Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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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.
†GLENDER, n. In combs.: 1. glendergait, = glender-gane, by formal confusion with glendrie gaits below; 2. glender-gane, adj., “applied to one who is in a declining state of health, in bad circumstances as to his worldly affairs, or who has fallen into immoral habits” (Per., Lth. 1808 Jam.); 3. glender-gear, n., “ill-gotten substance” (Fif. 1825 Jam.). 1 Slk. c.1900 A. J. B. Paterson Mist from Yarrow 35, 112:
She lookit to me to be gaun a' glendergait. . . . The man maun be clean glendergait.
Hence glendrie, adj., in n.phr. glendrie gaits, a fool's errand: “one may be said to be sent glendrie gaits, when there is as little hope of success, as of recovery to a horse under the glanders, or to one far gone in a decline” (Fif. 1825 Jam.).
[Dissimilated form of Glengore, q.v., used in a gen. sense to indicate a bad condition.]
