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.
CRYING, CRYIN', vbl.n.
1. Labour, accouchement (Bnff.2 1941; Abd.4 1929; Abd.9 1941).Sc. 1920 D. Rorie Auld Doctor 53:
At ilka cryin' I'm handy wife, Wi' herbs I hae trokit awa'.Ayr. 1821 Galt Ann. Parish xiii.:
The donsie lassie . . . was seized with the hystericks, and taken with her crying on the spot, the which being untimely, proved the death of both mother and bairn.
2. “A feast given to the neighbouring women a day or two after a birth” (Cai. 1905 E.D.D. Suppl.).
3. Used attrib. in combs.: (1) cryin bannock (see quot.); hist.; †(2) crying bout, travail, labour; †(3) crying chair, the chair used by a woman after child-birth, a nursing chair; cf. groaning-chair, id., in n.Eng. and Som. dial. (E.D.D.); (4) cryin(g) cheese, — kebbuck, “a cheese specially made in view of a birth in the house” (Bnff.12 1880; Bnff.2 1941; Bch. 1929 (per Abd.1); hist.; (5) cryin'-match, “labour, accouchment” (Fif.10 1941).(1) ne.Sc. 1874 W. Gregor Echo Olden Time 85:
When the child was born there was a feast . . . In some districts a bannock made of oatmeal, milk, and sugar, and baked in a frying-pan, called the cryin bannock, was served up.(2) Sc. 1811 Scott in J. G. Lockhart Life of Scott (1837) II. 380:
A blessed duet they [two women in labour] would have made if they had put off their crying bout, as it is called, till they could do it in concert.(3) Mry. 1708 in E. D. Dunbar Social Life (1865–66) 207:
A crying chair and a silk craddle.(4) Sc. 1929 F. M. McNeill Sc. Kitchen 214:
A cheese known as the Crying Kebbuck used to be part of the kimmers' feast at a lying-in.Abd. publ. 1867 W. Anderson Rhymes 25:
The first to help the howdie wife, or cut the cryin' cheese.
