Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
CUTTIE, CUTTY, n.1 The common hare, Lepus timidus (Sc. 1819 Edb. Mag. (July) 507; Per., Fif., Bwk. 1825 Jam.2).Sc. [1832–46] R. P. Marshall in Whistle-Binkie (1878) II. 245:
Wat's aye guid to the puir — aft a farl o' cake, Wi' the leg o' a pheasant or cutty they get.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 56:
There was a little cutty seen rin', rinnin', an' fan ony ane tried to catch it, it gaed awa in a fire-flaught.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xvii.:
He discovered four dainty cutties, wi' the brass wire girns still roond their craigs.Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 102:
Our great big gentry's bluffs o' sons, They're good for nought but riving buns . . . Or spoiling cutties, making muns, 'Mang whins or heather.
Comb.: cuttie-clap, cutty's —, “the couch of a hare, its seat or lair” (Per. Knr. 1825 Jam.2).Fif. 1898 D. H. Fleming in Folk-Lore IX. 286:
It was also believed that if a pregnant woman stepped over “a cutty's clap,” . . . her child . . . would have “the hare-shach,” or hare-lip.
