Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
SKELLIE, n.2 Also skelly, scailzie (Sc. 1832 Fraser's Mag. (June) 576). A ridge of rock running out to sea, usu. covered at high water, a reef, a Skerry (Abd., Ags., Fif. 1970), freq. in place-names. Comb. skellie-boy, a fisherman's taboo-name for the salmon, as frequenting such rocks (Ags. 1970). [′skɛle]Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 102:
The storm that dang him frae the deep, Upon our tangly skellies steep.Fif. 1864 St Andrews Gaz. (26 March):
On the Skelly Rocks, near the mouth of the harbour.Abd. 1891 R. Kirk N. Sea Shore iii.:
They had lanterns set out on the skellies to guide them in.Fif. 1947 Scots Mag. (April) 15:
Beside the rocks and skellies near their homes.Sc. c.1980 Forbes MacGregor Salt-Sprayed Burgh 9:
The group of houses, comprising the White House, and a smaller intermediate house dated 1718, and the Old Manse of 1703, stand even nearer to the open sea than the kirk: so near, indeed, that their gardens and offices have to be protected from the storms by massive vertical walls and aprons, founded on the skellies or strata of varied kinds of limestone. Fif. 1986 Harry D. Watson in Joy Hendry Chapman 43-4 162:
Out on the skelly two boys were grappling with a rod which, as we watched, bent like a bow in their hands, while in mid-air hung a thing of slime - a glistening serpent that thrashed and flailed on the hook, ...
