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.
CLOTH-BOLG, n.comb. A bag of stones shaken about so as to clatter and scare off animals from crops (see quot.).Sc. 1963 Scots Mag. (Dec.) 200:
The Duns folk crept up armed with “cloth-bolgs”, bladders filled with pebbles, with which the Lammermuir herds used to frighten off wild beasts from their flocks.
[Corruption of Gael. clach-bhalg, ‘stone-bag’, id. There is no evidence that the word was ever used in the Lammermuirs or anywhere else in the Lowlands.]
