Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1821-1827
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BRISSEL-COCK, n.comb. Also bristle-. Meaning uncertain, poss. a turkey (see etym. note). It appears that the mod. usages derive directly or via Jam. from Pitscottie.Sc. 1821 Blackwood's Mag. (Aug.) 30:
Many other mountain-birds, that must be exceedingly rare, for though I have been bred in Scotland all my life, I never heard any of their names before. Among them were some called whaups or tilliwhillies, witherty-weeps and bristlecocks. Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce I. vi.:
The Laird is as blind as a beetle, and as proud as a Brissel cock.
[O.Sc. has brissill cok, a.1578 (Pitscottie), birsellfoul, 1626, of uncertain meaning. Jam. conjectures a turkey, by associating the word with bresil, Brazil (see Brissel stick) though turkeys are strictly of Mexican orig. An alternative is to derive from Eng. bristle, from the puffing out of the feathers.]
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"Brissel-cock n. comb.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 19 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snd00088161>
