Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1704-1716, 1825, 1886-1904
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SOUND, v.3, n.3 Also soon(d); swound. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. swoon. [sun(d)]
I. v. 1. intr. To swoon or faint away (Sc. 1825 Jam.; I.Sc., Dmb. 1971), also in Eng. dial.; fig., to be faint or “dying” of hunger or thirst, to be famished or parched (Ork. 1929 Marw.; Bwk. 1960).Sc. 1716 Chrons. Atholl and Tullibardine Families II. 228:
Poor Lady Kenmure yesterday, when she took Leave of her Lord, sounded away.Sh. 1892 G. Stewart Fireside Tales 226:
A stang güed through my heart, I sooned An' gae'd a fearfu' cry.Arg. 1901 Blackwood's Mag. (May) 645:
His temporary sense of swounding helplessness.
2. tr. To cause to swoon, to stun (Sh. 1971). Also in Eng. dial.Sh. 1901 Shetland News (5 Jan.):
In, ye hund o' darkness, or A'll soond dee wi' a ston!
3. tr. and intr., of a top: to spin (Abd. 1825 Jam.). Cf. Doze, v.1, and Eng. sleep, id.Abd. 1904 E.D.D.:
Are ye comin' to soun' yer peerie?
II. n. A swoon, a faint (Lth. 1825 Jam.; Ork. 1971), faintness. Also in Eng. dial. Adv. a sound, asoond, in a faint (I.Sc. 1971). Obs. in Eng. since 17th-c.Sc. 1704 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) I. 51:
I find I will not dye, but fall a sound.Sc. 1825 Fair Janet in Child Ballads No. 64.B. xix.:
She fell in a deadly swound.Sh. 1886 J. Burgess Sketches 67:
I wis lyin' caald asoond.Ags. 1891 Barrie Little Minister xxxiii.:
He fell in a swound on the vestry floor.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (17 June):
I hed ta get a tinnie o' caald water, an' slash ower her ta keep her oot o' soond.
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"Sound v.3, n.3". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/sound_v3_n3>
