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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

DUG, n. Also doag, dogue. Sc. form of Eng. dog (doag Ork., Abd., Ags., Dmf., Rxb. 2000s). Dim. duggie, sometimes used as a term of endearment (see Fif. quot.). For other forms see Dowg and for Sc. usages see Dog.Sc. 1896 Margaret Oliphant, ed. Margaret K. Gray Selected Short Stories of the Supernatural (1985) 215:
"Na, na," and "No, no," said the old ladies; "a blue dogue would be a strange vagary: ..." Sc. 1999 Herald 16 Oct 25:
For a Clydebank waif whose contact with the natural world among the sandstone canyons in the 1950s was restricted to scabby doos, scruffy cats, three-legged dugs, and Mrs Candlish's budgie who could swear in four languages including Yiddish,...Sh. 1949 New Shetlander No. 16. 43:
Every man hed a dug, though nen o dem wis muckle use.Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 47:
Dug-pish at the foun o the auld gas lichts in the streets froze yalla ower the skytie cassies. Mochie keekin-glaisses o ice teetit up frae blaik rinks of sliddery frost. Ags. 1990s:
Ee's doag wis mootin hair aa ower the pliss.: His dog was moulting hair all over the place. Dundee 1989 W. N. Herbert in Joy Hendry Chapman 55-6 92:
Ma dreams furgoat, Eh tuke thi doag
oot, an saw a hoodie craw
pile intae a cauld auld poke em.Sc.(b) 1991 Athole Cameron in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 53:
We get dugs
wee Yorky legs twinklin at the end o a lead
a lean reid setter nickin the auld wife's birdie moolinsFif. 1938 Daily Record (23 June):
In moments of tenderness, the son of the house may be termed “ma duggie” which is a form of endearment reserved for males only — even the “budgie” is a “bonny wee duggie”.Arg. 1998 Angus Martin The Song of the Quern 51:
A saw a licht in the hird's hoose
cam winkin throu the mirk
and thocht o him an his tappie doags
trachled fae thir work. Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 30:
My dug, an' faithfu' brute he's been.Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 31:
Donald Stuart, blind and lame, Led by his dug, withouten hame.w.Dmf. 1908 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo (1912) i.:
And what a man he was aboot dugs.Slk. 1998 Christine de Burgh White in Neil R. MacCallum Lallans 51 11:
Ah herd a low flyin aeroplane.
Dugs berkin wildly.
Coos lowin nearby.

Hence dugged, adj., dogged, obstinate.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 103:
I sinno' terp aboot hid mair! Tae dive wi' dugged folk, I scunner.