Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

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

ATTERY, ATTRY, ATTRIE, ATRY, adj. Obs. in St.Eng. [′ɑtrɪ̢ Sc.; ′atri I.Sc.]

1. Purulent, containing matter.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Applied to a sore that is cankered.Bnff.² 1932:
I row't up his sair finger, peer thing, an' it lookit rael attery yet.

2. Of mood, temper, disposition: bad-tempered, spiteful, quarrelsome, peevish, angry, hot-headed.Cai. 1907 D. B. Nicolson in County of Cai. 64:
Atry. Ill-natured, quarrelsome. “An atry wammlin,” a peevish child that “wammles” — i.e. moves restlessly about.Cai.(D) 1929 “Caithness Forum” in John o' Groat Jnl. (18 Oct.):
Ye need noor get attery 'boot hid. [Angry and disagreeable.]

3. Of weather, wind, etc.: “stormy, bitter, cold and unpleasant” (Marw. for Ork.).Sh.(D) 1899 J. Spence Sh. Folk-Lore 241:
We'r a' seen a attrie mund [= spell of weather] comin' oot o' da laek o' dis.Bnff.² 1932:
It's a gey attery mornin' for the month o' Mey, Weelum.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 41:
The yowling spectre, louring, shrinks Deep in his atry blast.

4. Of looks or appearance (of persons, animals, the sky, etc.): grim, stern; angry, stormy; forbidding.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
Attry . . . (of a person or animal) — of poor appearance, ill-formed, unpleasing to the eye.Abd.(D) 1742 R. Forbes Ajax His Speech (1767) l. 8:
An' bein bouden'd up wi' wraith, Wi' atry face he ey'd The Trojan shore.Abd. 1778 (2nd ed.) A. Ross Helenore 38:
Black hairy warts about an inch between, O'er ran her atry phyz beneath her een.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 217:
The atry east His beam casts on the storm.