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.
Quotation dates: 1746, 1805, 1923-1925
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†GAMP, v., n. Also gaump, gamph.
I. v. 1. intr. To gape widely (Rxb. 1825 Jam.; ‡1923 Watson W.-B.); of a dog: to prowl about with open mouth in search of food. Ppl.adj. gampin, "gaping, like an half-hanged dog" (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 218).Sc. 1746 in Jacobite Minstrelsy (1829) 293:
Hell's black bitch mastiff lapt the broo, . . . And, maddening wi' perdition's porridge, Gamph'd to and fro for wholesome forage.
Hence gampy, adj., gaping, fig. over-large, having many bare, empty spaces.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
Oors is sic a gampy kirk it's no easy ti heat or fill.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 14:
What a different shapes . . . Jethart Casle saw . . . Did the deed-raap soond throwe its gampy ends, A wunder, i the nicht efter guid King Alisaunder's waddeen-foy?
2. tr. To eat or drink greedily, to devour hurriedly; to gulp (sometimes with up or doon) (Rxb. 1825 Jam., ga(u)mp; ‡1923 Watson W.-B.).Rxb. 1805 A. Scott Poems (1811) 105:
A wally dish o' them weel champit, In time o' need How glibly up we'll see them gampit, "As clean's a bead!"Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
Gamp it doon.
3. intr. To stutter (Ayr. 1923 Wilson Dial. Burns 165).
II. n. 1. "The opening of the throat; also, the mouth: 'Shut eer gamp!'" (‡Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).
2. "The act of snatching like a dog" (Twd. 1825 Jam., gamph).
[Prob. echoic. Cf. also note to Gam.]
