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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WHITE, adj., n.¹, v.¹ Also whyte (Abd. 1718 Rec. Old Abd. (S.C.) II. 173); wheite (Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 21); whit (Abd. 1730 Abd. Jnl. N. & Q. IV. 237); †wheat (Fif. 1719 Burntisland Burgh Rec. MS. (31 Aug.)); quite (Sh.). For ne.Sc. forms see Fite, adj. Sc. usages:

I. adj. 1. Sc. combs.: (1) white aboon gled, see Gled, n.¹, 4. (12); ¶(2) white-baised, cheerful, optimistic, in good spirits. Hence white-baisement, high hopes, optimism. A nonce creation of Carlyle (see quot. and Baise, v.¹, 2.); (3) white-bawm, a type of soil; (4) white bent, the matgrass, Nardus stricta (Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 35); (5) whitebird, the whitethroat, Sylvia communis. See Whey, Combs. 1., of which this may be a corruption; (6) white-bonnet, -bannet, a person at an auction sale who is engaged by the seller to make bids in order to raise the price (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Kcb. 1900; Inv. 1905 E.D.D.; Rxb. 1953). Also as v., to engage in this practice (Kcb. 1932); †(7) white breek, a nickname for a soldier, from the white breeches worn by the British Army in the 18th c.; (8) white breid, white wheaten bread, loaf-bread, as opposed to oatcakes. Gen.Sc. See Breid, n., 2.; (9) white buttercup, the grass of Parnassus, Parnassia palustris (Bwk. 1842 Hist. Bwk. Nat. Club (1849) 16); (10) white-chaff't, white-cheeked. See Chaft, 2.; (11) white cockade, the rosette worn by Jacobites to represent the white rose as an emblem of the Stewart cause. Cf. (54); (12) white cockle, the bladder campion, Silene latifolia (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); (13) white corn, the variety of grain called in Eng. the white oat; (14) white cow, see quot. and Cow, n.¹ (Ags. 1974); (15) white craw, a nickname for a native of Carnwath in Lanarkshire (Lnk. 1974); (16) white croft, a piece of land sub-let from a larger farm and worked by the sub-tenant himself; (17) white drap, a snowfall (Sh. 1974). Cf. Drap, v., 3.; (18) white ersie, a species of carder bee (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 253). Cf. Reid, adj., 1.(2); (19) white-faced, of a sheep: having a white face, of one of the early native or, later, the English breeds as opposed to the Highland or black-faced sorts (Sh., Cai. 1974); (20) white-fish in phr. white fish in the net, a game in which two players hold a plaid stretched out between them for the other players to leap over, and try to foil each in his attempt by entangling him in it (‡Ags. 1808 Jam.). The quot. is derived from Jam.; (21) white-fit, see quot. and cf. Black fit; (22) white fog, see Fog, n. 3. (7); †(23) whyte globb, a variety of gooseberry. Cf. Eng. yellow, etc. globe; (24) white gowan, see Gowan; (25) white hare, the Alpine, Scottish mountain or blue hare, Lepus timidus, esp. in its white winter coat (Sc. 1819 Scots Mag. (July) 507; n.Sc., Ags., Per. 1974); (26) white hause, -hass, see Hause; (27) white head, a large white cloud on the horizon (Sh. 1974). Adj. white-headed in phr. white-headed elder, “a designation given to a female who, from superabundance of pretended zeal, and from a high degree of self-conceit wishes to interfere in ecclesiastical managements in a parish or congregation” (Sc. