Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1854-1924
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STRANGER, n. Sc. usages:
1. In phr. strangers' cold, an epidemic of influenza which freq. spread among the islanders of St Kilda after the arrival of strangers with the virus on the island. See Harris. The phr. is a translation of Gael. cnatan nan gall, id. Hist.Hebr. 1878 G. Seton St Kilda 228:
Another very remarkable malady which occasionally prevails among the inhabitants of St Kilda is a species of influenza, locally termed "boat-cough", "strangers' cold", or "the trouble", by which the natives are almost always attacked shortly after the arrival of a vessel from the outer Hebrides.
2. As in colloq. or dial. Eng.: any object popularly thought to presage the arrival of an unexpected visitor, e.g. a tea-leaf floating on the surface of a cup of tea, a piece of soot hanging on the bars of a grate, a piece of glowing candle-wick, a moth near a candle (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.), etc. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1854 Notes and Queries (Ser. 1) X. 534:
A piece of the woody fibre of the tea, which may be accidentally swimming in the liquid, is named a "stranger", and is taken out and bitten between the teeth: if found to be hard, it is a male, if soft, a female; and if large or small indicates the tallness or shortness of some person expected to visit that day at the house.Abd. 1900 Trans. Bch. Field Club 223:
The light was not much to speak of, by reason of the strangers and the dead man's spales that were developed in the process of burning.Gsw. 1904 H. Foulis Erchie vi.:
There was a stranger in my tea this Mornin'.Uls. 1924 Northern Whig (8 Jan.):
A small piece of soot clinging to the bars of a grate is called a "stranger."
