Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

DRILT, v., n. Cf. Drult.

1. v.

(1) To carry something that is very heavy or clumsy (Ork.² 1950).Ork. 1929 Marw.:
Have I to drilt a' that “kubby” o' fish heem wi' me?

(2) To walk slowly and lazily (Ork.¹ 1940; Ork.² 1950). Ork. 1956 C. M. Costie Benjie's Bodle 187:
If they geung onywey taegither he's mairchan on a peece afore her, an' her coman driltan ahint.

2. n.

(1) “Heavy trudge, laborious effort in carrying” (Ork.² 1950).Ork. 1929 Marw.:
What a drilt I had, gettan it heem.

(2) A person who loiters or drags behind in walking, or at work (Ork.² 1950). Hence drilty, sometimes applied to the boy at the bottom of a class (Id.), also formerly applied to the man who brought in the last load at harvest-time (Ork. 1924 P. Ork. A.S. II. 82).Ork. 1929 Marw.:
In Sanday in olden days the man who brought in the last load of grain in harvest was presented with a straw “dog”, and was termed “Drilty in the yard slap.”