Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1734-1981
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FARROW, adj. Also farra, farry (Jam.6); ferra, ferro, ferry (n.Sc.); forra (Arg., Uls.); forro(w) (I.Sc., s.Sc.); forry, foarrie; furrow. Of a cow: having missed a pregnancy, not in calf (Sh., Ork., Cai., Inv., Ags., Per., Ayr., Slk. 1950), whether still giving milk (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.; Sh., Bnff., Abd., Kcb. 1950) or not (Mry.1 1928; Ork.1, Cai.9, Peb., Bwk.2, Kcb.9 1950). Hence farrow-farrow, barren for two successive years. Transf. usage in phr. forrow cow, a variety of pear. Cf. yaval ferro, s.v. Yaval. [Sc. ′fɑrə, but ′fɛrə n.Sc., Per.; ′fɔrə I., em., s.Sc., Arg., Uls.; ′fʌrə wm.Sc.]Ork. 1734 in P. Ork. A.S. I. 65:
One black and white cow furrow, nine year old. One black cow seven year old, furrow.Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 3:
Before the seed I sell'd my ferra cow.Cld. 1802 W. Forsyth Fruit Trees 90:
Forrow Cow, a Clydesdale Pear; a large Pear with a short stalk; flat towards the eye; its colour red and yellow; its flesh tender and musked.Ags. 1820 Montrose Chronicle (12 May):
10 Milch Cows; 4 Ferry ditto.Abd. 1828 P. Buchan Ballads II. 208:
I wou'd feed you with the ferra cow's milk.Sc. 1869 J. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 722:
Farrow cow, a cow giving milk the second year after having a calf.Ayr. 1879 D. Rowan Ochiltree 52:
A cow which had no calf during a season was said to be farrow; if the same animal had no calf the following year, she was farrow-farrow.ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 189:
She never wanted milk, though she had no cow at all, or, if she had one, though she was "ferra."Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 166:
A cow . . . in second year's milk, without having a calf, [is said to be] forrow.Abd. 1924 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 442:
A "ferro coo" is not necessarily a yeld one, though usually she is almost spent as a milker, having been without a calf.Slg. 1947 Scotsman (9 July):
150 Guaranteed Back-Calving Cows and Heifers. Feeding and Farrow Cows.Abd. 1981 Jack Webster A Grain of Truth (1988) 10:
The sale would continue well into the afternoon, with much coming and going of seedsmen and travellers and insurance lads till the attention which had been firmly fixed on pigs and stirks and farra coos was just as firmly transferred to the delights of Jimmy Hendry's pub...
