Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1899-1920
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
SMORA, n. Also smorra; smaroo, smero(w), smuiro (Ork.). A name variously applied to the clover, Trifolium repens (Sh. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 XV. 138, 1866 Edm. Gl., 1908 Jak. (1928); Ork. 1929 Marw.; Sh. 1947 Sh. Folk-Bk. I. 86; I.Sc. 1970), the bird's foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus (Ork. 1914 M. Spence Flora Orcad. xxxii., Ork. 1929 Marw., Ork. 1970), or, less certainly, to the tormentil, Potentilla erecta (Marw.). [Sh. ′smorə, Ork. ′smørʊ]Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 139:
Four-leaved smora, the finding of which was considered extremely lucky.Ork. 1914 M. Spence Flora Orcad. 104:
His mother bade him look for a smerow and put it in his boot for then the “cheap Johns” would not be able to cheat him.Ork. 1920 H. Campbell Island Folk Songs 11:
A muckle gold smaroo for Maroo.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Smora n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 1 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/smora>
