Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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GYRE, n., adj., v. Also g(e)yar, gyr, güir, gør, gear; g(e)yro (Ork.) and gy-, guy-, gäi(Sh.). [Sc. ′gəi(ə)r, but Sh. g(j)ør, I.Sc., †Fif. + ′gai]

†I. n. 1. An ogre, a fabulous monster (Ork. 1929 Marw., gyre, geyar), a hobgoblin; "a powerful and malignant spirit" (Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 218); a giantess, an unusually tall, masculine woman (Sh. 1908 Jak., gør, 1914 Angus Gl., güir). Deriv. geyral. Now obs. except in place-names.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 129:
A' his folk began tae pray, An' teuk him for the Gyre.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
She's a great muckle geyral o' a lass.

2. Specif.: a boy masked and dressed to represent a hobgoblin who chased children in the streets on a festival night in February.Ork. 1923 P. Ork. A.S. I. 70:
Each of the smaller boys got a long bundle of simmans and got it lit and so had a torch. This was to entice the "gyros," the hobgobblins. Then we generally kept in pairs. . . . Sometimes we formed into a procession, but the procession soon broke up when the "gyro" got after us. The "gyro" was just one of the bigger boys with a mask on.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
A figure was dressed up as a geyro or bugbear, who chased children, and hit them with a piece of rope or "tangle." The geyro had something about his head to serve as a mask, but on his body some woman's garment was necessary.

Hence g(e)yro night, a festivity held formerly in Papa Westray on an evening in February, prob. corresponding to Shrove Tuesday (Ork. 1923 P. Ork. A.S. I. 70).

3. Comb.: gyr(e)-carl(in, g(u)y-, -kerl, a supernatural being of any kind, a witch, an ogre(ss) (Ork. 1845 Stat. Acc.² XV. 96, geyar-carl, 1929 Marw., gy(re)karline, gey(a)rkarl(in); Sh. 1954); a giant (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.); "a tall, stout woman" (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)). Arch. Also in n.Eng. dial.Abd. 1755 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 28:
An auld, wizen'd, haave coloured carlen . . . as bauld as ony ettercap . . . you wou'd na' kent fat to mak' o' her, unless it had been a gyr-carlen.Kcb. 1793 R. Heron Journey II. 228:
On Hallowe'en and on some other evenings, they and the Gyar-Carlins are sure to be abroad, and to stap those they meet and are displeased with, full of butter and beare awns.Fif. 1808 Jam.:
Superstitious females, in Fife, are anxious to spin off all the flax that is on their rocks, on the last night of the year; being persuaded that if they left any unspun, the Gyre-carlin, or as they also pronounce the word, the Gy-carlin, would carry it off before morning.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. iii.:
Wha was to hae keepit awa the worriecows, I trow? Aye, and the elves and gyre carlings frae the bonny bairn, grace be wi' it?Slk. 1828 Hogg Poems (1832) 318:
Oh, then, that gyre Carle was never his lane.Cai. 1842 J. T. Calder Sketches 223:
There was a sort of nondescript being, called the Gyrecarline, that cut a considerable figure on the stage of our northern superstition. She assumed the appearance of an old woman, and paid her visits only at a certain season of the year — namely, between Candlemas and "Fasterneen."Ork. 1867 Pref. to G. Barry Hist. Ork. xxxii.:
The tumulus [Maeshow] . . . in the legendary traditions of the district . . . was regarded with awe as the ancient abode of a gyrcarline.Sh. 1888 Edmonston & Saxby Naturalist 184:
I geed me gate lavin him lukin as deskit as if da Guy-kerls had been flitten pates apa him au neicht.Cai. 1905 E.D.D. Suppl.:
A fisherman who returns with empty basket is said to go home with the Gear-Cairlin, i.e. to have been bewitched. [Cf. Carline, n., 4. ]

II. adj. 1. Weird, repulsive (Mry.¹ 1911–25). Also gyre-leukin', having an odd, foolish or impish look, ugly (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 72, 1880 Jam.).

2. Of garments or colours: odd, gaudy, glaring (Abd.⁶ 1913).Abd. 1867 A. Allardyce Goodwife 8:
I fear ye'll think the colour gyre: They're jist a blawirt blue.Abd. 1900 E.D.D.:
"What kin' o' a cap is that ye're wearin'? It's owre gyre for you." "I wadna hae painted that wi' sic gyre colours."

III. v. Found only in ppl.adj. gyrin, gaudy, bright-coloured.Abd. 1900 E.D.D.:
She's dressed in gyrin garments.