Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

LOUT, v., adj., n. Also loot; lowt (Slk. 1820 Hogg Winter Ev. Tales II. 41); lut (Jak.). [lut]

I. v. 1. intr. To bend the body, to stoop, bow down, duck (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis, 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 89; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 320; Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Per., Fif., Lth. 1915–26 Wilson). Gen.Sc. Sometimes used refl., id. (Jak.; Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 204; Sh. 1961). Pa.p. loutit; ¶louten. Now only dial. in Eng.Abd. 1746 W. Forbes Dominie Depos'd (1765) 34:
She was so stiff she cou'd na lout.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 106:
He loutit down and drank bedeen A dainty skair.Dmf. 1797 Edb. Mag. (Dec.) 457:
Auld Symon, dais'd with eild, Comes, loutin' sair, out our his aiken kent.Sc. 1826 Willie and Lady Maisry in Child Ballads No. 70 A. ix.:
She's louten down unto her foot To loose sweet Willie's shoon.Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs 152:
He that winna lout and lift a preen will ne'er be worth a groat.Bwk. 1876 Minstrelsy Merse (Crockett 1893) 223:
It's no worth the lootin' for't Pickin' up a croon.Ags. 1880 J. E. Watt Poet. Sketches 27:
Wha, in daundrin' alang the braeheid wi' her jo, Loutit ower, an' played souse i' the water below.Lnk. 1897 J. Wright Scenes Sc. Life 17:
Her back had become quite bent with the continual "looting."Sh. 1898 Shetland News (22 Jan.):
Lootin' her doon for paets ta pit aboot da fire.Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. viii. 323:
He's hed a sair misanter an' cinna loot for hostan.Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Bemachie 31:
Loot ye doon on the cutty there, an' we'll see.Lth. 1920 A. Dodds Songs of Fields 8:
A yammerin' wind comes oot the east, The banket cluds are lootin' low.m.Sc. 1996 John Murray Aspen 20:
Ah loutit doun afore the Sgurr
whaur yince the warld gied vent

Hence ppl.adjs. (1) loutin(g), stooping, bending; (2) loutit, -id, bent with age, etc., round-shouldered (Cai. 1920; Cai., Kcd., Lth. 1961).(1) Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 211:
She being in a louting posture, he . . . comes ower her hurdies with the pitcher.Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 217:
As thro' the stream, wi' loutin' back. Thrang, stanes an' sand I threw out.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 151:
But soon it's buried in the rig; And wet's the looting brow.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost iv.:
He was a long spare man, and looting in his gait.(2) Bnff. 1956 Banffshire Jnl. (5 June) 4:
Ilky 'ear saw Rob Eervin growin' a bittie mair loutit — or boo't, as ye ken.

2. To bow as a mark of courtesy or deference, to make an obeisance (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth. 1915–26 Wilson). Also used refl.Sc. 1726 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 231:
As law as he to ladies us'd In courtly gyse to lout.Fif. 1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair 72:
Rob . . . louting in obeisance meet, Did lowly duty to his king again.Sc. 1813 Scott Rokeby iv. viii.:
To Rokeby, next, he louted low, Then stood erect his tale to show.Ags. 1815 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (1852) 48:
He loutit him, wi' due respeck.Abd. 1857 G. Macdonald Songs (1893) 41:
Laigh loutit the skipper upo' the deck; "Stan' up, stan' up", quo the king.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss-Hags ii.:
After being well served with meal at the door, and louting low for thankfulness.

3. To stoop, fig., to lower or demean oneself, to condescend; to give way, yield. Sometimes used refl.Ags. 1790 D. Morison Poems 123:
Susan sure ne'er to his love will loot.Sc. 1822 Blackwood's Mag. (Jan.) 33:
Ye might hae lootit down a wee to the young man, Isabella, woman, there's nae need for being sae skeigh on a night like this.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost xix.:
I was . . . constrained to loot a sort a-jee.Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 43:
Wad I, for aught in a' this sinfu' warl', E'er loot mysel' to ony lustfu' carl?m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 178:
Hoo men wha ca'd theirsels ministers o' the gospel could lout sae low as to bear fause witness against their neebour.Edb. 1928 A. D. Mackie Two Tongues 58:
The laivrick spiers at Heeven for his mate, And a'thing tae the season's will maun loot.

4. tr., of persons and animals: to bend or bow a part of the body, to lower (the head, etc.). Also fig.Sc. 1788 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes (1870) 180:
Thy leg thou shake, thy neck thou lout And shew some curtesy on this floor.Ags. 1790 D. Morison Poems 27:
Ilk lass begins her back to lout, Her cotties a' to turse.Abd. 1844 W. Thom Rhymes 55:
She lootit her hand for the silly rose leaf.Dmf. 1877 R. W. Thom Poems (1883) 15:
Sae, demurely she louts her head.e.Lth. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-Head 145:
Foxgloves, bluebells, thimmels, an' spinks, Lootit their heids a-wee.Sc. 1907 D. Macalister Echoes (1923) 125:
Gae, kiss like slaves wi' loutit een A lording's pasment traisses.Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Benachie 47:
Ye hiv gi'en yer airm a thraw. Loot it intae this basin o' het water.

II. adj. Of the shoulders: bent, stooping, round. Gen. in comb. lout-shouthered, id. (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)).Sc. 1700 Edb. Gazette (15–18 April):
Aged 22, of a Rudy Complexion, Chesnut coloured Hair, short Necked, broad Lout-shoulders.Sc. 1723 Caled. Mercury (2 May):
The said Duncan Campbel of Edramucky, is a tall thin Man, stoops, or is Lout-shoulder'd.Gsw. 1835 Gsw. Jnl. Gen. Liter. (19 Dec.):
Sic waste o' gude wooers to hain! Yet, aye at the souter, Meg grumph'd her! an' grumph'd her! The loot-shouther'd wabster, she humph'd her! and humph'd her!Fif. 1883 W. D. Latto Bodkin Papers 118:
A man comes in to ye wi' lout shoothers or wi' a humphy back.m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 18:
The first ane that preached was a lang lout-shouthered callant.

III. n. The act of bending or bowing, a stoop, a hunched posture (Sh. 1961).Rnf. 1813 G. McIndoe Wandering Muse 126:
Beneath the stack stood blae an blate Wi' lounging lout.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 211:
He limpit and stachert sae when he did gang, Wi' a loot and a stop, syne a bob and a bang.Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
To geng wi a lut.