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: 1875
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PEGRAL, adj., n. Also peegrel, -il. [′pegrəl, ′pi-]
I. adj. Mean, greedy, miserly (Mry., Bnff. 1937; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein, peegrel).Slk. 1875 Border Treasury (22 May) 488:
Hoo are ye comin on wi' that peegril skin-'im-alive factor body?
II. n. 1. A commonplace, uneducated person, a bumpkin, “a rough fellow not necessarily bad” (Mry., Abd. 1921 T.S.D.C. 16); applied to a child jocularly, = scamp, rascal.
2. A thin, pallid-looking boy (Bwk. 1923).
[O.Sc. peggrell, 1535, pygrall, 1555, pegrall, 1567, petty, paltry, trifling, insignificant. Orig. obscure, phs. a variant of O.Sc. pedderell, from Pedder, q.v.]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Pegral adj., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/pegral>
