Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1821-1844
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
†GRAWL, v. To scrounge. Sc. slang.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller ii.:
. . . the needy, naked shoals That winter cruel Sends crawling forth, frae cauld bleak holes, To grawl for fuel.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller iii.:
Thousands are huddled together in the narrow lanes and alleys of large towns, grawling for food among the refuse of your kitchens.
Hence grawler, a beggar.Sc. 1821 D. Haggart Life 62:
Not so much as sweeten [i.e. satisfy] a grawler.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Grawl v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 4 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/grawl_v>
