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.
‡FLAG, n.4 Also flack (s.Sc.), †flake, †flaik. A piece of turf cut or pared from the sward, a sod (Ags. 1790 D. Morison Poems Gl. 221; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., flag, flack). Obs. exc. dial. in Eng.Sc. 1747 Lyon in Mourning (S.H.S.) II. 220:
Or let's but safely show our backs And by Hanover, The Dutch shall a' be bur'it like flacks Ere I come over.Dmf. 1781 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. (1933–5) 40:
The inhabitants of the burgh are forbidden to cast “truffs or flaiks” on the common moor.Ayr. 1793 Col. Fullarton Agric. Ayr. 34:
In order to lay that furrow neatly up, shouldering to the next, it is necessary that the flake or furrow be at least one third wider than its depth.Borders 1808 Jam.:
A large sod, put at the back of the fire. is called a flag.Dmf. c.1860 J. and R. Hyslop Langholm as it was (1912) 556:
It is expeckit that every ane wha has occasion for peats, breckans, flacks, stanes, or clay will gan' oot this day in defence o' their properties.
