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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GIE, v.¹ Sc. forms and usages of Eng. give (see P.L.D. § 70. 1.):

A. Sc. forms:

1. Pr.t.: gie; †gi', †gee, and irreg. gae (Wgt. 1880 G. Fraser Lowland Lore 109; Ags. 1892 A. Reid Howetoon 185; Ork. 1907 Old-Lore Misc. I. ii. 62; Lnk. 1927 G. Rae Where Falcons Fly vi.); gea. Contr. forms with following pron.: gimme, -ma (me), gie'm (him), gie'r, geer (her), gi(e)s, gie'z, geez (us), gie'e (†ye, you), gie'm't (it him), gie's't (it me, us) and similar forms ending in -d (see 'D). [gi:]wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 7:
Flipote! you're staunin' in a dwamm like a big daft dug!
Get a move oan or Ah'll gie you a skelp on the lug,
C'monty!Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 28:
gauny ... 'Gauny gie's a break, eh?'Gsw. 1987 James Kelman Greyhound for Breakfast (1988) 133:
Then the ghettos for christ sake you got all them mothers lining the streets man they're rugging at your sleeves, hey you, gies a bite of your cheeseburger, Murder polis.m.Sc. 1999 George Inglis in Moira Burgess and Donny O'Rourke New Writing Scotland 17: Friends and Kangaroos 66:
'Gaunnae geeze it, Jeannie?' he said, 'gaunnae geeze it?' His hauns were aw ower the place.m.Sc. 1999 George Inglis in Moira Burgess and Donny O'Rourke New Writing Scotland 17: Friends and Kangaroos 66:
An did yea gea him it? Did yea let him? asked Mary.Abd. 2000 Herald 18 Sep 21:
"But I'll block the road wi' my coos. I'm entitled to block the road for 10 minutes to let them cross. And if you think that's nae enough, dinna worry. I'll let them oot one at a time and gie them ten minutes each."

2. Pa.t.: (1) strong forms: gae. Gen.Sc., obsol.; †ga' (Per. 1766 A. Nicol Poems 51); gya (Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. xiii.; ‡ne.Sc. 1954). With neg.: gya(u)na (Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xvi., 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 66). Arch. forms: gaff (Sc. 1846 Anon. Muckomachy 35), gaif (Bnff. 1871 Banffshire Jnl. (4 April) 6); (2) weak forms: gied (Ayr. 1786 Burns To the Deil xvi.; Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xii.; Ork., Bnff., m. and s.Sc. 1954); gid (Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 122; Bch. 1929 W. Littlejohn Cottar Stories 13; Abd., Ayr. 1954); geed (Peb. 1817 R. Brown Lintoun Green 45; Cai. 1909 D. Houston 'E Silkie Man 8); geid (Slg. 1885 W. Towers Poems 65); giet (Kcb. 1912 G. M. Gordon Clay Biggin' 46). Mixed forms; gaed (Edb. 1895 J. Tweeddale Moff x.), gaid (Ork. 1922 J. Firth Reminisc. 87). For the use of the pa.p. as pa.t. see below. [st.: Sc. ge:, ne.Sc. + gja:; wk.: Sc. gi:d; ne.Sc., Ayr. gɪd]Sc. 1991 Forbes Macgregor in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 17:
Then God gied him an oor's sedation,
Cut oot his rib for Eve's creationAbd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 1:
Gin salmon flew an sun grew black;
Gin banes gied birth tae mysteries,
Mankind micht prize kent boundaries.

3. Pa.p.: strong forms: gien. Gen.Sc., obsol.; geen (Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 125; Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 19); gean (Mry. 1927 E. B. Levack Old Lossiemouth 10); gein (Abd. a.1807 J. Skinner Amusements (1809) 107); gaen (Dmf. 1817 W. Caesar Poems 15); weak form, only in mod. usage: gied (Sc. 1921 H. Chapin Butterbiggins 22; Sh., Ork., m. and s.Sc. 1954). The strong form is freq. used ellipt. without the aux. hae in the perfect tense and hence, in mod. usage, has come to be used as an ordinary pa.t. (Ant. 1900 T. Given Poems 143; Per. 1903 H. MacGregor Souter's Lamp vii.; Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 23). This development is also ascribed partly to Irish influence (Gall. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 222–3) and is looked upon as a vulgarism. [st. gi:n; wk. gi:d]Gsw. 1990 John and Willy Maley From the Calton to Catalonia 24:
If Stalin had gied us guns that fired we might no be in this bloody mess.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 37:
Aa the fowk in Braemar an ootower war summoned tae gaither on the plain at the foun o Craig Choinnich. The first ain tae reach the tap wad be gien a targe, a sword an a purse o gowd.Lnk. 1998 Duncan Glen Selected New Poems 51:
English residence efter thirty years was
in my past. Yet I heard the Scottish voices as freemit.
But nae langer proclaimed mysel the ootsider
whan I spak the speech I've been gien.em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 118:
'I only observe,' said MacWard, 'that it seems a great inconvenience, gien the smallness o his pairt, that he had tae come awa frae Scotland at all. ... '

Strong form used as pa.t.: wm.Sc. 1987 Duncan and Linda Williamson A Thorn in the King's Foot 182:
The giant gi'n hissel a streetch. em.Sc. 1998 Neil R. MacCallum ed. Lallans 51 4:
Weill, the Scottish National Dictionary Association gien us The Concise English - Scots Dictionary in 1993 an The Scots School Dictionary in 1996.

