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.
CLIFTING, vbl.n. The act of being stranded on a rocky inaccessible ledge, esp. of sheep (see quot.).Arg. 1965 Scottish Studies IX. ii. 183:
No sheep, even a Blackface, will back out of a tight place or turn on a narrow ledge; and if a shepherd cannot visit his flock daily (as on an island), the goats were and are essential to prevent “clifting”, as it is locally called.
[From clift, a common by-form of Eng. cliff. For the sense cf. Clint, v.]
