Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
GROWTH, Growthe, n. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. growth. Sc. forms grouth (Kcd. 1730 Urie Court Bk. (S.H.S.) 139; Bch. 1944 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 370), greuth (Ork.). [grʌuθ]
Sc. forms:Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 74:
but I hae tried, ettlin that ye winna forget
that aince ye read poems in Scots and some hit
straucht tae a hairt ye mebbe didna ken ye'd got.
Gif sae then here's nae blaflum, nor grouth yet shot.Sc. 1991 William Wolfe in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 65:
A routh o greenyerie taks ower the hill
An derns the growthe an gurly wark o thorns
But still an on, goddesses are bluidan.
Sc. usages:
1. Full size or stature (Sh. 1955). Now obs. in Eng. exc. in phr. full growth.Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. vi. 223:
Dere wis nane o' yer loaf or fleury binnocks whin I waas a grouan chield nor lang efter I hed groun me greuth.
2. The foul deposit on the bottom of a fishing boat (Kcd. 1940; Sh., Fif., Ayr. 1955).
3. Rank vegetation, weeds (Sh., Abd., Ags., m.Lth., Bwk., Arg. 1955).Abd.15 1880:
The neep grun's an afa mess o' growth.
4. Mining: “the rate of the income of water in a working” (Edb.6 1950).
5. In phrs.: (1) to be the growth of the ground, to be one out of many similar individuals, to be no one in particular; (2) growth o' the sea, a swell (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff., Add. 225).(1) Sc. 1852 Lord Cockburn Circuit Journeys (1889) 278:
I had asked who a particular Grant and a particular Fraser were, and she, meaning to describe them as just of their respective clans, said of each, “Hoot, he's just the growth of the ground.”
