Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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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.
Quotation dates: 1852-1908, 1988-1991
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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."
