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.
FIRLOT, n. Also firlat, -let, -lott, farlet, furlet; firlad (Cai.). [′fɪrlət, ′fʌr-]
1. A measure of capacity for grain, the fourth part of a Boll and equal to 4 Sc. pecks, the amount varying in different districts and for different commodities. The standard was that of Linlithgow, for wheat = .998 Imp. bushels and for barley and oats = 1.456 Imp. bushels. For meal it was = 2 stone 7 lbs. Imp. weight. Now obsol. but known in Cai., ne.Sc., Ags., Fif. 1950. Extended to mean a largish quantity.Hdg. 1701 Rec. Sc. Cloth Manuf. (S.H.S.) 254:
Receaved letter from my Lord Boyne advysing his sending 64 firlotts of eearth for makeing up the 200 bushells which are comed to Leith.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. ii. i.:
A Firlet of good Cakes my Elspa beuk.Abd. 1768 A. Ross To the Begging ii.:
An' first I'll have a meal-pock, Of good aum'd leather made To had at least a firlot.Ags. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 IX. 146:
It is to be observed, that the firlot, both barley and wheat, is a Scotch pint larger than the standard. This may be in some degree owing to a privilege possessed by the burgh of Dundee, of taking a ladleful from every boll delivered in the town or at the harbour.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lxxxiii.:
It's no for a courtesy o' causey clash that he's birling his mouldy pennies in sic firlots.Sc. 1826 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 244:
The Scottish barley firlot contains, by statute, 31 Stirling pints. The Linlithgow wheat firlot contains 21¼ of these pints.e.Lth. 1887 P. McNeill Blawearie 161:
It's no jist so easy now . . . to run off wi' a sheep or a firlot o' tatties.Sc. 1935 Scotsman (31 May) 15:
There are, it is true, some smaller communities, especially in the East of Scotland, where you may still be served with a “lippie” of flour or potatoes; and where you may even find it possible to be served with a “boll of meal” or a “firlot” of potatoes.
2. The vessel in which a firlot is measured.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 251:
Many Words fill not the Farlet.Inv. 1725 Steuart Letter-Bk. (S.H.S.) 223:
Borrow a firlat at Portsoy to carry allongs with you.Bte. 1725 Rothesay T. C. Rec. (1935) II. 681:
Payed to John Lyon smith for makeing iron girds and handle to the towns furlet 0 15 0Edb. 1801 J. Thomson Poems 8:
A forpit-dish, a tatie-peck, A firlot, an' a row.Sc. 1818 Scott Letters (Cent. ed.) V. 224:
More comfortable than at Abbotsford where I should feel like a mouse below a firlot.Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 236:
He coft a blithemeat cheese, an' carried it to her manfully thro' the town on his head, as if it had been a wheat firlot.Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) xxi.:
The sleeves coming over the nebs of his fingers, and the hainch buttons hanging down between his heels, making him resemble a mouse below a firlot.Mry. 1873 J. Brown Round Table Club 379:
His gudewife's sheerly made it [a cheese] in a firlot, for there's nae a chassal in a' Banffshire wad haud it.Edb. 1881 J. Smith Jenny Blair's Maunderings 15:
She nibbles awa at the pie like a mouse at a firlot, puir thing!
