Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡PIRLICUE, n., v. Also pirl(i)(e)cue, pirrlicue, perlikew, -cue, purl(i)(e)cue, parlicue, parle(y)cue; pirlique. [′pɪrlɪkju]

I. n. 1. A flourish or ornament at the end of a hand-written word (Abd. 1808 Jam., parlicue, purlicue, “a school term”, Abd. 1930; Bnff., Abd., Dmf. 1966). Cf. the later Eng. curlicue, id.; fig. of speech, and freq. in pl., a personal idiosyncrasy or eccentricity of behaviour, a quirk, mannerism, peculiarity, oddity (Ags. 1808 Jam.).Abd. 1882 W. Forsyth Writings 22:
A' his words had pirlecues Teuck to them like a draigen's tail.

2. A tail-piece, follow-on, sequel; specif in the Presbyterian Church: the summary, formerly delivered by the parish minister at the close of the four-day Communion season, of the sermons preached during that period by visiting ministers (w.Sc. 1825 Jam.); the moral exhortations or applications incorporated in this summing-up (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Now only hist.; hence a peroration in general, a résumé, conclusion (Ags., Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Ayr. 1949).Sc. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xxiv.:
If you distaste the sermon, I doubt the pirliecue will please you as little.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss-Hags xxxvi.:
She would ware her life upon teaching them how to worship God properly, for that they were an ignorant wicked pack! A pirlicue which pleased them but little.Ayr. 1913 J. Service Memorables 202:
And this is the best bit pirlicue I can mak' of the memorables of my time.

3. The second of two similar misfortunes happening one after the other (Fif.¹⁷ 1951), a “second blow”; more loosely, any misfortune or trouble (Uls. 1924 Northern Whig (5 Jan.), pirlique), retribution.

II. v., tr. or intr. To deliver the pirlicue or summarising peroration at the close of the Communion preaching diet in the Presbyterian Church (w.Sc. 1825 Jam.); to summarise the remarks of a previous speaker on any occasion (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 145). Now only hist.wm.Sc. 1837 Laird of Logan 100:
A clergyman who read beautiful sermons, but who had no knack at extemporary preaching . . . made an attempt for the first time, to pirlecue, i.e. to repeat the substance of a sermon which had that day been preached by a friend.Per. 1860 J. Wilson Presb. Perth 53:
He [Rev. A. Isdale, died 1834] kept up to the last the now all but obsolete custom of pirliecuing.Sc. 1892 Scots Mag. (July) 113:
There also prevailed at the commencement of my ministry a practice called “purlecuing.” . . . In my time the practice was observed either in the afternoon of the fast day or on the Saturday. The minister of the parish went into the pulpit, and recapitulated the heads of the two sermons which were given on the fast day, and deduced the lessons which were derived from them. The practice gradually disappeared, and it is probable that no vestige of it now remains. except perhaps in some outlying parishes in the Highlands.Bnff. 1915 W. S. Bruce Nor' East 89:
With many other religious customs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 'pirrliecuing' has come to an end.