Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1760, 1822-1824, 1880-1932
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GORB, n., v. Also garb. Dim. gorbie.
I. n. 1. An unfledged bird (Ags. 1808 Jam., garb.; Dmf. 1825 Id.; Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 245; Ayr.4 1928, gorbie; Ags., Kcb., Uls. 1955), specif. the youngest of the brood. Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. c.1760 Mem. W. Smellie (Kerr 1811) I. 175:
Next week I shall be gaping like a raw gorb for a swinging letter.Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 16:
The vile niger harried it when the young cam out, just bare gorbs, to gie to his brither's howlet.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 150:
He ran tae wuds, and lived upon Young gorbs which he did fin'.Lnk. 1880 P. M'Arthur Amusements 38:
In twa-three days langer the rest took the wing; But the gorbie fared warst — 'twas a puir silly thing.Fif. 1886 A. Stewart Dunfermline 160:
They would tell of the nests of young birds (raw garbs, as they were called) which they had tried often in vain to rear.s.Sc. 1917 Rymour Club Misc. II. 197:
He's a' guts and gab, like a raw gorb.
2. By extension: an infant, a young child (Ags. 1808 Jam., garb; Dmf. 1955). Sometimes used as a term of contempt in gen.Dmf. 1824 Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) I. 242:
A quiet wersh gorb of a thing, as all children of six weeks are.Edb. 1881 J. Smith Habbie & Madge 122:
Dougal's wife's sittin' at the fire, lookin' after the gorbies till the twa auld birds come back frae the lawyer's.Kcb. 1897 Crockett Lads' Love viii.:
“Oh, ye gorb, ye worm”, she said, in a low voice of deadly anger.Gall. 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 424:
He gaed in an sneckit the door an gaed on feedin the gorb.Ayr. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 65:
I baloo to my gorbs i' their bed.
3. A greedy person or animal, esp. a glutton (Ayr. 1896 Gl. to Galt Provost (Meldrum) II. 269; Ags., Per., Wgt., Kcb., Uls. 1955); hence an opprobrious epithet for a school-boy.Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.:
In Belfast the boys of any one school called the boys of another gorbs.Uls. 1922 “L. Doyle” Lobster Salad 304:
In the end between laziness, an' him (the cat) being a greedy gorb of an animal, Paddy grew to a most lamentable size an' could hardly move about.
4. “An ill-thriven animal” (Kcb.4 1900).
II. v. To eat greedily (Uls.2 1929, Uls.4 1955).Gall. 1932 A. M'Cormick Galloway 78:
I flung in a handfu' o' saumon roe; the fishes rose an' gorbed it greedily.
