Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1710-1851, 1958
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PEEBLE, n., v. Also †peebel (Rs. 1781 W. MacGill Old Ross-shire (1909) 394). Adj. peebly (Edb. 1771 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 5; Sc. 1815 A. Pennecuik Tweeddale 45). Sc. forms and usages of Eng. pebble (Sc. 1725 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) II. 218; Bch. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 82; Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 258; ne.Sc., Slk. 1965). [′pibəl]
I. n. 1. A semi-precious stone, gen. agate or rock-crystal, found in relatively large numbers in streams and rocks in Scot., and freq. set in silver to make a distinctively Scottish type of jewellery (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Combs. peeble-stane, Scots peeble, id. Freq. used attrib.Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife (1803) 140:
Some of these peebles are of a clear and white perspicuous colour, some are like agates.Abd. 1750 Aberdeen Jnl. (13 March):
Bristol and Peeble set Breast and Shirt Buttons.Abd. 1762 Aberdeen Jnl. (19 April):
There was lost in this Town, a whitish Peeble-Stone, having cut thereon the Coat of Arms of Sir Archibald Grant.Sc. 1764 Caled. Mercury (22 Dec.) 618:
A Scots peeble in the form of a heart, a gold ring, with a peeble set in it.Edb. 1798 Edb. Weekly Jnl. (30 May) 169:
Two gold mounted Cairngorum Seals — three ditto ditto oval Peeble Seals — four ditto ditto Peeble Pyramid Seals — fourteen Plain Peeble Seals, with gold swivels.Mry. 1825 T. D. Lauder Lochandhu Intro. iv.:
Ane o' yere horn mulls, wi' a wee bit silver, and a Scots peeble on the tap o't.Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 91:
A cappie fu' o' peeble stanes.Sc. 1958 Maxwell & Hutchison Sc. Costume 167:
There was a great vogue for “Scotch pebbles” in the middle of the nineteenth century, especially when Queen Victoria showed interest in them.
2. A small glass marble, gen. greenish in colour (Abd. 1910). From its resemblance to 1. above.Abd. 1958 Abd. Press & Jnl. (22 Sept.):
Bools, played round the lamp-post, with rosies, and peebles and picks.
II. v. To pelt with pebbles, stone. This usage may have been derived by Scott from Ben Jonson.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xviii.:
Having pebbled the priest pretty handsomely, they drove him out of the parish.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian iv.:
When we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament-men o' our ain, we could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns.
