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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STOT, n.¹, v.¹ Also stott, stoat (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 180). Dim. stottie. [stɔt]

I. n. 1. A young castrated ox, a steer, bullock, gen. one of the second year and upwards (Sc. 1869 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 726; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson). Gen.Sc. Also in n.Eng. dial. Occas. †applied to a bull (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).Per. 1726 Edb. Ev. Courant (21–25 April):
Milk Cows and Calves, yeld Cows, two and three Year old Stots, Queys, Stirks, and a good Bull.Gall. 1742 Session Bk. Penninghame (1933) II. 377:
Grass meal for two stots.Rnf. 1745 W. Hector Judicial Rec. (1878) II. 125:
Three stotts or head of black cattle.Slk. 1751 Border Treasury (17 Oct. 1874) 144:
Kiley stots that I am to winter till the 1st of April.Ayr. 1786 Burns The Calf iii.:
Forbid it, ev'ry heavenly Power, You e'er should be a stot!Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel ii.:
My cantle will stand a clour wad bring a stot down.Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 63:
Another slice of the stot, James.Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs 283:
The man may eithly tine a stot that canna count his kine.Arg. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Evid. IV. 3048:
Young animals under three years, heifers, stots, and queys.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden (1922) 117:
He flew at Sandy like a rased stot.Sc. 1893 Stevenson St. Ives ix.:
You had best be travelling with the stots.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 1:
Doddies an stirks an queys an stots.Cai. 1930 John o' Groat Jnl. (23 May):
He wid buy a stottie fae any sma' fairmer.Edb. 1940 R. Garioch 17 Poems for 6d. 7:
A makar is a rigglin amang stots.I.Sc., Abd., Per. 1968 Scotsman (14 Dec.) 15:
Orkney stots to £84 10s; Shetland stots to £81 10s. ... Black-polled stots to £106; black-polled stot stirks to £85 10s; black-polled stot calves to £56 10s.Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 16:
Listenan tae the uncoguid an aa their havers
wi'oot a vision loupan up o puttan stots.

Combs.: (1) Hieland stot, a bullock of the Highland breed. Gen.Sc. See Hieland, II. 6.; (2) stot beef, bullock beef. Also attrib. = tender; (3) stot-calf, a young male calf under one year old; (4) stot's-milk, unboiled flummery, Sowans, “ludicrously so named because it is a substitute for milk when it is scarce” (Lnk. 1825 Jam.); (5) stot-sticker, a slaughterer of cattle, a butcher. See Stick, v.¹, 1. (1); (6) stot-stirk, a bullock in its second year (Lnk. 1955 Scotsman (20 May); Cai. 1971). Also in n.Eng. dial.; (7) wark-stot, a bullock used for yoking in a plough. See Wark.(1) Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel v.:
I canna gang rowting like an unmannered Highland stot.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxxv.:
There was a drove o' ramstaugerous, camsteerie vagabonds o' Heelan' stots.(2) Edb. 1819 Edb. Ev. Courant (1 April) 1:
For Sale, at their Stand, No. 1. Low Market, Edinburgh, superior Stot Beef.Edb. 1895 J. Tweeddale Moff 53:
A sort of stot-beef affection for the laird.(3) Sc. 1849 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 256:
A castrated male calf is a stot-calf.(5) Abd. 1900 Weekly Free Press (18 Aug.):
A mere stot-sticker bein' particularly gifted in guessin' heids.(6) Dmf. 1848 Eskdale Advert. (1 May):
2 Stot Stirks; 4 Calves.Inv. 1872 Trans. Highl. Soc. 45:
The “stot stirks”, as the breeders call them . . . are annually sold when about eighteen months old.Per. 1956 Scotsman (11 Feb.) 3:
Stot and Heifer Stirks.(7) Abd. 1903 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 90:
A pair o' gran' haims for his wark-stot.

2. Transf.: a stupid, clumsy person. an oaf, a blockhead (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc. Also in Eng. dial.Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xv.:
Shentlemans, ye hielant stot!Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders v.:
The great stot of a farm lad.Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant ii.:
A fair stot at the uptak' o' oor guid Lallan!sm.Sc. 1979 Alan Temperley Tales of Galloway (1986) 104:
It made the old woman impatient; in fact she grew quite angry. But at last he managed to tell her that he would like to do a great deed of valour, so that everyone would respect him in the town, instead of looking down on him as a great stot and an idiot the way they did at present.

II. v. Of a cow: to take the bull (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).