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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.

GORBEL, n., v. Also -al; garbal, -el, and dim. gorblet. [gɔrbəl]

I. n. 1. An unfledged bird (Mry. 1808 Jam., gorbel s.v. gorbling; n.Sc. 1825 Jam., gorblet, Fif. Ib., garbel; Slg. a.1900; Lnk. 1902 A. Wardrop Hamely Sk. 135; ne.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Fif. 1929 Colville 291; ne.Sc., Per., Peb. 1955), specif. the last-hatched bird in a nest (Lnk. 1955). Also fig. (gorblie Abd. 1980s). Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) xxii.:
Yattering sparrows fed their gorbals in the far boles.Edb. 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 58:
And whiles the doubie o' the school tak's lead o' a' the rest, The birdie sure to sing is aye the gorbel o' the nest.Bnff. 1876 S. Smiles Sc. Naturalist ii.:
There he recovered two other “gorbals.”Abd. 1928 N. Shepherd Quarry Wood xvii.:
Sittin' there wi' yer mou's open, . . . like a lot o' gorbals waitin' to be fed.Abd. 1981 Christina Forbes Middleton The Dance in the Village 79:
We got oot tae the yaird at last
I wis terrifleggit oot ma skin
I tell ye I'd hae faintit
At a gorblet brakkin' win'. Abd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 30:
The loons ye daunlit on yer knee
Are young men noo -
Near full the room!
My nest's stap-fu
O gorblies, big as me.

Comb.: †gorbal-hair, the down of unfledged birds (Abd., Mearns 1825 Jam., gorblet-); also applied fig. to the first downy hairs on a boy's lip.Abd. 1889 Bon-Accord (25 May) 7:
Don't me insult, ye cheeky chip, Scarce gorbal hair upon your lip.

2. Extended to indicate a young child; the youngest of a large family (Lnk. 1955).Per. 1835 J. Monteath Dunblane Trad. 45:
The fairies . . . being permitted, it was supposed, to kidnap the tithe of unchristened children from their mothers' sides while they slept, replacing them with their own “unearthly skin-an'-bane gorbels.”Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. 157:
Pete's puir ten shillin's a week canna haud fower gorbals o' loons gyan.

3. In pl.: prob. = beaks, mouths, in phr. a' guts an' garbals, “having no muscle or stamina” (Cai. 1907 D. B. Nicolson in County of Cai. 73 s.v. garrybag; Bnff.² 1927). Cf. 1912 quot. s.v. Gorb, n., 1.

II. v. Found only as ppl.adj. gorbellit, gorbelt: applied to an egg in which the chick has started to develop (ne.Sc., Per., Peb. 1955). Also fig.Rxb. 1832 Fife Herald (8 Nov.):
Defend me, sirs! frae modern beaux, And their lang nakit gorbelt necks, Just like potato bogles!Abd. 1920 C. Murray Country Places 1:
Took the yirlin's fower eggs fae his bonnet, an', fegs, When gorbell't they're fykie to blaw.