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.
CUNGLE, KUNGLE, n.1 [kʌŋl]
1. A large water-worn stone, rounded by the action of the sea (Sc. 1887 Jam.6; Ork. 1929 Marw., kungle).Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Sketch Bk. 120:
His yakels girned a a'fu' show, Like scawid cungles i' a geo.Ork. 1908 J. A. Pottinger in Old-Lore Misc. I. iv. 173:
And sittin' on the cungles three o' them playin' awa' like guid eens.
2. “Coarse gravel” (Sc. 1887 Jam.6 cungles). Hence cungly, “gravelly; covered with shingles or roundish water-worn stones; as, ‘a cungly shore'” (Ork., Ayr. Ib.).
[Etym. uncertain. Gen. ascribed to Norw. kongle, a fir-cone, phs. from the resemblance of a shingly beach to the floor of a fir wood.]
