV. 198:
A border parish was exposed to . . . sudden inroads and craichs.Abd. 1872 J. G. Michie Deeside Tales (1908) 131:
The creach was hardly past, when up got the Gordons o' Cabrach . . . to avenge the murder o' their clansmen.
2. The booty obtained on a foray.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xlix.:
The cattle were in the act of being driven off, when Butler . . . put himself at the head of some of his neighbours, and rescued the creagh.Sc. 1867–70 J. H. Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxv.:
But for a century after marauding had ceased there, large creachs of prey were driven by the Highlanders.