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 347); (28) white-hearted, timid, faint-hearted. Rare and obs. in Eng.; (29) white herring, herring which is cured by salting only, without being smoked. Also in Eng. fishing districts; (30) white hoolet, the barn owl, Tyto alba (Slg. 1885 Trans. Slg. Nat. Hist. Soc. 61; Slg., Fif., Lnk., Ayr. 1974). See Hoolet; ¶(31) white-horned owl, the long-eared owl, Asio otus; (32) white horse, †(i) the fuller ray, Raia fullonica (Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife 51); (ii) a wave full of fish, esp. herring, in sea-taboo speech; (iii) in mining: white trap rock intruded in a coal-seam (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 72); ‡(33) white house, a house built with stone and lime as opposed to a Black House of dry stone and turf (Cai. 1974), prob. a translation of Gael. taigh-geal; (34) white ice, in Curling: the ice up the middle of the rink, whitened and roughened by the friction of the stones (Dmf. 1830 R. Brown Mem. Curl. Mab. 108; Per., Ayr. 1974); (35) white-iron, -airn, tin-plate, tinned iron (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 253; ne.Sc., Ags., Per. 1974). Also attrib. and fig. = sham, imitation. Hence whit(e)-iron man, -smith, (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 201), a tin-plate worker, tinsmith; (36) white Kaitrin, see Kaitrin; (37) white legs, small cuts of wood, as opposed to large logs; (38) white lintie, the whitethroat, Sylvia communis (Ags. 1885 C. Swainson Brit. Birds 22); (39) white liver, a condition ascribed to a man who has been widowed several times from the notion that the “bad breath” resulting has been fatal to his wives (Fif. 1912 Country Folk-Lore VII. 407; Ags. 1974). Also in Eng. dial.; (40) white lug, the corner of a herring net when full of fish. Cf. (32) (ii); (41) white maw, -maa, see Maw, n.²; (42) white meal, oatmeal, as distinct from barleymeal (Cld. 1825 Jam.; Cai., Fif., Ayr. 1974); (43) white meat, the flesh of poultry or game. Gen.Sc.; (44) white-milk, = Eng. milk-white in ballad usage; (45) white moss, sphagnum (Sh. 1974); (46) white neb, the white beak of an adult rook; (47) white owl, in Sh., the snowy owl, Nyctea scandiaca (Sh. 1899 Evans and Buckley Fauna Sh. 108, Sh. 1974); (48) white peat, a kind of sphagnum moss found under the surface layer of vegetation in a peat bog (Per. 1974); (49) white-powed, white-haired. See Pow, n.¹; (50) white pudding, (i) a pudding or sausage stuffed with oatmeal, suet, salt, pepper and onions, a mealie pudding (see Mealie, I. 8.(8)) (Sc. 1825 Jam., 1929 F. M. McNeill Sc. Kitchen 203). Gen.Sc.; (ii) the small intestines of a ruminant; (51) white-rat, see Whitrat; (52) white rock, in Mining: an intrusive igneous rock bleached through contact with carbonaceous beds, = (68) below; (53) white room, a room in a textile factory where cloth is inspected and prepared for despatch after finishing (Dmb., Ayr. 1974). Cf. gray room s.v. Gray, adj., A. 1. (23); (54) white rose, the emblem of royalism and legitimacy, in Scot. adopted as the symbol of adherence to Jacobitism and the Stewart cause. Also attrib. Cf. (11); (55) white sack, a kind of apparition resembling a shroud, a translated form of Sacbaun, q.v.; (56) white sark, a derogatory term for a surplice. See Sark. Also used attrib. = Episcopalian; (57) white seam, see Seam, n., 5.; (58) white settler, also fyte settler. An incomer to a rural area, often one resented by the locals. (Ork., Cai., Bnff., Abd., Edb., Arg., Gsw., Ayr., Rxb. 2000s). Also attrib.; (59) white shower, a shower of snow (Abd. 1825 Jam., fite; Sh., Abd. 1974); (60) white side, a kind of oatcake; (61) white-skate, the long-nosed skate, Raja oxyrhynchus (Edb. 1808 Wernerian Soc. Mem. I. 553); (62) white skin blanket, a blanket which can be used without a top sheet; (63) white sookie, gen. in pl., white clover, Trifolium repens (Bwk. 1853 G. Johnston Botany E. Borders 53; Ags., Fif., Lth., Lnk. 1974); (64) white smith, a tin smith. See (35) above; (65) white spate, a flood in a river in which the water is white with foam and not discoloured with earth, a swift sudden flood (Sc. 1905 E.D.D.); (66) white tam, a jocular term for a clay pipe (Fif., m.Lth. 1974); (67) white-throat, -trot (I.Sc.), (i) see Billy, n.