Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

†GLENGORE, n. Also glengowr. Syphilis. Also attrib.Sc. 1707 Hist. Acc. Royal Coll. Physic. 13:
La Grosse Verole . . . which in sober Scots sounds the Glengore.Per. 1724 Chrons. Atholl and Tullibardine Families II. 366:
He bad the Daughter go hang herself “Glengore bitch.”Sc. 1773 Boswell Tour (1936) 36, Note:
We spoke of the Glengore. He said we had a law to geld lepers, and a good one, as they could do nothing but mischief.Sc. 1823 C. K. Sharpe Ballad Bk. ii.:
I'll gar our gudeman trow That I'll tak' the glengore.

Hence glengor(r)ie, adj., glengowred, ppl.adj., infected with syphilis.Gall. 1704 Session Bk. of Penninghame (1933) I. 147:
He heard Jean Cuninghame say to Agnes M'Dowall She was Glengorrie and a thief. [p. 146, glengorie.]Wgt. 1727 A. Agnew Hered. Sheriffs (1893) II. 259:
Reviled and called me both w--- and thief, glengowred bitch, and old withered devil.