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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.

WEDDER, n. Also wadder (Mry. 1747 Lord Elchies' Letters (MacWilliam 1927) 271; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 191), wadar, wader (Inv. 1745 Trans. Gael. Soc. Inv. XXVI. 179), wather (Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. ii. i.; Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck xvi., Lnk. 1902 A. Wardrop Hamely Sk. 81); weather (Sc. 1744 J. Cockburn Letters (S.H.S.) 100; m.Lth. 1811 H. MacNeill Bygane Times 41), wither (Sc. c.1800 Wife wrapt in Wether's Skin in Child Ballads No. 277 B.viii.; Per. 1898 C. Spence Poems 38). Sc. forms and usages of Eng. wether, a castrated male sheep (Bnff. 1700 S.C. Misc. (1846) III. 185; Sc. 1748 Caled. Mercury (21 April); e.Lth. 1794 G. Buchan-Hepburn Agric. E. Lth. 103; Sc. 1829 Scott Rob Roy Intro.; e.Lth. 1845 Stat. Acc.² II. 369; Slg., Rxb. 1972 Scotsman (18 Nov.) 14). See D, letter, 4. [′wɛdər; ne.Sc. ′wɪdɪr; Fif. ′wɪdɪr; em.Sc. (b), wm.Sc., s.Sc. ′wɑdər]

1. As in Eng. Sc. combs.: (1) custom wadar, wethers paid by a tenant as rent in lieu of cash; (2) old wedder, see quot.; (3) wether bell, a bell tied round the neck of the leader of the flock (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). Cf. Eng. bell-wether; (4) wether-bleat, the snipe, Capella gallinago, prob. a mistaken or corrupted form of Heatherbleat, q.v.; (5) wether-gammond, a leg of mutton; (6) wether haggis, a haggis boiled in a wether's stomach; (7) wedder-hog, a young wether before its first shearing. See also Hog, n.¹, 1. (13); (8) wedder lamb, a castrated male lamb (Bwk. 1814 Monthly Mag. I. 31; Cai. 1948 Abd. Press & Jnl. (27 Aug.)); (9) wedder-money, see quot.; (10) wedder-sheep, a full-grown wether sheep (see quot.); (11) wadder wool, wool from a wether.(1) Sc. 1702 Seafield Corresp. (S.H.S.) 353:
It is nou about the tym of taking up my custam wadars, so I hop you will be carfull in taking them up that both the oull and wadars may be good.(2) Peb. 1802 C. Findlater Agric. Peb. 63:
The hogs bought in, are kept for two years; and, being then three years old, are sold off for farther feeding, under the name of old wedders.(4) Mry. 1828 J. Ruddiman Tales 122:
The peculiar cry of the snipe, which . . . emit a sort of noise resembling the bleat of a sheep, from whence they are named by the peasantry, the wether-bleat.(5) Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 213:
Wi' skelps like this fock sit but seenil down To wether-gammond or how-towdy brown.(6) Ayr. 1790 Burns On Capt. Grose ii.:
Is he slain by Hielan' bodies? And eaten like a wether haggis?(7) Peb. 1772 Indictment of A. Murdison 1:
To shade out his hogs, or young sheep, from his other sheep, in order to separate his wedder-hogs intended for sale, from his ewe-hogs intended to be kept.Sth. 1831 Brit. Husbandry (Burke 1840) III. i. 81:
When the month of June has brought its interminable day, the wedder hogs yield their first fleece. They are then called dimmants.(8) Sc. 1801 Farmer's Mag. (Aug.) 360:
Wedder lambs are selling from 10s. to 12s.Sth. 1831 Brit. Husbandry (Burke 1840) III. i. 79:
The first contains wedder lambs.Dmf. 1958 Dmf. & Gall. Standard (22 Nov.):
Blackfaced Wedder Lamb Found on Birkbush Hill.(9) Cai. 1772 J. E. Donaldson Cai. in 18th Cent. (1938) 107:
The tenants' rent consisted of the following payments and casualties, viz. —. . . “wedder money,” amounting to thirty shillings Scots for a wether or sheep which had at an earlier date been paid in kind.(10) Nai. 1765 Session Papers, Gordon v. Brodie (3 Jan.) 5:
A full grown wedder sheep, which it never is till it has attained at least the full age of three years complete.(11) Abd. 1751 Abd. Estate (S.C.) 71:
Three quarter weight of wadder wool.