¹, 7.(7); (ii) a sea-taboo term for a minister; (68) white trap, = (52); (69) white victual, cereal or grain crops as opposed to green crops (Sc. 1869 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 727; Per., Slg., Ayr. 1974). See Victual; (70) white wand, see quot.; (71) white weaving, the making of linen cloth: (72) white web, see quot.; (73) white wood, the outer circles of new wood on a tree trunk, alburnum or sap-wood; (74) white wren, the willow-warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus (Slg. 1867 Zoologist II. 890); (75) white wright, ? a carpenter.(2) Dmf. 1837 Carlyle New Letters (1904) I. 74:
As you are so black-baised about me, . . . here likewise all is going right enough. Let your black-baisement become a white baisement.Dmf. 1837 Carlyle Life in London (Froude 1884) I. 104:
Our mother was black-baised, though I had written to her to be only white-baised.(3) Kcd. 1809 G. Robertson Agric. Kcd. 23:
Till, brash, rubble, warp, hazle, carse, ooze, cledge, or white bawm, all names of soils, but not all different.(5) m.Lth. 1908 Rymour Club. Misc. 86:
The wheatie and the whitebird.(6) Sc. 1753 Elchies Decisions (1818) I. App. ii Sale No. 10:
A written commission to act the part of what is commonly called a white-bonnet, i.e. to offer such a price, and the seller would take them off his hands if he was not willing to hold them.Lnk. 1771 Letter Concerning Roups 13:
Puffers, White-bonnets, or Decoy-ducks, who have orders to bid against you, till you have bid up to the price he wants.Gsw. 1797 J. Strang Gsw. Clubs (1856) 573:
He'll vote through thick and thin wi' him, and boo like ony white-bannet at an auction.Rs. 1810 G. S. Mackenzie Agric. Rs. 244:
In the case of a farm, the landlord takes the office of “White-Bonnet” upon himself.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 1042:
The intervention of a whitebonnet is held in law to be a fraud upon the other bidders.(7) Sc. 1776 D. Herd Sc. Songs II. 163:
White breek and steel pike Kiss't the lass behind the dyke.(8) Sc. 1826 Scott Letters (Cent. Ed.) IX. 446:
A silver penny and a regular portion of what is called white bread (household bread vizt.) to each child who is residing on the lairds land.Abd. 1868 G. MacDonald R. Falconer i. xxii.:
He began to help himself to the [oat] cakes, at which Robert wondered, seeing there was “white breid” on the table.(10) Lnk. 1886 A. G. Murdoch Readings I. 24:
Thin, shilpit, pipe-shankit, whitechaff't.(11) Per. 1745 R. S. Fittis Hist. & Trad. Gleanings (1876) 203:
Thomas Moncrieff, Officer of Excise, assisted Glenbucket in collecting the Excise for the Rebels, wore a white cockade and a hanger at Perth.Sc. 1747 Session Papers, Petition H. Campbell (30 July) 2:
He saw Patrick Macdouall in Company with the Rebels in a highland Habit, and with a White Cockade.Sc. 1790 Burns White Cockade i.:
He takes the field wi' his White Cockade.(13) Inv. 1759 Trans. Inv. Scientific Soc. VIII. 388:
One hundred bolls of white corn oatmeal at one mark per stone.(14) Ags. 1899 F. Cruickshank Navar 112:
Bundles of “white cows”, that is, the remains of heather, whins and broom which had been bleached by sun and rain after the annual burning.(15) Lnk. 1960 Stat. Acc.³ 557:
It was Archie who told your readers about the ‘White Craws' of Carnwath, and about them flying tail first, “to keep the stour oot o' their een”. So it is to Archie that Carnwath people owe the cognomen of ‘White Craws'.(16) Abd. 1740 Session Papers, Fergusson v. Arbuthnot, State of Process 3:
The Sucken of the Mill of Aden consists of twelve Ploughs, and a few White-Crofts.Abd. 1811 G. Keith Agric. Abd. Prelim. Obs. 14:
