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.
Quotation dates: 1743-1776, 1829-1915
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‡MAISTER, n.2 Also master, mester. Stale urine (‡Bnff., Ags. 1962). Hence maister-can, -laiglen, -pig, -tub (Sc. 1825 Jam.), a receptacle for storing urine for use as a detergent or for treating seeds prior to sowing. [′mestər]Sc. 1743 R. Maxwell Sel. Trans. 262:
Take near a Tub or Cask full of old Master . . . and mix it with as much Salt as, when dissolved, will make an Egg swim . . . Put therein as much of your Wheat you design to sow as it can conveniently hold.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) 189:
Wi' Maister Laiglen, like a brock He did wi' stink maist smore him.Sc. 1776 D. Herd Sc. Songs II. 139:
'Tis out o' the sowen kit; And 'tis into the maister-can.Lth. 1829 G. Robertson Recollections 276:
Even the English seed itself is rendered more assured from a sprinkling of maister, as it is called, from the stale stand or tub.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 62:
Here heaps of filth, there dubs o' mester.ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 176:
Another common detergent was stale urine, “maister”.Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Benachie 71:
Mary is fessen' the spurtle, an' the mester pig is aside the wormot bus' itha yard.
