Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
SWESCH, n. Also ¶sweesh. A drum, esp. one used by public criers, gen. a side drum as opposed to a bass drum. Now only hist. In the 1871 quot. and in the comb. swesch-trump, the word has been taken to mean a trumpet, from an erroneous definition by Jam.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry 47:
Wi' swesch-trump in his hand; . . . some fairy sough'd intill his ear: “Blaw loud, Sir Knicht . . .”Sc. 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms Intro. 1:
The dirl o' the pipe, the chirm o' the bird, the tout o' the swesch, an' the scraigh o' thunner.Abd. 1893 Sc. N. & Q. (Ser. 1.) VII. 93:
The town's drum of Aberdeen was exhibited . . . in the Glasgow International Exhibition in 1888, with the following notice: — “The Drum, or ‘Sweesh', was a very important civic institution before the introduction of daily newspapers.”
