Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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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.
SOD, n.1, v. Also sodd, soad, sode; soud (Ork. 1929 Marw.). [sɔd, sod; sɔud (Ork.)]
I. n. 1. As in Eng., a piece of turf. Sc. combs., phrs. and derivs.: (1) sod and stone, the symbols of delivery of a title to land in the ceremony of Sasine, q.v.; (2) sod-coping, a top covering of turf on a dry-stane dyke; (3) soddie, sod(d)i, a seat made of turf (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., 1908 Jak. (1928), 1914 Angus Gl.; Sh., Cai. 1971); (4) sod-dyke, a turf wall; (5) sod-lark, the tree-pipit, Anthus trivialis (Dmf. 1922 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. (1921–2) 48), where however sod may be rather a variant of Sad, adj., dull in colour, or plaintive in song.(1) Slk. 1939 Weekly Scotsman (8 July) 1:
Each of the other two attendants on the Braw Lass then presented her in turn with a sod and a stone taken from the lands of Torwoodlee, which she placed on the Cross and thus commemorated the granting of sasine and possession of Ettrick Forest “by the traditional ceremony of sod and stone.”(2) Dmf. 1812 W. Singer Agric. Dmf. 151:
The sod-coping, or turf furnishing, on a stone wall, or dyke, is far inferior to the Galloway top. The turf is ready to allure the feet of sheep, and it often blows off with the wind.(4) Dmf. 1828 J. G. Lockhart Burns 284:
The poet, having committed the verses to writing on the top of his sod-dyke over the water, came into the house, and read them immediately in high triumph at the fire-side.
2. Specif., a piece of surface turf used as fuel, a kind of peat (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Ork., Cai., Bnff., Ags., Arg., Rxb. 1971).Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xi.:
[They] had availed themselves of ‘a het sod' to light their pipes.Per. 1897 D. Butler Church & Par. Abernethy 78:
A lighted sod from the priest's house.Bnff. 1923 Banffshire Jnl. (22 June) 3:
In places “sods” may still be secured, but sometime between 1880 and '82 the last peat was cast.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
A weet soud o' a peat.
†3. Chiefly in pl.: orig. a piece of turf used as a saddle; hence, a rough saddle made of cloth stuffed with straw (w.Sc. 1741 A. McDonald Galick Vocab. 92; Sc. 1808 Jam.). Also in n.Eng. dial. Phrs.: a pair (of) sods, id.; to set the sod, to look well on horseback (Slk. 1929, obsol.).Sc. 1703 Foulis Acct. Bk. (S.H.S.) 334:
Pack threid to sew the 2 secks and 2 pair of sods.Sc. 1733 Caled. Mercury (18 Dec.):
A Gray Mare with a Pair of new Sunks and Sods.Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. I 590:
Instead of saddles, they were contented with a kind of hempen bags, stuffed with straw called sodds.Rxb. 1826 A. Scott Poems 41:
Ilk ane's toog tied to its nei'bour's soads.
‡4. transf. A heavy, fat person; any dead-weight (Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Uls. 1930). Dims.: soadie, so(a)di, a big stout woman, a slut (Sh. 1897 J. Jakobsen Dial. Sh. 48; Ayr. 1912 D. McNaught Kilmaurs 298, 1921 T.S.D.C.; Slg. 1971); sodick, soadik, sodek, soedag, id. (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 208, soedag, 1866 Edm. Gl., Sh. 1971).Ayr. 1988:
Sodie (a drip, a boring, spiritless, unimaginative person): He's a big sodie.
5. Of things: (1) a kind of bread, a roll made of coarse flour (Ayr. 1929 F. M. McNeill Scots Kitchen 185); (2) dim. pl. soddies, carpet slippers, with a flat leather sole and soft carpet uppers (Abd. 1948). Cf. Dufftin.(1) Bnff. 1787 W. Taylor Poems 42:
I ten' my flocks, dine on a sod.Rnf. 1813 E. Picken Poems I. 129:
A butter'd sod.Abd. 1904 E.D.D.:
The sod was made of very coarse brown flour, and was not very palatable. It was a substitute for breakfast ‘baps' or rolls, used by the poor, and was not easily masticated.
II. v. To cover with a piece of turf: 1. specif., to cover (a grave) with turf; to bury (a person). Vbl.n. sodin, the covering of turf on a grave; ‡2. to block a chimney-pot so that the smoke from the fire blows back into the house, as a boys' prank (Abd. 1971).1. Sc. 1852 H. A. Cockburn Letters H. Cockburn (1932) 69:
Ought I to leave the mass to be put into shape by others after I shall be sodded?Abd. 1888 D. Grant Keckleton 30:
I had steppit in frae soddin' a graif.2. Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan II. ii.:
We never robbed orchards, sodded up lums.
