Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
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.
Quotation dates: 1860-1897
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
DOON, DUN(N), Don, n.1 [dun Sc., but Sh. + dn (Jak.)]
1. = Eng. down, the soft under-plumage of birds (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), 1914 Angus Gl., dun; Ork. 1929 Marw., doon; Abd.9 1940; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein). Also attrib. Hence doon-head-clock, the dandelion (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 180), in allusion to the children's game of telling the time by blowing the downy seed-head.Fif. 1897 “S. Tytler” Witch-Wife xiii.:
So they had to clap on another and another house to serve as a doun-cod to rest on his [the Devil's] feet or his cloots.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Selections (1881) 49:
I felt as happy's them that lay On doon in peacefu' slumbers.
2. Fine dust or chaff of oats, meal, etc. (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., dunn, 1914 Angus Gl., dun, Sh.3 1940, obsol.; Ork. 1929 Marw., doon), esp. “adhesive meal-dust which, in grinding corn, settles on the edges of millstones” (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), don, dun); a grain, particle, such as of meal, tea, sugar, etc. (Jak., Angus).
[O.Sc. has doun, done, dun, 1. above, from 1483; O.N. dúnn, idem. ]