White crofts, as they are termed, which the subtenant scratched or ploughed imperfectly with a horse and a cow.(17) Sh. 1899 Shetland News (21 Jan.):
“We've gotten the white drap i' da lang run,” William said, as he strak da snaw aff o' his shün.(19) Bnff. 1794 J. Donaldson Agric. Bnff. 36:
The only other breed is a small white-faced kind, the antient breed of the country.Abd. 1811 G. Keith Agric. Abd. 492:
At that period [c.1700] the native breed of this country consisted entirely of the small white-faced sheep.Rxb. 1917 Hawick Express (7 Dec.) 3:
An all-round increase of at least 4d. per lb. for whitefaced wool.(20) Sc. 1897 W. Beatty Secretar 253:
Watching the lads and lasses having a game at white fish in the net. . . . Whiles two of the men held the cloth the others chased the lassies and tickled them until they had to loup the rag to win peace — a thing few managed without a toss in the sheet.(21) Lth., Dmf. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 349:
As the person who is employed by a lover to go between him and his sweetheart, for furthering his interest is called a Blackfoot, if he act unfaithfully to his employer and gain the affections of the female to himself, he is called a Whitefoot.(23) Bnff. 1724 G. Hutcheson Days of Yore (1887) 67:
Some of the best whyte globbs or goosberrys.(25) Arg. 1914 J. M. Hay Gillespie i. iv.:
In the winter he shot rabbits and roamed the forest for white hares.(28) Fif. 1862 St Andrews Gaz. (5 Dec.):
Deil speed the impidence o' the white-hearted chiels if they would let the bit boatie gang oot beyond the pier-head.(29) Sc. 1708 Rec. Conv. Burghs (1880) 469:
There should be allowed and payed to the subjects inhabitants of Great Brittain . . . ten shillings five pence sterling for every barrall of white herrings which shall be exported from Scotland.Sc. 1751 Rec. Conv. Burghs (1915) 380:
Subscriving £25,000 to the white herring fishery in name of the royal burrows.Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. III. 329:
They are taken by nets, salted, and packed in barrels. When prepared in this manner, they are termed White Herrings.(31) Arg. 1898 N. Munro J. Splendid x.:
The night was loud with the call of white-horned owls.(32) (ii) Crm. 1829 H. Miller Herring Fishing 33:
The pale green of the phosphoric matter appeared as if mingled with large flakes of snow. It contained a body of fish. “A white horse! a white horse!” exclaimed one of the men at the cork baulk, “lend us a haul.”(iii) Ayr. 1902 R. W. Dron Coal-Fields 31:
The whin is generally altered into a soft white rock, known to the miners as “White Horse”.(33) Sc. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Report 48, Evid. IV. 2878:
The black houses present the original type of the country, and they are built by the people themselves; the white houses are lowland cottages of the plainest character, and they are built by the people aided by the proprietors. . . . These [black] houses would barely see out a lease, and have now given place to what are called white houses, from the walls being built with stone and lime entirely, and with gables and chimneys at each end.Hebr. 1974 Northern Studies No. 4. 22:
The 1924 Act afforded an opportunity to improve housing and in the next decade the “white house” Began to replace the traditional “black house” or “taigh dubh.”(34) Ayr. 1892 J. C. C. B. A. Boyd's Cracks 25:
Come up the white ice — Brek an egg on this.(35) Sc. 1711 Scots Post Man (13–16 April):
James Alison White-Iron-Man, in the West-Bow.Ork. 1728 H. Marwick Merchant Lairds I. 135:
Four or five small whit iron shapes for making ane disch of egg ost.Sc. 1736 Mrs McLintock's Receipts 33:
