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.
GRIEF, adj. Also greeve. Rare and liter.
1. Heavy, arduous. Obs. in Eng. since 16th c.Sth. 1939 A. A. MacGregor Goatwife 267:
It took five men three hours to cut a track three hundred yards long for the sheep. It was a gey grief job, I can tell you.
2. Of weather: stormy, adverse.Kcd. 1932 “L. G. Gibbon” Sunset Song 43:
Some said the North up Aberdeen way, had had rain enough, with Dee in spate . . . but not a flick of the greeve weather had come over the hills.
