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.
TILL, n. Also tull (Lnk. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 VI. 645). [tɪl, ‡tʌl]
1. (1) A stiff clay, usually occurring in unstratified deposits of glacial origin and forming an unproductive sub-soil, gen. impervious to water (Sc. 1808 Jam.), now adopted in Eng. as a geological term for boulder clay.Sc. 1765 A. Dickson Agriculture 222:
They [ploughmen] are so inattentive, as to leave good soil in some places, and turn up till in others.Sc. 1776 Kames Gentleman Farmer 341:
It is this hardened earth which is named till.Abd. 1794 J. Anderson Agric. Abd. 24:
There are two opposite extremes of clayey soil; one is of a tough gluey coherent nature, which in the extreme of this sort is called Till.Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 27:
Clay when it is nearly void of other earths or admixtures, is of a blue colour, and steril, it is generally denominated (in the western parts of Scotland) “till”.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary iv.:
Placing paving stones beneath the tree when first planted . . . a barrier between his roots and the unkindly till.Sc. 1835 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) IV. 218:
The substratum is a cauld till, that keeps the vegetation shiverin on the surface in a perpetual ague.Per. 1841 Trans. Highl. Soc. 30:
The soils of this quarter consist chiefly of tlree varieties of clay, known in the district by the names of till, end-clay, and carse-clay.m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 45:
Yon's the dourest land that ever I was on; it's a' till thegither.
Combs. and deriv.: (i) till-airn, a crowbar, sc. one for making holes in till for posts, drainage or other purposes (Ayr., Wgt. 1972). See Airn; (ii) till-band, pudding-stone, conglomerate, breccia (Sc. 1807 J. Headrick Arran 245); (iii) till-bottom, a clay subsoil; (iv) till-hole, a hole from which clay has been dug, a clay-pit; (v) tillie, -y, tiley, adj., composed of till or boulder clay (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Comb. tillie-clay, cold, stiff, unproductive soil, also fig., and in reduced form †tillie (Sh. 1880 Jam.).(i) Kcb. 1898 T. Murray Frae the Heather 42:
Then aff gaed the plaid, . . . The till airn applied it rebounded again.(iii) Dmf. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XIV. 101:
Clay on a till bottom, which retaining the wet, is not favourable to vegetation.Sc. 1884 Trans. Highl. Soc. 258:
A cold clay subsoil, or what we in Scotland would term a “till-bottom.”(iv) Wgt. 1718 G. Fraser Lowland Lore (1880) 36:
To Discharge any persone to Steep hemp, or Lint in the quarrell houll and till holes therabout.(v) Dmf. 1772 Weekly Mag. (2 Jan.) 30:
A vast quantity of water getting in between the mossy and tilly grounds in the winter season.Fif. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 IX. 217:
The soil in general is thin and sharp, except in some places where it is tilly.Per. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Per. 13:
The houses of the farmers and of those in the lower ranks of life were formerly composed of this mortar or tilly clay.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 449:
A heart tlat never felt love is said to be a piece of tillie clay.m.Lth. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 I. 135:
A tusk of a Mammoth was found, nearly five feet long, about twenty-five feet under the surface of the ground, firmly imbedded in blue till, or tilly clay.Sc. 1871 Trans. Highl. Soc. 436:
The soil in general is a very stiff poor clay, with a hard, tiley impervious subsoil.
(2) fig.: the earth in gen., “the cold clay.”Ayr. 1790 J. Fisher Poems 63:
To die an' be laid i' the till.Sc. 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ iii. xiv.:
Sall the till splore again Him wha schupe't it?
2. Mining: a hard laminated shale formed from till, a kind of fire-clay or blaes (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 67).Sc. 1701 R. Wodrow Early Letters (S.H.S.) 143:
I hope to furnish you with some till or coal slate with impressions on it.Lnk. 1793 D. Ure Rutherglen 253:
The most uncommon variety of till, in this country, is one that, by the miners, is called Maggy. It is incumbent on a coarse ironstone, or doggar, at Mauchlanhole and Torrance.Ayr. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 V. 213:
Various dikes of shale or “till”, as it is provincially termed, also cross the strata.Lnk. 1864 J. Greenshields Lesmahagow 243:
Craw Coal and Tills, . . . 6 ft. 4 in.Rnf. 1920 Econ. Geol. Central Coalfield IV. 19:
Not all of this, however, is good coal: — there are occasional partings of blaes (“till” or “indurated clay” in the old terminology).
