Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1715, 1804-1805, 1856-1992
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‡GANSH, v., n. Also ga(u)nch, †gansch; gainch. [gɑnʃ, gǫnʃ, Rxb. + genʃ]
I. v. 1. To snatch at anything with open jaws, to snap, snarl (Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr., Gl. 692; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 219, gansh; Lnk. 1825 Jam., gansch, gaunch; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., gansh, gainch, obsol.; Mry.1 1925; Peb., Ayr.8 1954); prop. applied to a dog but also used fig.; to gnash the teeth.Sc. c.1715 Jacobite Minstr. (1829) 133:
They girn, they glour, they scouk, and gape, As they wad gaunch to eat the starns.Uls. 1804 J. Orr Poems (1935) 62:
Sud at her haunch Bauld Moses rise to “slay the witch” They'd mak' him gaunch.s.Sc. 1856 H. S. Riddell St Matthew xiii. 50:
The angils . . . sall cast them intill the furnace o' fire: ther sall be gowlin' an' gaunchin' o' teeth.wm.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan 79:
You would gansh a body's head aff without rhyme or reason.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick xiv.:
I'm juist a hungry tyke, an' whan I see the bane hingin afore my nose, I canna but gansh at it!Sc. 1928 Scots Mag. (May) 143:
The malairey wis ganshin' at his banes.Per. 1987 Roger Leitch ed. The Book of Sandy Stewart 39:
He wed traivel fae here tae God knows whaur tae get ganshin in aboot the ham.
2. “To eat quickly or a lot” (Mry.1 1925).
3. To stammer, stutter (Uls. 1910 C. C. Russell Ulster 43; Rnf.1 c.1920, gaunch; Ayr. 1954; Arg. 1990s). Lnk. 1805 G. McIndoe Poems 111:
Deil's in't, I'm (hic) beginning to (hic) ganch, I canna (hic) faith staun my (hic) lane.Ayr. 1868 J. K. Hunter Artist's Life iii.:
He was troubled with a stuttering, or gaunching.Uls. c.1921 J. Logan Ulsterisms, List IX.:
The fellow was ganchin' at every word.Arg.1 1939:
Tak yer time noo an' speak plain; there's nae sense ganching awa' laike that.
†4. To grimace, “to be very ugly” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.).
II. n. †1. “A snatch at any thing; properly applied to a dog” (Sc. 1808 Jam.); a snarl.Sc.(E) 1935 W. Soutar Poems 24:
And lauch, and lauch, while his bluid sings, Abüne the gaunch o' the thunner.
2. “A piece cut or riven roughly out of anything” (Kcb.4 1900).
3. A stammer, stutter.Arg.1 1949:
That poor chap has an aafu' gansh.Arg. 1992:
It's funny how a person wi a gansh can be good at singin.
‡4. “The act of gaping wide” (Rxb. 1825 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B., obsol.).
5. A person with widely-gaping mouth (Ib.), hence a stupid, dull-witted or clumsy person (Uls.3 1930); “a silly, stammering fellow, who tries to explain himself and fails” (Uls. 1910 C. C. Russell Ulster 43).Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.:
A sore ganch of a craithur.
