Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
¶SIRDON, v., n.
I. v. To emit a plaintive cry or wail, as some birds do (Rnf. 1825 Jam.).
II. n. A low, murmuring, or plaintive cry (Sc. Ib.).
[A ghost word, arising from a textual misreading of O.Sc. firdon, id., of birds, in Hume's Day Estivall, and Montgomerie's The Cherrie and the Slae (c.1585), from which Jam.'s information seems to have come.]
