Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1816-1843, 1897-1927
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ENEMY, n.1 Sc. usage. A name for the Devil, also known as the Auld Enemy (see Auld, 3. (9)); “a person of an evil disposition” (Cai. 1900 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc. Now mostly literary. Obs. or rare in Eng. since 18th cent.Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality xvi.:
Try him with the cold steel . . . powder is wasted on him. Ye might as weel shoot at the auld enemy himsel.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost ix.:
Being instigated by the Enemy, after she had been delivered, did, while the midwife's back was turned, strangle the baby with a napkin.Sc. 1825 Jam.2:
The peasantry in Scotland . . . having a strong impression of the necessity of decency of language . . . have employed a variety of denominations, to avoid that familiar use that might either indicate or produce trivial views of the eternal world. Thus he [the devil] is sometimes called, the Ill man, the Fiend . . . the Enemy.s.Sc. 1843 W. Scrope Salmon Fishing 197:
It might be a delusion o' the enemy, if it wasna the deil himsel'.Sh. 1897 Sh. News (27 Nov.):
Foo ta da enemy düs du ken what I hae ta pay mair den da rest?m.Sc. 1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood vii.:
Neither my man nor me had ever trokin's wi' the Enemy.
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"Enemy n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/enemy_n1>
