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.
MOTE, n.2, v.3 Also mot(t); moat; and dims. mottie (Per. a.1880 Harp Per. (Ford) 217); mottikin. Sc. forms and usages:
I. n. 1. As in Eng., a particle of dust. Phr. †to take a mote from somebody's lug, to box someone's ear.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 386:
I'll take a Mote from your lug.
Derivs.: mot(t)ie, mot(t)y, moaty, full of particles of dust or extraneous matter (Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poet. Gl.: Sh., ne.Sc. 1963), smutty; specif. of a ray of sunlight which has lit up particles of atmospheric dust; fig., profane, ? smutty (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 115); in comb. mottey-breed, of a loaf: thickly sprinkled with currants (‡Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Prov. expression mottie saut's guid eneuch for hairy butter, two doubtful characters make a fine pair (Abd. 1963).Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. v. ii.:
The rising sun shines motty thro' the reek.Sc. 1726 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) II 157:
Ony lass in borrows town, Wha mak their cheeks with patches mottie.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 67:
Syne in a clap, as thick's the motty sin, They hamphis'd her with unco fike and din.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 217:
Safe you may dwall, tho' mould and motty, Beneath the veil o' under coatie.Ayr. 1786 Burns Vision i. iv.:
All in this mottie, misty clime.Rxb. 1806 J. Hogg Poems 82:
Motey bread right plenty.Sc. 1835 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. (1857) 76:
The level sunbeams . . . fell at een or morn in long rules athwart the motty atmosphere within.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 418:
If I could get a bargain o' some butter, although it was a wee auld-tasted, or mottie, it might do weel enough for servants, as they might pick the motes out o't at night when they were na thrang.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 33:
Like midges i' the motty sun.Abd. 1916 Rymour Club Misc. II. 182:
Moty saut's guid eneuch for hairy butter.
2. A particle, a minute fragment, freq. of vegetable matter, e.g. straw, twig, leaf, a speck, a crumb (Rxb. 1825 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B.; I.Sc. 1963). Used fig. of a small person (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Phr. to a mote, to the last particle.Abd. 1714 R. Smith Poems (1853) 88:
At first when I thy Letter got, Had it been worth my pains, I had it answer'd to a mot.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 239:
Long Straws are no Moles [sic], quoth the good wife when she harl'd the Cat out of the Kirn.Dmb. 1844 W. Cross Disruption xxiii.:
The mot [tea-leaf] that stands for the young man is pairtly on the road to something like a kirk, and the mot that stands for the young woman is half floating in melted sugar.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlvi.:
We're nae vera easy seen files, though we're nae jist a mote a'thegither.Sh. 1891 J. Burgess Rasmie's Büddie 116:
He cam inta dis spinnin mot, An mony herts he fann.e.Lth. 1908 J. Lumsden Th' Loudons 165:
Yet this huge airth is but a dot, A chip, an aizel, a dwarf mote.
3. Fig. A flaw, blemish, blot, stain (Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Abd. 1963); a fault, drawback. Phr. to tak mottikins o, to spy faults in, to look at and assess critically (Abd.2 1946). Cf. II. 2.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie vii.:
Martha assured him that the ragged coat o' the callant was ne'er a mot in the man's marriage.Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 104:
Se blin's fouk, that ha'in bastards now Is monie times nae mote in Their marriage-day.Abd. 1934:
I took mottikins o' her chuckens fan gaun by the ree the ither day, an awyte thocht nae muckle o' them.
II. v. 1. Of the sun or its rays: to light up specks of dust in the atmosphere; to appear to be full of dust.Dmf. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (March) 672:
The whole fragrant vista, as far as Dumfries, moving with children playing in the sun as thick as that luminary motts.
2. To pick small objects, specks, motes or the like, singly from something (Abd., Kcd. 1963); specif. (1) in Sc. (and n.Eng.) textile usage: to remove flecks of fluff, etc., from a web of cloth (Dmf. 1948); of a person seriously ill: to pick imaginary specks off the bed-clothes; †(2) to pick vermin from oneself or another (Sc. 1825 Jam.); †(3) to make critical notes on, to criticise, to pick faults in. Cf. I. 3.(1) n.Sc. 1825 Jam.:
When a patient endeavours to pick imaginary specks from the bed-clothes, he is said to mote the blankets, which is regarded as a prognostication of immediate death. “When I cam in an' saw her moting the blankets, I cried, — ‘Eh sirs, will naebody rin for a minister'.”(3) Per. 1896 D. Kippen Crieff 55:
It's no every ane that can mote Mr. Imrie's sermons.
†3. To crumble into small fragments, to fritter away. Ppl.adj. mote ( < moted).Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 348:
When siller is chynged, it is said to be soon mote or mitle away.
