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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
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.

SMUGGLE, v., n. Also smoogle. Sc. usages:

I. v. 1. As in Eng. (1) in n. phrs. smuggle-bools, smuggle-the-geg, — (the-)gig(gie) (Bnff. 1851 Banffshire Jnl. (25 April 1916) 3), -gag, -keg, smugglety-geg, smuggleeries (Gsw. 1900 A. Gilchrist I belong to Gsw. 17), a boys' game in which two sides are chosen, one passing or pretending to pass an article secretly from one player to another, while the opposing players have to locate and try to capture it (Arg. 1936 L. MacInnes Dial. S. Kintyre 15, smugglety-; n. and wm.Sc., Wgt., Slk. 1970). See quots. and Geg, n.³Ags. 1874 Report on Endowed Schools II. 513:
Cricket, leap-frog, smuggle-the-gig.Abd. 1881 J. W. Ritchie Geordie Tough's Squeel (1931) 13:
Tae play oorsel's an' rin aboot At smuggle-gig, the bat, or chevy.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Notandums 75:
The callans are playing at “Smuggling the keg,” “Rubbers and Reengers,” or “Through the needle-e'e boys!”Ags. 1896 Barrie Sentimental Tommy xiv.:
Spyo, smuggle-bools, kickbonnety, or whatever game was in season.Fif. 1899 Proc. Philosoph. Soc. Gsw. XXX. 12:
The usual round of games — ‘hi-spy,' ‘smoogle the gag.'Ags. 1921 A. S. Neill Carroty Broon x.:
When football would displace Smugglethe-Gig.Ayr. 1927 J. Carruthers Man Beset i. i.:
Others were playing ‘smuggle the geg' in the stackyard.Abd. 1938 Abd. Press and Jnl. (26 March) 6:
Smuggle the Gig, or Smuggle the giggie was played with a “dell”. The dell was a marked off corner of the playground within whose confines was safety. The players were divided into two parties, one of which (as revenue officers) defended the approaches to the dell, the other, the smugglers, endeavoured to convey to it an object, usually a knife, which was passed from one to the other.

(2) in the game of handball: to get (the ball) unobtrusively out of a scrimmage (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ork., Rxb. 1970); in the game of smuggle-the-geg in (1) above: to dispose of the hidden object unobserved by the opposing side (Id.).Rxb. 1909 Teviotdale Record (24 Feb.) 3:
The ball was lost at this point, it having been smuggled away.Rxb. 1932 Scotsman (10 Feb.):
After brief play in Exchange Street, the ball was smuggled off.Ork. 1967 J. Robertson Uppies & Doonies 6:
Smuggling is in the main resorted to by the side in danger of being beaten.

2. refl. or intr. To take oneself off stealthily, to sneak away.Sc. 1865 Carlyle Frederick x. 263:
These good people are smuggling off. Let them go in peace.Cai. 1902 J. Horne Canny Countryside 33:
They smoogle themsels home lek fowk fa hev been in 'e lock-up for 'e first time!

3. To conceal, suppress, hush up.Abd. 1883 G. MacDonald Donal Grant lxxviii.:
Sic things are no to be hidden! The Lord He'll lichten't til her, but He'll hae naething smugglet up.

4. To distil whisky illegally. Mainly in vbl.n. and ppl.adj.Sc. 1887 Alfred Barnard The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom 57:
During the last [eighteenth] century and up to seventy years ago the unlawful occupation of distilling Whisky was carried on to the greatest extent, the landed proprietors rather encouraging the practice. Those found smuggling by the Excise Officers were brought before the Court of Justice and fined; but usually the judge was one of the landed proprietors, so the fines were small and many got off free.wm.Sc. 1987 Anna Blair Scottish Tales (1990) 147:
The word 'smuggling' in the glens did not mean the running-in of foreign goods from the coast without paying duty, it meant the illicit distilling of whisky in cooling 'worms' set up in half-thatched cots, croft sheds or even inside hollow-built peat-stacks, and its safe-keeping until it was delivered to barns and troughs up and down the valleys.Sc. 2002 Gavin D. Smith The Secret Still 107:
Agricultural improvements and the construction of new roads were not popular in the smuggling districts of Arran, when they commenced around 1814. The north of the island had far fewer illicit stills than the south, ...

Deriv.: smuggler, A person who does this.Sc. 1887 Alfred Barnard The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom 57:
When legal distilling was first introduced the Distillers met with a good deal of opposition and resentment from the smugglers, but they managed to live it down, and owing to the quality of the product, the trade developed so rapidly that it has now become the staple article of commerce, and there are no less than twenty-one Distilleries in Campbeltown.Sc. 2002 Gavin D. Smith The Secret Still 97:
As was the case on the island of Islay, sea caves were used for distilling in the north-west Highlands around Gairloch and Poolewe. In one instance, a burn was diverted over a cliff to provide water for cave distilling, and in another, local smugglers got some peace from the excisemen for a while by diverting a burn in a very obvious manner over an inaccessible cave.Sc. 2002 Gavin D. Smith The Secret Still 103:
Excise officers displayed a human side at times, and the story is told of an old smuggler near the Mull of Kintyre who was caught distilling by a couple of Campbeltown gaugers.

II. n. In hand-ball: a scrimmage or struggle for the ball in which one side tries to get the ball out of sight of their opponents and passed in the direction of their goal (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ork., Rxb. 1970).Rxb. 1907 Border Mag. (Oct.) 184:
In one smuggle “The ba'” was by agreement slipped into one's man's hand by a friend.Ork. 1967 J. Robertson Uppies & Doonies 6:
A ‘smuggle' is a popular ploy — when the ba' is spirited away without the other players on either side knowing.