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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.

SWEEPIT, n. Also -id. A particle, grain, the least little bit (Ork. 1972).Uls. 1901 Northern Whig:
“I haven't a sweepit” means I have not what you could sweep.
Ork. 1956 C. M. Costie Benjie's Bodle 58:
Thir a' awa, every sweepid o' them.

[Shortened from the imprecative phr. deil sweep it, -soupet, (< Soop, sweep, + it) devil a thing, nothing at all. See Deil, II. 2. (4) and cf. the sim. development of Haet.]

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