Pour it [apple-Paste] on sheets of white-iron, set it on the Stove till it dry.Edb. 1753 W. Maitland Hist. Edb. 183, 317:
Copper, Brass, White-iron or Lautin. . . . White Iron-smiths. This Craft of Tinmen being united to the Pewterers, belongs to the Corporation of Hammermen.Sc. 1820 Trials for High Treason (Green 1825) II. 167:
He soldered white iron and tin.Sc. 1840 D. Sage Memorabilia (1889) 258:
Tinkers who gained their livelihood by the manufacture of horn-spoons and vessels of tin or white iron.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 45:
White-airn spoons maun ser' us when we dine.Ags. 1882 Brechin Advert. (28 Nov.) 3:
Yer new made white iron gentry.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden (1922) 137:
What do you think they got stickin' in her thrapple but the mester's white-iron 'baka box.(37) Bwk. 1809 R. Kerr Agric. Bwk. 334:
The smaller wood, provincially termed white-legs, is sold for temporary fences, or firewood.(38) Sc. 1994 Herald (27 Aug) 28:
Ashy head, fawn-pink belly, ochre back and white outer tail feathers make the whitethroat easy to identify, quite apart from its eponymous field mark, which it often puffs out in display. Hence the old Scots name, Beardie, others being White Lintie and Blethering Tam, this last as much from its drinker's pose.(40) m.Lth. 1842 Blackwood's Mag. (March) 303:
Afore we gang out wi' the boats and the nets, we aye drink to a white lug.Sc. 1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea 453:
A “white lug” — that is, that when they “pree” or examine a corner or lug of their nets, they may find it glitter with the silvery sheen of the fish, a sure sign of a heavy draught.(42) Abd. 1718 Monymusk Papers (S.H.S.) 74:
6 bolls farm 3 bolls white meal, 5 bolls oats.Edb. 1767 Caled. Mercury (1 June):
50 bolls, 2 firlots, 2 pecks of white meal, at 8 stone per boll.(43) Sc. 1743 D. Warrand Culloden Papers (1927) III. 157:
He has lived on white meat for these four months past, but now he begins to taste mutton at Dr. Burton's request.Abd. 1922 P. MacGillivray Bog-Myrtle 84:
Yer red meat an' white meat's but pride o' the e'e.(44) Sc. 1955–7 School Sc. Studies Archive ( Earl Brand, Broom of Cowdenknows, Child Nos. 7, 217):
He mounted her on a white-milk steed. Oh saiddle to me my white-milk steed.(46) Bwk. 1882 Hist. Bwk. Nat. Club X. 164:
The young do not get a scabrous beak (whiteneb) till very late in the autumn.(48) Per. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XXI. 156:
The second stratum also is three feet thick. It is composed of various kinds of mosses, but principally of bog-moss (sphagnum). It is of a sallow or iron colour, and remarkably elastic. It is commonly called white peat.Abd. 1889 Sc. Naturalist (Oct.) 169:
The “white peat” cast aside as useless by those who obtained their fuel from the Black Moss is now found to be composed of diatoms, and to be of considerable commercial value in the manufacture of dynamite.(49) Lnk. 1865 J. Hamilton Poems 103:
The white-pow'd warlock frost.(50) (i) Sc. 1769 D. Herd Sc. Songs 330:
First they ate the white puddings, And then they ate the black.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 184:
And white and bloody puddins routh, To gar the Doctor skirl, O Drouth!Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce I. iv.:
A white puddin' — nane spices them better in the parish.Ayr. 1833 Galt Howdie (1923) 128:
Mutton-hams, white puddings, salt fish, and half a cheese.Abd. 1887 W. Carnie Waifs 18:
Before the Noble household lay five “white puds” in a plate.Abd. 2000 Herald (11 Dec) 20:
A mission was sent out to the local chipper for a white pudding supper. This was secreted in James Jeffrey's bed, no doubt with a suitable greeting.
Honour was served.
