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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.

PROVIDE, v., n. Also provyde (Gsw. 1726 J. Strang Glasgow Clubs (1856) 8). Sc. form and usages:

I. v. 1. To provide or make provision for, provide for the wants of, gen. in ppl.adj. providit, specif. of a young woman about to be married: furnished with a stock of household linen, etc., for her future home. Hence providing, n., “all the preparation of cloth, articles of household furniture, etc., which a young woman makes or lays in for herself” (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Gen.Sc. Rarely of the bridegroom's contribution (Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxvii.). In a more gen. sense: the food and drink for a social gathering or wedding (Uls. 1966).e.Lth. 1794 G. B. Hepburn Agric. e.Lth. 93:
They [female servants] were paid in fungibles; such as cloth of different species, suited partly for their wearing apparel, and partly intended for what we call their providing, when they came to be married, such as blankets, etc.Ags. 1818 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 234:
No young woman, in whatever rank she may be placed, and however anxious to obtain a husband, would consider herself ready for marriage until she had a sufficiency of “providing”, viz. blankets, sheets, etc.Fif. 1867 St. Andrews Gazette (8 June):
He promised to marry me more than once. . . . I was coming home from Dairsie Muir when he told me to get providing, which I did.Sc. 1874 A. Hislop Sc. Anecdote 12:
A Bride's Providing. . . . Still regarded as indispensable. 1. A chest of drawers, “split new”, and ordered for the occasion. 2. Bed and table linen, or naiprie as it is styled, with a supply of blankets. 3. A “set” of silver tea spoons, and, in some districts, 4. An eight-day clock. But the sine qua non of all was 5. A ladle!Ags. 1880 J. E. Watt Poet. Sk. 45:
I was ance weel providit, an' deemed mysel thrang, A-boukin' an' bleachin' haill wabs o' new sheetin'.Fif. 1952 B. Holman Diamond Panes 61:
She attended to the “bottom drawer,” which may have been a trunk, of course, into which she stowed away articles of clothing she made often with the help of her mother, as part of her “providing”.

†2. As in Eng. but constr. with in (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 25). See also In.Ayr. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 107:
Chance an' fortune are sae guided, They're ay in less or mair provided.

¶II. n. A bride's stock of household linen for her future home, her clothes and personal belongings for her new life, a bride's providing, see I. 1.Bnff. 1880 J. F. S. Gordon Chron. Keith 119:
Gorgeous dresses — such a Provide Keith's lairdships ne'er before had seen.