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.
Quotation dates: 1768-1996
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SWIPPER, adj., n., adv. Also swupper; swippert, -art, swyppert, -irt, swuppert, -art; erron. snippert. [′swɪpər(t)]
I. adj. 1. Quick in movement, active, nimble, agile (ne.Sc. 1972). Now only dial. in Eng. Adv. swippertly.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 94:
But o' my claiths he took a swippert claught.ne.Sc. 1806 R. Jamieson Ballads I. 303:
Then swippertly started up a carl.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry 179:
Sae swift and swipper was the deed.Abd. 1861 J. Davidson Poems 85:
Swupperter than the bow arm O' him wha plays a fiddle.Ags. 1894 F. Mackenzie Cruisie Sk. ii.:
Gin ye dinna deliver that letter, an' swuppertly too.Abd. 1916 G. Abel Wylins 69:
It's time 'at the stair kent swyppirter feet.Bnff. 1920 S. W. Mayer Margaret Macfarlane's Fortune 10:
Ye'll need to be snippert, Donal, or she'll be awa' afore ye get speech o' her.Abd. 1963 J. C. Milne Poems 132:
Awa to the Hielan's ye swuppert young jauds!ne.Sc. 1991 Lilianne Grant Rich in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 23:
Syne, gin its creep micht catch their swippert feet,
They loup and rin. Dundee 1994 Matthew Fitt in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 176:
The grocer skeughit oot an roon the frunt o the coontir. He wus swippert an sma boukit, a nae nonsense man. Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 14:
Reachin the hedge, Curra, wi ae breenge, spite o the thick stobs an branches, forced his wee swippert body inno the open air.
2. Brusque, snappish, curt, in manner.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
One is said to speak swippert-like, when one speaks hastily, as if in ill-humour.
II. n. A lithe, agile person (ne.Sc. 1972).Abd. 1930 N. Shepherd Weatherhouse 26:
A gey-like swippert o' a queyne.
III. adv. Agilely, nimbly, quickly, abruptly (ne.Sc. 1972).Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlix.:
He turn't, rael swyppirt, an' said he wud awa' to the back faul's.Abd. 1923 J. R. Imray Village Roupie 32:
Fin freed frae leash he swuppart flew Across the fields.Bnff. 1954 Banffshire Jnl. (29 June):
A tongue that waggit as swippert an' easy as the aul' kirk bell.
