Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
LONG ISLAND, n.phr. With the def. art.: the long chain of islands off the west coast of Scotland extending from the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head and including the islands of Lewis and Harris, Uist, Benbecula, Barra, etc., the Outer Hebrides.
Hence Long Islander, a native or inhabitant of these parts.Sc. 1703 M. Martin Descr. W. Isles (1884) 1:
The Isle of Lewis … by the islanders it is commonly called the Long Island: being from south to north 100 miles in length.Sc. 1793 J. L. Buchanan Travels 1:
We have never yet had any written accounts of the Long Island, or rather chain of islands.Inv. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Evid. I. 726:
The crofter population of the Long Island district of the county of Inverness.Ib. II. 1162:
If our militia men were drilled in this country, they would get to be a splendid regiment of Long Islanders.Sc. 1919 W. C. MacKenzie Bk. of Lews 4:
The whole of what is sometimes called the “Long Island,” the Parliamentary constituency of the Western Isles.
