Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1703-1996
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HINDEREND, n. Also hin(n)eren(d), hen(d)eren(d); hin(n)erine, -eyn, hinderine, hin'ren (ne.Sc.); hinter-end (Uls. 1953 Traynor). [′hɪn(d)ərɛn(d)]
1. The back or rear portion of anything, the extremity (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Uls. 1910 C. C. Russell People & Lang. Uls. 26). Gen.Sc.Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 2:
A piece o' paper, torn out o' the hinder-end of a volume, crunkling on my knee.Mry. 1873 J. Brown Round Table Club 143:
A ship's something like a weigh-beam — the ends o' her gang up an' doon. The jaws lift up the hinneren o' her.Sc. 1928 Scots Mag. (July) 271:
A richt ill-deedie man, a deil's bairn at the hinder-end o' a braw and noble line o' forebears.Kcd. 1956 Mearns Leader (22 June):
The mannie . . . hed tae gang hame in a hurry minus the hinnereyn o's breeks.
2. Of life or time: the end, close, concluding portion, termination, death (s.Sc. 1873 J. A. H. Murray D.S.C.S. 168). Gen.Sc. Freq. in phr. at the (lang) hinner-en', in —, in the long run, finally, ultimately, latterly, in the Day of Judgment. Also in n.Eng. dial.Wgt. 1703 Session Rec. Kirkinner MS. (23 May):
There were some in as great place and power befor Master Grierson and Master Stewart that took ane ill hinder end.Sc. 1713 W. Fraser Hist. Carnegies (1867) 379:
We may . . . perhaps get the divell to our thanks at the hinder end.Sc. 1727 P. Walker Remark. Passages 60:
A brave World if it would last, and Heaven at the Hinderend.Sc. 1747 Lyon in Mourning (S.H.S.) I. 217:
They had dragged them out to the Closs and given them a fire to their hinder-end.Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 200:
O! rough be their hinner en', an' saut be their last beddin!Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb x.:
Peer man he did little gweed wi't [property] i' the hin'er en'.Sc. 1889 Stevenson M. Ballantrae ii.:
At the hinder end, they couldnae get him frae his knees, but he just roared and prayed and grat straucht on, till he got his release.Dmf. 1912 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo 159:
Peggy Rorrison's removal frae Thornhill, in the lang hinner-end, led to my weddin'.Ags. 1928 A. Gray Gossip 31:
And noo that I've a' but come to the henderend.Sc. 1952 Scots Mag. (March) 457:
But [at] the hinner end it was Murray's day, And the price o' a dizzen raids to pay.Edb. 1988:
Well, anyway, in the hinnerend, he gave in and said he would come.Sh. 1991 William J. Tait in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 46:
Hamebound at the hinner end o a half-cock hooley,
Wi nae Helly tae lee, Loard help up, nor eneuch o the DeilFif. 1991 Tom Hubbard in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 144:
I staun the day, at the hinner-en o youth,
Amang the wrack o a kinrik an its fowk.Edb. 1992:
She was in an awfy lot o pain at the hinderend.Sc. 1995 James S. Adam New Verses for an Auld Sang 17:
Lang syne, aboot the hinner en o the Twalfth century or aiblins the stert o the Therteenth, there wis a namely chile caad Murchadh Albannach, Murdoch the Scot. Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 1:
Twis a sair dunt tae ony fairmer, giein up his grun tae incomers. Like mony anither in the Howe, auld McPetrie at the hinneren hid tae sell up tae strangers, ...
Phrs.: (1) the hinder-end o' a', the last straw (ne.Sc. 1957); (2) to lauch one's hinneren', to die of laughing (Ib.).(1) Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 42:
A drunken man's the hin'er-end of a'.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1874) 282:
This was the hinderend of all.Abd. 1922 Abd. Wkly. Free Press (28 Jan.):
I dinna wint t' ha'e t' borrow siller t' pey't, for that wid be th' hinner-eyn' o' a'.(2) Bch. 1832 W. Scott Poems 8:
Care tho' ye laugh your hinneren' ye jades.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) xix.:
"Stop him, Bandy," says Stumpie Mertin, gey excited, "or he'll lauch his henderend."Per. 1904 R. Ford Hum. Sc. Stories (Ser. 2) 80:
It wad gar a craw lauch its hinder end to look at it.
3. Of persons: the behind, backside (Edb. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 164; Sc. 1825 Jam.). Gen.Sc.Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality viii.:
Ye preached us . . . out o' this new city of refuge afore our hinder end was weel hafted in it. Edb. 1992:
She was in an awfy lot o pain at the hinderend.Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan I. iii.:
She [R.C. church] has not touched a Scottish hill with her hinder end . . . these two hundred years.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 14:
Let's drive at Maggie's sonsie hinneren'.Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xxix.:
I'll maybe have something for his hinder-end before we're through with it.Kcd. 1956 Mearns Leader (1 June) 6:
Efter he hed wiggled an' waggled his hinnereyn a kurn times.
4. The remains of anything, leavings, refuse, the worst of anything (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.; ne. and em.Sc., Rxb. 1957); the last survivors of a family.Sc. 1819 Scott Bride of Lamm. vii.:
There's just the hinder end of the mutton-ham that has been but three times on the table.Slk. 1829 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) i.:
They didna thrive; for they warna likit, and the hinderend o' them were in the Catslackburn.e.Lth. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-Head 294:
He's ane o' the rale auld stock . . . that ther's e'en noo but bits o' hinner ends an' shairds left o'.
