Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

†PLOUD, n.¹ Also plloud (Gregor); plowd-; ¶pleuat.

1. A thick piece of turf or sod (Abd. 1808 Jam., ploud; Kcd. 1825 Jam., pleuat, used for roofing).Abd. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ VI. 218:
They are supplied with turf and heather from the muirs, and a sort of green sods, called plouds, which they cast in the exhausted mosses.

2. Fig. A short, fat person, a squat ungainly animal (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 130). Dim. form plowdie.Abd.⁷1925:
Applied to a baby by the ladies who may hold it in their lap, and declare that it is “a fat little plowdie”.