Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
FELT, n.1 Sc. usages of Eng. felt, the material.
†1. “A thickly matted mass of any fibrous substance” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 45). Ppl.adj. feltit (up), matted (Ib.).Ib.:
The lan's a' ae felt o' weeds. That steer hiz a richt felt o' hair.
2. Specif.: (1) worn-out arable pasture mostly consisting of fine bent-grass, Agrostis vulgaris (Per.4 1950). Hence adj. felty, made of this grass, and comb. felty-clod, see quot.; †(2) the creeping wheat-grass, couch-grass, Triticum repens.(1) Per. 1845 C. Spence Poems (1898) 2:
Linn-ma-Gray, high on thy crest The wag-tail builds her felty nest.Bwk. 1853 G. Johnston Botany E. Borders 211:
A[grostis] Alba. . . . In moory soil this grass forms a matted turf to the exclusion of other grasses, much deprecated by farmers under the term of the Moor-delf-clod, or Felty-clod.(2) Slg. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XI. 374:
Over-run with the creeping wheat-grass, known by the vulgar name of felt or pirl-grass.Rnf. 1812 J. Wilson Agric. Rnf. 137:
The weeds which abound in corn fields, are . . . couch grass, or felt, (triticum repens).
