Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

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

DAVIE-DRAP, n. comb. A little, black-headed field flower, phs. the cuckoo-grass, Luzula campestris (B. and H. 144).Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 161:
Children amuse themselves on the braesides i' the sun, playing at hide and seek with this little thing, accompanying always the hiding of it with this rhyme, marking out the circle in which it is hid, with the fore-finger. — “Athin the bounds o' this I hap, My black and bonny Davie-drap, Wha is here the cunning yin, My Davie-drap to me will fin.”