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: 1784
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GREY NICK QUILL, n. See note.Ayr. 1784 Burns Twa Herds xiv.:
I doubt he's but a grey nick quill.
[This is the reading of the first print (1802) but Burns appears to have written “greyneck still”, greyneck in the context appar. = a person of indeterminate views, a shilly-shallyer, one who is a mixture of black and white, where grayneck may be a metaphor from sheep, like grayface, i.e. a cross-bred, a hybrid, keeping up the general metaphor of the Herds.]
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"Grey Nick Quill n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 20 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snd00088882>
