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: 1724-1912, 1985-1988
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HUNGER, n., v. Sc. usages. [′hʌŋər]
I. n. Combs. and Phrs.: 1. a hunger or (and) a burst, starvation or plenty, a period of privation followed by a period of prosperity, "a feast or a famine." Gen.Sc. Also attrib. (hunger and burst); 2. Hund-hunger, see Hund; 3. hunger-gutt, adj., of land: poor, not fertile (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); 4. hunger-heartit, ravenously hungry. Cf. Hert, n. B. 23. (2); 5. hunger-paikt, pinched with hunger, starving. See Paik; †6. hunger-rot, a disease in cattle due to deficient feeding. Obs. in Eng.; 7. hunger's mither, a nickname for a miserly person (Dmf. 1957); 8. hunger-steen, see quot.; 9. yird-hunger, see Yird .1. wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 537:
As for feasting, it's either a hunger or a burst wi' us; for, if I'm sent ae night to my bed wi' my stomach stuffed like a Yule haggis, maybe for a week after it will be as toom as my master's pouch.Fif. 1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea 439:
There is usually on the average of the year a steady income, the people seldom suffering from "a hunger and a burst" like weavers and other handicraftsmen.Slk. 1875 Border Treasury 410:
I'm thinkin' your trade 'ill be some days like the beggar's, as auld Andrew Gemmels used to say — "It's either a hunger or a burst."Cai. 1902 E.D.D.:
We say of the improvident poor that their life is "a hunger and a burst," i.e. that when they get a little money they at once arrange for "a big feed" or "great drink" and then for a time are in a state of starvation.Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 83:
hunger and a burst Used to describe a state of scarcity or inaction followed by a glut or sudden feverish activity: 'Ah've been on tae the Clenny for weeks aboot shiftin that aul mattress and that's them came twice the day. It's always a hunger or a burst wi that crowd.' Dundee 1986 David A. MacMurchie I Remember Another Princes Street! 30:
Shipbuilding was a most precarious occupation; not only were ships built in the open, so that the shipbuilder was at the mercy of the weather, but also the trade was subject to the 'hunger and burst' syndrome.4. Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 69:
A hunger-heartit raven o' a cat wi' half-a-dozen kittlens sooken at it.5. Wgt. 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables 19:
Sae, hunger-paikt, the dowie twasome gaed Their wearie wey intill a wud.6. s.Sc. 1789–99 Trans. Highl. Soc. III. 464:
Some people have been led to consider the rot as of two kinds, viz. the querney, or black rot, proceeding from foul feeding, and the hunger-rot from an absolute deficiency of food of every kind.8. ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 198:
In some of the villages a white stone would not be used as ballast. In others a stone bored by the pholas was rejected. Such a stone bore the name of the "hunger steen".
II. v. 1. tr. To starve, famish, subject to hunger (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Gen.Sc. Also fig. Now mainly dial. in Eng.Sc. 1724 P. Walker Life A. Peden 97:
Christ minds only to diet you, and not to hunger you.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 140:
She's aye flyting on her lasses, hungers her servant lad, eats cocks and hens hersel, and gars the poor minister eat saut herrin.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 109:
I hunger my wyme, and my back I keep duddy.Slk. 1829 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) i.:
It was reckoned he wad hae hungered the lad to death.Ags. 1892 A. Reid Howetoon 125:
But he was fair hungert oot o' the place.
Ppl.adj. hungert, hunger(e)d, (having the appearance of being) ill-fed, starved, starving, stunted owing to lack of food. Gen.Sc. Also fig. Hence hungeredness, starvation, want.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 127:
And never dree a hungert day, Or e'ening drouthy.Ayr. 1786 Burns Vision i.:
And hunger'd Maukin taen her way To kail-yards green.Slk. 1822 Hogg Tales (1874) 663:
Thae hungered louns will hae a haud o' some o' them.Abd. 1879 G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xlvi.:
Dry graivelly-like hills a' aboot it, an' naething upo' them but a wheen short hungert-like gerse.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) i.:
Whaur did ye get that hunger'd-lookin' radger, Sandy? . . . That beast's no' fit for gaen aboot.Wgt. 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables 50:
Twa hungert Rats were gaun aboot an' fun' An egg baith guid an' fresh upon the grun'.Rxb. 1912 Rymour Club Misc. II. 47:
Be hooky and handy, and craftily hide That hungeredness never may grieve ye.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 15:
I tramp athort fields for a look,
gowk on hirsty soil, hear the hungert craw
hoast owre a dwaiblie stook.
2. Phrs.: (1) hunger 'em, in weavers' lang.: ? a plain-weave job in which there is little profit; (2) to hunger the huik, in fishing: to be sparing with the bait. Cf. hunger the baddicks, as a nickname for a fisherman (Abd. 1957). See Baddick.(1) Fif. 1886 A. Stewart Dunfermline (1889) 136:
Often in passing have we gazed into their small, dim shop windows, and have seen them eidently driving those ancient shuttles, throwing them in from one side with one hand, and deftly catching them with the other. There they were laboriously engaged from "the screich o' day" on some narrow "hunger 'em" or "dice-aboot," working for a poor wage on a diet of "muslin kail" without "kitchen," but nevertheless eagerly bent on gaining an honourable and honest livelihood.(2) Sh. 1898 Shetland News (23 April):
Fish or no fish, Magnie, 'ill no hae sin for hungerin' da huiks.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (9 Dec.):
I wisna lang fir we hed a nebbard an' a half, an' I didna hunger da huik.
