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: 1752, 1897-1927, 1991
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UNHEARTSOME, adj. Also unhairtsome. 1. Cheerless, melancholy, dismal. See Hertsome, adj. Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1752 E. Erskine Works (1785) 978:
What a melancholy unheartsome habitation would this world be, if it but wanted the sun in the firmament!Kcb. 1897 Crockett Lochinvar xxi.:
An uncanny and unheartsome journey.Ayr. 1927 J. Carruthers A Man Beset i. i.:
I don't believe God meant the Sabbath to be the most unheartsome day of all the week.Gsw. 1991 James Alex McCash in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 16:
They, dule and mane, unhairtsome roond the bier,
Lay by the bride sidelins, in effectuous exile -
2. Of persons: slightly miserable or uncomfortable, “esp, as regarding the sensation of cold” (Sc. 1825 Jam.).
3. Of weather: uncomfortable, cold and damp (Ib.).
[O.Sc. unheartsom, = 1., 1637.]