In the morning James saluted his tormentors with: "The white pudding was fine. With the electric blanket being on, it was done to perfection." Sc. 2003 Edinburgh Evening News (20 Aug) 18:
"In Snax I was offered a choice of sausage, which included square sausage which was nice, potato scones, I think they're called, white pudding, which I tried for the first time and liked, and black pudding, which I'm not that keen on. Sc. 2004 Daily Record (21 Feb):
It was wrapped in the kind of organically recycled rice paper that somehow persuades you this is a piece of zero-calorie heaven, when in fact it probably carries all the calorific clout of a white-pudding supper. Sc. 2004 Evening Times (12 Jun) 13:
Specials include steak, sizzling chicken or vegetable fajitas, seafood pie, deep fried breaded haddock, whole tail scampi, black or white pudding and smoked sausage. Sc. 2004 Press and Journal (20 Oct) 22:
It also hopes to do more haggis, white pudding and sausages.(ii) Per. 1838 W. Scrope Deer-stalking 64:
Eh, look to the white-puddings, sir, and see till the fat in his brisket and inside. . . . Sandy, man, tak the bag and white-puddins, and wash them weel at the fall.(52) Sc. 1882 A. Geikie Text-Bk Geol. 576:
This “white-rock” or “white-trap” is merely an altered form of some diabasic or basaltic rock.(53) Ayr. 1951 Stat. Acc.³ 506:
Few of the factories have ‘white rooms' now and most of the work is sent away to specialist finishers.(54) Abd. 1845 G. Murray Islaford 94:
Which white-rose loyalty lay snug in And maugred malice.Sc. 1969 C. MacInnes Westward to Laughter 62:
Death and Dismay to the rebels of the White Rose.(55) Arran 1837 Trans. Highl. Soc. 145:
They are terribly in dread of a kind of spirit which they call the “white sack”, which is said to be in fact a full white sack rolling on the ground!(56) Dmb. 1844 W. Cross Disruption x., xxxi.:
I'll never speak ceevilly o' ony ane o' the white-sark preachers. . . . A Fire-Shool-Hat and White-Sark Minister o' the Prelatic English Kirk.(57) Sc. 1820 Scott Monastery iii.:
She can lay silk broidery, forby white-seam and shell-work.Sc. 1825 Aberdeen Censor 227:
Some profess to understand the mysteries of white-seam, some are dress-makers, other milliners.(58) Highl. 1985:
The place is full of white settlers now.m.Sc. 1986 Billy Kay The Mither Tongue :
Rather like "white settlers" in the Scottish Gaidhealtachd, the incomers exercise tremendous influence on the communities they "invade" ...Sc. 1990 Scotsman (27 Oct) 2:
The "white settlers", who normally react to deficiencies in rural areas by organising meetings or composing peevish letters to the local press, ...ne.Sc. 1991 Herald (19 Sept):
She is a warm and homely woman, of a mould now giving way to a new breed which comes to the land. The so-called "white settlers" from the south arrive with alien attitudes and little knowledge of what they do that's factual, not racial.Kcb. 1995:
Whether Ian Lang gets back in or not depends on the white settlers - even the local Tories think he's useless.Sc. 1998 Herald (5 Jun) 23:
"White settler" antagonism in rural Scotland and the incidence of sectarian and racial abuse in our cities are too engrained in our culture for that.(60) Ork. 1885 Peace's Almanac 128:
There were sowan-scones, alie-scones, garie-scones, and white-sides.(62) Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 85:
Wauking some wife's white skin blankets.(64) Dmf. 1792 Studies in Sc. Liter. (1974) XI. 137:
George Haugh White Smith in Dumfries.(65) s.Sc. 1897 E. Hamilton Outlaws i.:
The Liddell was coming doun in a white spate.(67) (ii) Ork. 1909 Old-Lore Misc. II. ii. 107:
The men of Rackwick in Hoy must not speak of a minister when in a boat. They call him a “white-throat.”Sh. 1956 Scots Mag. (Aug.) 341:
The minister was the Upstander, or the Beniman, or the Whitetrot (from his white collar).(68) wm.Sc. 1920 Memoirs Geol. Survey Scot. 49:
