Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
LOUCH, adj. Also looch, loogh, loochie, loochy. In a depressed state of health or spirits, languid, not very well, dejected, dull (w.Lth., wm.Sc. 1961). Also of an illness, severe, debilitating. Also fig. [lux]Ayr. 1919 T.S.D.C.:
A could see he wiz gie louch aboot it. She was that louch she widnie luk up whan A spak ti 'er.wm.Sc. 1925 D. Mackenzie Macmorro's Luck 31:
In some fire he'd lost his temper true, An' steel was slokit, looch as leid a' through.Sc. 1931 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 419:
Always there was snow in the back of their minds — snow that makes the ewes lean and loogh.Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 105:
She reacted tae him, and then he kissed her passionately on the lips. He wis a very handsome laddie, and Frugal deeked like a half-droont rotten loochie rat beside him. Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 151:
The scabby fish nearly killed her cos she developed the Loochy Jaundice: it wis a very dangerous disease. Edb. 2003:
She thocht aw she had wis a loochy cauld but it turned oot it wis flu.
