Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

TØVA-KUDDIE, n. Also teva kudda, tøva-(Jak.); ¶tuva-keuthie (Sh. 1825 Jam.). A part of the rocky ebb where webs of cloth were fastened to be exposed to the action of the waves as a means of fulling or thickening the cloth. Also used as a place-name.Sh. 1893 Sinclair MS. 11:
Da een o' him as green as da dy i' da tova-kuddies.Sh. 1897 J. Jakobsen Dial. Sh. 94–5:
Some of the “Kuddas” go by the name of Tøvakudda or Tevakudda. . . . The “Tøvakuddas” are places at the sea-shore, where people used formerly to fasten “wadmel”, the old Shetland cloth, in order that it should shrink and consequently grow thicker and closer by the action of the flowing and ebbing of the sea.