The igneous rock had been converted into a “white trap.”(69) Per. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Per. 148:
Land pulverised and better made for the succeeding crop of white victual.(70) Lnk. 1818 A. Fordyce Country Wedding 230:
The “white wand” is commonly a sprig of willow or hazel stripped of its bark and carried by the bridegroom till married, when he hands it to one of the company whom he thinks most likely to be next in the same situation.(71) Kcd. 1883 W. Jolly J. Duncan 47:
When “white weaving”, or the trade in bleached linen, was introduced.(72) Abd. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XI. 405 note:
About 60 years ago, they were much employed in making a species of woollen cloth called white webs, containing 30 ells each, which were usually sold at 1s per ell.(73) Slg. 1812 P. Graham Agric Slg. 40:
The white wood, as it is called, or the outermost circles of the tree, only are decayed; whilst the red remains, and is likely to remain, if not exposed to the air, for ages.Dmf. 1865 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. (1867) 2:
The parts [of oak piles] above the peat, though submerged and in the water, were very much decomposed, the outside, or “whitewood,” rotting and crumbling away.(75) Bte. 1737 Session Bk. Rothesay (1931) 436:
Having brought forth a child in fornication to Thomas Martin, white wright there.

2. Specif. of a sheep: having an untarred fleece (see quot.).Slg. 1845 Stat. Acc.² VIII. 178:
The farmers go every year about Midsummer to Linton markets and purchase sheep of a year old, which, according to the custom of the sheep-farmers in the south, are smeared with tar, and after being shorn twice white, as they express it, are sold in August and September to the butcher.

3. Of coins: (Sc. 1825 Jam.; I.Sc., ne.Sc., Slg., Lth. 1974). Obs. in Eng. in 17th c. Combs. white bawbee, -Geordie, a silver coin of any denomination (see Bawbee, n., 1. (2), Geordie), white money, -siller, silver money.Per. 1736 W. A. Gillies In Famed Breadalbane (1938) 316:
3 or 4 shillings of White money.s.Sc. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 99:
I will give a white shilling, I swear.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xi.:
Four white shillings and saxpence.Sc. 1825 Jam.:
“I'll gie ye white-siller for 't” — I shall give you a sixpence at least.Ags. 1885 W. Pyott Songs 112:
“We'll hae a park”, cries ilka chiel', But keeps his white bawbee.Ayr. 1897 H. Ochiltree Out of Her Shroud iv.:
Juist ae white Geordie, and I'll never say a word aboot it.Ayr. 1907 J. Cook Garnockside Lilts 62:
Mony a bonnie white shillin' we've made.

4. Of arable land: fallow, unploughed, as stubble land, old pasture, etc. (Cai. 1974); “of grass or arable land among surrounding moss” (Gall. 1887 H. E. Maxwell Topogr. Gall. 308); of hill-land: covered with coarse bent or natural grass instead of heather, bracken or scrub (Ags., Slg., Bwk., Ayr., sm.Sc. 1974). Hence white hill, -muir. Freq. in place-names as Whitehill, Whitelaw, Whiteside, Whitrigg, etc.Cai. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XI. 266:
Their yoke consists of 4 beasts. One treads constantly upon the tilled land, another goes in the furrow, and two upon the stubble, or white land.Bwk. 1800 Edb. Advertiser (16 May) 306:
The Farm of Stobswood, consisting of about 1300 English acres, the greatest part of which is whiteland, and makes one of the best sheep walks in Lammermuir.Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 475:
The dry green pasture, or what the shepherds call “white muir.”Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 181:
I hae fifty acre o' gude white lan', And a meikle meadow that's yearly mawn, Twa hunner acre o' muirs and craigs.ne.Sc. 1828 P. Buchan Ballads II. 189:
Well dropped o'er wi blue blavers, That grow among white land.Gall. 1930 H. E. Maxwell Place Names 42:
Pasture in rotation is spoken of as ‘white land' in the sense of ‘pale.'