B. Sc. usages:

1. As in Eng. Ppl.adjs. (1) giein', liberal; (2) gien, in n.combs. given ground, gi'en rig, see quots. and cf. clootie's craft s.v. Clootie, n.², deevil's craft s.v. Deevil.(1) Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller x.:
Neither the ane nor the ither . . . will refuse a gude caulker frae a giein' hand.(2) Bnff. c.1780 in J. F. S. Gordon Chrons. Keith (1880) 53:
There was a Rig of uncultivated land called The Guidman's Craft, alias The Gi'en Rig . . . given to the Diel.Abd. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XI. 408:
On the same farm there is a small spot, called Given Ground, which, till lately, it was thought sacrilege to break with spade or plough.

2. Followed by a prep. phr.: to strike (Fif.¹ c.1930; ne.Sc., Ags., Slg., Wgt., Rxb. 1954). Ellipt. for “to give (someone) a blow.” Cf. Get, v., B.1.Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 243:
Nae mair the jocund tale he'll tell, . . . For Death has gi'en him wi' his mell, And dung him dead.Sc. 1825 Jam.:
“He gied me i' the teeth, — o' the lug, — o'er the fingers;” he struck me in the teeth, — on the ear, — across the fingers; “He gied me wi' a stane, — wi' his fit,” etc.; he struck me with a stone, — with his foot, etc.Sc. 1835 T. T. Stoddart Art Angling 123:
When attacked by a watch-dog, give him across the head with the but of your rod.Fif. 1896 “G. Setoun” R. Urquhart xxii.:
An' d'ye ken what Ba'bingry ca'd her afore the master ga'e him atween the e'en?

3. To feed. Used absol. with ellipsis of meat, etc. (Abd. 1954).Ork. 1952 per Sh.¹⁰:
A'm been oot geein da calves.

4. In comb. with advs.: (1) by, (a) to give surreptitiously, on the quiet; (b) to hand (an infant) over to the father for baptism (Bwk.² 1954); †(2) down, (a) to acknowledge legally, to allow (something) to be put down in writing; to admit in gen., to describe by public report; (b) to reduce, remit (an amount); (3) in, (a) in Weaving: to feed the yarn through the heddles when setting up a loom; also as n. gae-in, the process of feeding in the yarn (Ayr. 1951). Cf. also Ingie(r); (b) to report for a misdemeanour, to denounce to the authorities. Cf. Ingive; (4) ower, to give up, desert, abandon (somebody or something) (Sh., ne.Sc. 1954); common in Eng. dial.; (5)to, in angling: to pay out a line, allow it to go slack (I.Sc. 1975); (6) up, to hold a child up for baptism (‡Sh., Abd. 1975). (1) (a) Dmb. 1817 J. Walker Poems 59:
An' mony a lunshach Bess gies by O' seeds, an' groats, an' milk, an' whey.(b) Ags. 1851 Brechin Advertiser (4 Feb.) 4:
I dinna ken fat's keepin' the maiden o' Biskenden, for she's to gi'e by the bairn.(2) (a) Wgt. 1708 Session Bk. Wigtown (1934) 137:
Margaret Kevan, being called, compeared and interrogated, adhered to her former confession, and that shee would never give down another father of her child but Alexander M'Crobin.Gall. a.1897 Rob Ringan's Plewman Cracks 13:
Peggy was gien doun by the neebors to be a rale strict-leevin' body.(b) Bte. 1715 Rothesay T.C. Rec. (1935) II. 640:
The provest baillies and comittee gives down and discharges John Barber of the above ballance in respect of his lose susteand by the customs as is known to them.Gsw. 1724 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 194:
The magistrats and councill do remitt and give doun of the said tackduty the sume of 310 merkes.(3) (a) Ags. 1920 D. H. Edwards Men and Manners 23:
A boy or girl sat on the outside of what was called the “caums” [heddles], and handed thread after thread to the weaver on the other side, who took it between his fingers and drew it through the “caums”. This was called, on the boy's part, “gi'en in the web,” and on the weaver's part, “takin' in the web.” . . . We have also not infrequently spent a long Saturday forenoon at the monotonous occupation of “gi'en in a web.”(b) Slk. 1896 J. Singer Rhymes 6:
She swore, wi muckle din, That she aye wad gie us in.(4) Sc. 1721 R. Wodrow Sufferings I. 436:
Publick Citations of Ministers and Hearers were given much over, seeing no Body compeared.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 66:
Than aunt an' dauther sought her far an' near; But . . . They boot turn hame, an' even gee it o'er.Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 44:
'Twad mak' sma' odds tho' I sud gi'e him o'er.Abd. 1813 W. Beattie Tales 34:
Bat troth, we'll need to gi'e him o'er, He's really sic a fash.(5) Rxb. 1902 Border Mag. (Feb.) 37:
Gie to him, gie to him, when they rise sae.(6) m.Lth. 1911 J. Dickson Crichtoun 115:
The friend gave the child [at baptism] to the mother, who laid it upon the arms of the father, for presentation. This act went by the name of "the giving up."

5. In phrs.: (1) gie's-a-piece, n.phr., “a hanger-on, toady, or parasite” (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ags. ¹⁹ 1954); also attrib.; (2) to gee (somebody) a forenicht, see Forenicht; (3) to gie (a child) its (a) name, see Name; (4) to gie (somebody) the door (in his face), see Door, n.¹, 3. (4); (5) to gie (somebody) up his fit, see Fit, n.¹, Phrs.; (6) to gie in (up) the names, see Name.(1) Rxb. 1825 R. Wilson Hist. Hawick 282:
Numerous and every day gie's-a-piece idlers from Nithsdale and Galloway.