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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GREET, n.2 Also †grete. Sc. forms of Eng. grit, the grain or texture of a stone (Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Bch. c.1930). Cf. Greek, n.3Abd. 1811 G. S. Keith Agric. Abd. 56:
When they mean to split it, they begin by drawing a straight line along the stone, in the direction of its greet.
Abd. 1929 Abd. Press & Jnl. (28 Nov.):
Your modern stone-cutter in splitting a big block of granite drills a row of holes along the grain, or run of the stone, and then splits the block by driving small steel wedges into these holes. The old stone-cutter practised the same method, only he used a steel pick instead of a drill, and called the run of the stone the “greet.”

[O.Sc. has grete, 1513, but in the sense of sand or gravel only; O.E. grēot, id.]

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