Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SHANDYDAN(N), n.

1. Sc. variant of Eng. shandrydan, a kind of chaise, any rickety ramshackle vehicle, in quot. an old hand-cart or trolley. The word has been transferred in 1901 quot. to an effigy of a witch borne on this cart.Abd. 1901 Sc. N. & Q. (Ser. 2) III. 90–91:
The interest of the promenade was centred in a trolly, on which there sat the effigy of a hideous old woman or witch, called the shandy dann.Abd. 1929 J. M. McPherson Primitive Beliefs 9:
Rev. Ch. Leys, Whiteness, a native of Crathie, who has often witnessed the burning of the witch there [at Balmoral], says the Shandy dann was not the name of the witch but the joiner's waggon or trolley.

¶2. An uproar, hullaballoo, din.Abd. 1882 T. Mair John o' Arnha's Latterday Exploits 67:
They maun kick up a shandy-dan.