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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.

‡GRADDAN, n., v. Also gradden; graden (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl., obs.), -an, -in, graydon; greddan (Dmf. 1845 Stat. Acc.² IV. 481), -en, -on, greidan, grethin, crethen. [′grɑdən, ‡grɛd-]

I. n. †1. A kind of coarse oat-meal made from parched grain roughly ground by hand. Often used attrib. with meal, also bread, cake.Abd. c.1700 J. Maidment New Bk. Old Ballads (1885) 10:
And bannocks of guide gredden meal, Of that we had great plenty.n.Sc. c.1730 E. Burt Letters (1754) II. 277:
They seldom burn and grind a greater Quantity of these Oats, than serves for a Day, except on a Saturday; when some will prepare a double Portion, that they may have nothing to do on the Sunday following. This Oatmeal is called Graydon Meal.Gall. c.1750 in T. Murray Lit. Hist. Gall. (1811) App. 337:
The tenants lived on kail, groats, milk, gradden grinded in querns turned by the hand, and the grain dried in a pot, together with a crock ewe now and then about Martinmas.Sc. 1828 Scott F. M. Perth xxv.:
The graddan cake will keep her white teeth in order.n.Sc. 1886 Trans. Gael. Soc. Inv. 395:
The mode of preparing the grain for meal varied considerably, the most primitive being what was called graddan meal . . . the grain is taken in handfuls from the sheaf and held over a pot or flat stone and set fire to, and the grain being thus parched and dried, the slight tendril is burnt through, and the grain drops on the stone or into the pot. This handful is kept constantly beat by a stick to separate the grain more readily from the straw. When sufficient grain has been collected, it is stirred about in the pot or on the stone till quite dry, it is then fanned, and the grain so prepared for the mill.

†2. The name given to certain kinds of home-made snuff, either large-grained (Sc. 1808 Jam.), “Meldrum graddan, made at Oldmeldrum” (Bnff.¹⁶ 1955), or small-grained (Fif. 1825 Jam.).Mry. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 237:
The pipe sae clean, the greidan fresh, Will keep the tale alive.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Before snuff was become so general an article of trade, . . . those who used it prepared it for themselves, by toasting the leaves of tobacco on or before the fire. When sufficiently parched, they put these leaves into a box, grinding them with something used as a pestle. Hence, from the resemblance of the mode of preparation to that of grain, the snuff was called graddan.Ayr. 1826 R. Hetrick Poems 83:
Wad skite the spittle o'er his baird And snuff his grethin.Nai. 1828 W. Gordon Poems 194:
Then ev'ry one their nose was ridding, And got them fill'd wi' cheap Scotch graddan.

‡3. Powdery refuse, dross, e.g. the sweepings of the peat-box (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 241, greddon; Mry.¹ 1925); “something that has been pulverised but not sifted” (Kcb.⁴ 1900, gredden); in pl. = dregs.Abd.¹⁵ 1928, obsol.:
Teem oot the graddans.

†II. v. To parch grain in the ear.Sc. 1773 Boswell Tour (1786) 190:
There were oat-cakes, made of what is called graddaned meal, that is, meal made from grain separated from the husks, and toasted by the fire instead of being threshed and kiln dried.w.Sc. 1774 T. Pennant Tour 1772 II. 280–81:
The corn is graddan'd, or burnt out of the ear instead of being threshed: this is performed two ways; first, by cutting off the ears, and drying them in a kiln, then setting fire to them on a floor, and picking out the grains, by this operation rendered as black as coal. The other method is more expeditious, for the whole sheaf is burnt, without the trouble of cutting off the ears.Highl. 1820 Farmer's Mag. (May) 197:
An additional waste is produced by the process of burning or graddaning, as it is called; used in some places for converting the corn quickly into bread.