Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
GLASS, n., v. For Sc. forms, see Gless.
Sc. usages:
I. n. 1. In combs. ¶(1) glass-breaker, a hard drinker, a tippler; †(2) glass-chack, v., of a window: to make a check in a sash, to fit it for receiving the glass (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Cf. Chack, n.2; (3) glass fluke, the megrim, Lepidorhombus whiff-iagonis (Abd. 1930 Fishery Board Gl.); †(4) glass-yolk, a round, opaque and radiated crystallization found in window-glass which has been cooled too slowly. See Yolk.(1) Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xlv.:
I think we had better lie down, Captain, if ye're no agreeable to another cheerer. But troth, ye're nae glass-breaker; and neither am I.(4) Sc. 1847 Scotsman (3 July):
It is thought probable that a glass-yolk in the skylight of the garret where the fire started, acting as a lens, had ignited the wool in the garret storey.
2. In phr. casting the glass(es) (Ork.5, Cai.7 1954), dropping glasses, reading the glass, a method of fortune-telling formerly in vogue on Fastern's Een and Halloween (see Hallow, n.2), see quots.Sc. 1835 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. 116:
The female, whose future fortunes are to be disclosed . . . lays her hand on the glass's mouth, and holds it there for the space of about a minute. In that time the heavier parts of the [egg-] white settle to the bottom, while the lighter shoot up into the water . . . into a variety of fantastic shapes . . . A resemblance is next traced, which is termed reading the glass, between the images displayed in it and some objects of either art or nature; and these are deemed to constitute a hieroglyphic of the person's future fortunes.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 190:
This [dropping glasses] was performed by dropping a small portion of the white of an egg into a glass of water. The forms assumed prognosticated the future in matters of love, fortune and death.
3. A measure of spirits (see quot.). Slk. 1920 P. Sulley In Our Burgh 34:
A glass of spirits in Scotland is an imperial measure, the half of a gill, the eighth of a pint. The alternative is a nip, the half of a glass.
II. v. 1. To give a smooth, glossy surface to something. Cf. Glaze, v.Peb. 1815 in A. Pennecuik Works 89:
The roof is first covered with divots . . . laid on . . . with that end only exposed which hath received a knead or glassing by the first entry of the paring spade.
2. To spy with a telescope or binoculars.Ags. 1958 C. Gibson Highl. Deer Stalker 100:
They had glassed a herd in a grassy hollow near the summit of Driesh.
