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.
PEER, n.1 Sc. form and usages of Eng. pear. [pir]
1.As in Eng. (Sc. 1721 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Nat. Hist. Soc. XLI. 196, 1817 Scott Rob Roy xiv.; n. and w.Sc. 1880 Jam.; Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson). Gen.(exc. em.Sc. (a))Sc. Deriv. peerie, n., pear-juice, perry (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 261), freq. in comb. treacle peerie, a drink concocted, often by children, from yeast, treacle or sugar, and water (em.Sc.(a), s.Sc. 1965).Fif. 1899 Proc. Philos. Soc. Gsw. 15:
Treacle-peerie, made of sweetened water mixed with barm to produce a kind of ale, and feebler even than penny-whaup.Clc. 1911 J. Archibald Alloa 17:
You could for a small sum get a bottle of “tre'kle peerie”.
Sc. combs. and phrs.: (1) a peer o' anither tree, a different matter altogether, “a horse of another colour”; (2) pear-devil, an inferior type of pear; (3) pear sauch, a variety of pear having an attractive appearance but of poor eating quality (Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. App. I. 441). See Sauch; (4) to hae ither peers tae pu” to have other matters to attend to, “other fish to fry.”(1) Sc. 1861 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. 95:
A claimant of the Annandale peerage . . . when pressing the employment of some obvious forgeries, was warned, that if he persevered, nae doot he might be a peer, but it would be a peer o' anither tree!Abd.1 1928:
A pleesant stock fan he gets athing til's ain side o' the dish, bit try him for yer ain, an' he's a peer o' anidder tree.(2) Lnk. 1834 Quarterly Jnl. Agric. IV. 820:
The kind known in Lanarkshire by the name of “pear-devil,” the worst of all pears.(3) Cld. 1802 W. Forsyth Fruit Trees 90:
Pear Sauch, a Clydesdale Pear, a big-bellied beautiful Pear; the tree large, a great bearer, and fit for an orchard; the Pear but indifferent.(4) Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 268:
We maun part — we've ither pears to pou'.
2. A pear-shaped spinning top, gen. of wood, with a horizontal groove near the top to take the cord with which it is set spinning. More freq. in dim. form Peerie, q.v.Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 195:
But little I cared aboot Meg or her gear, I thocht mair o' my bools, o' my tap, an' my pear.Abd. 1936 Abd. Univ. Review (July) 198:
Trock peers an' skalie, an' wi' steekit han' At nivie-nivie-nick-nack mak' a dail.
