Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
REEF, n. Also reif, refe (Jam.); rife. A skin disease leaving crusts on the skin, the scab (Sc. 1808 Jam.); loosely applied to an itch (Ib.). Deriv. reefy, affected with this disease, scabby (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.). Also in Eng. dial. Cf. Ruff, n.2 [rif, †rəif]m.Lth. 1794 G. Robertson Har'st Rig (1801) 35:
'Tis but ae night, We'll e'en stay, (maybe get the rife).Sc. 1808 Jam.:
In some places the itch is, by way of eminence, called the reif.m.Lth. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 132:
Wi' breeks gay an' raggit an' twa reefy hands.Rxb. 1824 Farmer's Mag. (Nov.) 434:
Every year, there are several among a flock which have a crust or foulness, or what the shepherd calls a reef, on their skins.Sc. 1853 Jnl. Agric. 181:
How frequent, too, do we find upon the back of the dipped or unsalved turnip-fed sheep a hard crust, which not unfrequently genders into what the skinners technically call “reif”.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Reef n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 7 Nov 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/reef>