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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

A, prep.² O.E. an, on reduced to a through lack of stress. Gen.Sc.

1. Before the vbl. form in ing, (1) either active, after the verbs to be, to set, to go, etc.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy Mannering II. xv.:
They hae ta'en Yule before it comes, and are gaun a-guisarding.ne.Sc.(D) 1921 Swatches o' Hamespun 13:
An' the wintry win's asouchin' an' asighin' thro' the trees.Lnk. 1904 I. F. Darling Songs from Silence 114:
Thae trashy foreign sangs ye're skirlin', Whene'er ye meet wi' ane anither, Hae set my very teeth a-dirlin'.Rxb. 1916 Kelso Chronicle 31 March 4/1:
An' the wee lark keeps a singin' far abune the wintry gale.Uls.(D) 1879 W. G. Lyttle Readings by Robin 77:
Peggy tuk haud o' the tangs, an' begood a biggin up the peats roon a pot that wuz on the fire.

(2) or forming a continuous passive with the verb to be.Sc. 1727 Wodrow Corresp. (1843) III. 296:
To-morrow, all day, papers will be a-reading.m.Sc. 1870 Jas. Nicholson Idylls o' Hame 77:
Her braw bridal dress is a-makin'.

2. Before a noun.Sc. 1719 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 126: 
I'd better been a yont side Kairn-amount.Sc. 1829 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Mag. XXV. 527:
It's necessary to kill heaps o' yearocks, or the haill kintra wad be a-cackle frae John o' Groat's House to St Michael's Mount.Sh.(D) 1928 Stap, Lowrie in Hospital in Shetland Times (14 July) 3/5:
Him it kens your inside hantle better as doo kens da inside o da moorit hog it doo slachtered a Foersday?n.Sc. 1743 Unpublished Letters of Simon 12th Lord Lovat, Gael. Soc. of Inv. (1886) 378:
But he . . . carried the poor infant away in a credill a horseback.Rxb.(D) 1927 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick 9:
The waeter's no been on the feier abuin a meenit, so it canna be a-heat yet.