5. Flattering, fair-seeming, gen. implying an intention to deceive, specious. Obs. in Eng. in 17th c. Combs. white-folk, flatterers (Sc. 1825 Jam.); white-lip (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 473), -liver (Rxb. 1825 Jam.), a flatterer, wheedler; white wind, flattery, cajolery. Hence whitie, n., a flatterer (MacTaggart).Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 371:
You are as white as a loan Soup. Flatterers whom the Scots call White Folk.Cld., Rxb. 1825 Jam.:
To blaw white wind in one's lug, to flatter one.

II. n. 1. As in Eng., the colour white. Adj. whitie, whit(e)y in comb. whitiebroon, whit(e)y brown, white-o-brown, in Sc. usage applied to linen thread which has been whitened by washing but not bleached (Uls. 1953 Traynor; Ork., Ags., Fif. 1974) and hence to linen cloth woven with such thread or with a mixture of bleached and unbleached yarn. See III. 1. Also in Eng. dial. Phr. the white o' the pot, the last run of the wash in the (illegal) distillation of whisky (wm.Sc. 1974).Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce I. iv.:
A tall tripod stool covered with a scanty crumpled whity-brown towel.s.Sc. 1860 J. Locke Tweed & Don 18:
Some fine whity-brown thread.Fif. 1865 St Andrews Gaz. (28 Oct.):
An advance of 4d per spindle has been given on whitey-browns — at present forming the staple of the hand-loom weaving trade in Dunfermline.Bwk. 1898 Border Mag. (Jan.) 11:
Some dernin' needles, and white-o-broun threed.Ork. 1920 J. Firth Reminisc. 95:
A “whitey-broon burgess” (linen) thread.Fif. 1952 P. K. Livingstone Flax & Linen 25:
Whitey-Brown, which was a white warp and brown weft.

2. Freq. in dim. forms whitie, whitey, of anything which is white in colour: specif. (1) a nickname for a miller; (2) in sea-taboo usage: the ling, Molva molva (Sh. 1974). Cf. Wheeda; (3) the whiting, Gadus merlangus (Dmb., Ayr. 1974); (4) the immature sea-trout, Salmo trutta. See Whiting, n.(1) Bwk. 1862 J. G. Smith Old Churchyard 227:
A' the whities at the mill.(2) Sh. 1897 J. Jakobsen Dial. Sh. 29:
The ling, of course, could not be called ling. The general name was “white.” When the fisherman was hauling the line, and the first ling came in sight, he would sing out: “White,” or “Light in the lum.” Seeing the second one “White again” or “White inunder white.” For the third one sometimes “White inunder dat” or “White inunder wheedo!”(3) Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 88:
Tinkler hizzies, with basket fu's of fish on their heads, were crying from mornin' to nicht — “Haadies and whiteys!”Arg. 1914 J. M. Hay Gillespie iii. ii.:
Ye'll tek' the lines an' go oot to the banks the morn an' try for whiteys.(4) Gall. 1903 Gallovidian 222:
A planned raid on the “whities” and “kildochs,” for it would be just the season at which these fish are most plentiful in the Penkiln burn.

¶3. A good action.Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 114:
If ony whites come in my way, I'se gie' em baith alike fair play.

III. v. 1. As in Eng. to make white. Pa.p. whited, -et, in phr. whited brown, applied to a linen thread in which the brown colour of the flax has been lightened by washing but not bleaching (Abd. 1929, whitet-broon). Also used subst. See also II. 1. and Fitet Broon.Abd. 1762 Abd. Journal (25 Jan.):
White and whited brown sewing Threads.Abd. 1779 Aberdeen Jnl. (29 March):
All sorts of coloured Threads, whited Browns, brown Stocking Thread.

2. To flatter, wheedle (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 473). Vbl.n. whiting, flattery (Id.).Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 158:
The Scots call Flatteries Whitings.