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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.

VENNEL, n.¹ Also vennell, ven(n)al(l), vennile (Ayr. 1706 D. McNaught Kilmaurs (1912) 251), veanell; vin(n)el (Sc. 1897 J. Wright Scenes Sc. Life 39); vannel (Uls. 1953 Traynor). [′vɛnəl]

1. A narrow alley or lane between houses, still freq. in street-names in many Sc. towns, as Edinburgh, Ayr, Dumfries, Forfar, Perth. Gen. (exc. I.) Sc., ‡in ne.Sc. Also in n.Eng. dial.Wgt. 1702 G. Fraser Lowland Lore (1880) 26:
The magistrats and councell discharges any person to teather horses in the common veanell.Inv. 1714 Trans. Inv. Scientif. Soc. II. 214:
The streets and lanes or common vennels of the burgh.Rnf. 1721 W. Hector Judicial Rec. (1878) II. 117:
In the closs or stable of James Watson, in Lang vinnal in Greenock.Fif. 1764 Caled. Mercury (9 Jan.) 16:
The venal leading to the Kirkton on the east.Per. 1816 J. Duff Poems 6:
Sister, luke ower yere ain vennels an' lanes.n.Sc. 1840 D. Sage Memorabilia (1889) 152:
The “Vennel”, a small pathway leading from the churchyard.Dmf. 1852 Life and Works Burns (Chambers) III. 307:
The removal which they effected at Whitsunday, 1793, from their little floor of a house in the Wee Vennel to a small detached or independent dwelling in the Mill-hole Brae or Mill Vennel.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss Hags lv.:
The scaffold looming out down the vennel.Sc. 1928 J. Buchan Montrose 189:
The foul vennels of the little cities.Abd. 1944 C. Gavin Mt. of Light i. i.:
The North Sea wind carries the smell of linoleum through the lane and vennel.wm.Sc. 1965 Alan Sharp A Green Tree in Gedde (1985) 29:
He took lodgings with Mother Sommerville in the Vinnel, a narrow, two-storeyed street at the centre of the working quarter, an area of desperate and abundant energy, milling with births and wife beatings, drunkenness and fist fights. wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 101:
Figures lurched from vennels and lanes to be knocked over by roistering callants singing and taking up the breadth of the streets in arm-linked ranks. Rs. 1991 Bess Ross Those Other Times 87:
The sand was still there and her feet felt scratchy. She tried wiping her shoes along long grass and some sand came off, but mostly it just stayed where it was. She gave up and walked up the vennel which would take her to their house. m.Sc. 1997 Liz Niven Past Presents 16:
In this citie o whispers
Doon daurk, smokey vennels
Windin, we reached the Jewish quarter.
A Golem rins fae the graveyard
An the win is readin quate
In the sma synagogue. Lnk. 1998 Duncan Glen Selected New Poems 22:
Angles of streets, twisting wynds and vennels.
A steep slantit climb up to the Auld Toon.
Yet blind alleys, the cul-de-sacs without
warning signs.

2. A drain, sewer; “a covered drain, passing water under or around a house” (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 226, Sh. 1973).Sh. 1836 Gentleman's Mag. II. 591:
Da vennal itt ran oot anonder da kuddee doar o' Andru o' Digran's byre.Sh. 1897 Shetland News (29 May):
Digging and laying vennals.