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.
TROTTER, n. As in Eng., an animal's foot. Sc. †combs.: 1. trotter-board, the treadle of a spinning-wheel; 2. Trotter-roofing, see quot.1. Ags. 1879 G. W. Donald Poems 6:
For here's the very trotter-board, And there's the crook that crankit.2. Ork. 1923 P. Ork. A.S. II. 8:
Before slates came into general use thin flags were sometimes used as a substitute for thatch in the better class of houses; these flags being hung on to the rafters by means of pegs driven through a hole in the flag. The pegs used were frequently the trotter bones of sheep; hence the name “trotter roofing.”
