Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
WARBLE, n.2, v.2 Also in sense 1. wurble; in sense 2. reduced dim. forms warbie and warba(c)k, waarbak, -bik, warbe(c)k (Sh.); waarie-bug, warribowg (Cai.), varbo (Ork.); in sense 3. warbie. [′wɑrbl, -bi, ′wɑrebʌug, Ork. ′vɑrbʊ]
I. n. 1. (1) As in Eng., an itchy swelling or abscess on the back of cattle caused by the burrowing of the larva of the gadfly (Cai. E.D.D., waarie-bug; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., wurble; I.Sc., Cai., Per. 1973). See also 2. In pl. wurbles, the complaint or condition caused by this (Ib.).
(2) A lump in gen., a swelling.Kcd. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xviii.:
Your head is muzzy with your carrying the bullock's head and horns, and serve you right had David given you a warble on it twice as big.
2. Esp. in reduced dim. forms, the warble- or gad-fly, any of several flies of the family Oestridae, which breed under the skin of cattle, the warble-maggot or larva of the warble-fly, a bott (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ags. 1825 Jam., warbie s.v. Warble; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., warback, -beck, 1908 Jak. (1928), -bak, -bek; Ork. 1929 Marw., varbo, warbak; Cai. 1967, warribowg, Per. 1973). Also in Eng. dial.Sc. 1814 Illustr. North. Antiq. 404:
The hole made by an elf-arrow, (which has probably been made by a warble).Sh. 1898–9 Shetland News (12 Feb., 13 May):
Der young baes, he said der backs wis juist wan aem o' waarbaks. . . . As fir wir flekkid whaik, pairt wi' puirta an' waarbiks, shü's oot o' liftin'.
3. A lean, scraggy person (Abd. 1825 Jam.); a puny insignificant creature. Rare.Ags. 1895 Caledonia I. 290:
To tryst sic a warbie they're needfu', I ween, A wee bechlin youchal, puir bowleggit drochle.
II. v. To crawl or wriggle like a worm or maggot (Sc. 1808 Jam., s.v. wrabil), with in or out. Also used refl. to wurble oneself out, to get out of confinement of any kind by a kind of twisting motion, sc. like the grub escaping from a warble hole.
[O.Sc. warbill, = I. 1., a.1585, E.M.E. warble, a lump caused by the saddle on a horse's back, the first element being prob. †war, pus, O.N. var, id.; the second is uncertain. ? Cf. Dan. bule, a swelling. Cognate words are Eng. dial. †waribreed, warnel = I. 1.]
