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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

AWMOUS, AUMOUS, Almous, Amous, Awmus, Aumus, Awmos, Aumos, n. The Sc. forms of alms. (See also Amis.) [′ɑ:məs, ′ǫ:məs]

1. (Gen. in concrete sense) food or money given in charity to the poor (orig. the giving of such alms). Gen.Sc., but disappearing.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xii.:
I'll aye come for awmous as usual.Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays and Lyrics 24:
The Gangerel . . . Wha, through the day, for aumos begs.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh 127:
Ye maunna be muckle acquainted in this quarter, or ye wadna hae come here seekin' awmous.Ayr. 1824 A. Crawford Tales of my Grandmother 183:
But come awa' an' gie me my awmous.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 35:
An alms; charity; generally the fu o' the gude wife's han of oatmeal.Gall.(D) 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 160:
The former had tae gie them their awmus.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1837) V. 166:
For a' their prayers an' their praises, their aumuses [etc.]. — Ib. III. 233; liberal awmosses.

2. From indicating a charitable gift, it came to mean a good deed, a meritorious act; often applied gibingly to some threatened punishment, as a mere act of justice.Sc. 1825 Jam.²:
It wou'd be an aumous to gie him a weel-payed skin. [Cf. Henryson The Wolf and the Lamb l. 19, “It wer almouss thé for till draw and hing.”]Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 42, 257:
I'll gie auld Potiphar his ammous in a way hell no like.

3. Combs.: (1) Awmous bannock, a bannock given in alms.Dmf. 1877 R. W. Thom Poems (1883) 1:
The awmous bannock an' gowpen o' meal Intil his wallet an' pock.

(2) Awmous bowl = awmous dish (q.v. infra).Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 266:
Yet “clashing Nanny” was a guid kind sowl, Nane hicher cramm'd a beggar's awmous bowl.

(3) Awmous deed, an alms; also fig.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals of the Par. i.:
I walked about from door to door, like a dejected beggar, till I got the almous deed of a civil reception. [Almous dedes in Hampole c.1340.]

(4) Awmous dish, a dish in which food (gen. meal) was received or given as alms.Sc. 1859 Autobiog. Beggar-boy 9:
Amongst the wanderers in these days, there were a great number in Scotland who carried the meal poke. Many of the farmers' wives kept what was then called an aumous dish; this was a small turned wooden dish, and was filled according to the deserts of the claimants or the feeling of the donor.Ayr. (?1786)1799 Burns Jolly Beggars (Cent. Ed.) first recit. ii.:
While she held up her greedy gab Just like an aumous dish. [Alms dish in Mid.Eng. from 14th cent.]

(5) Awmous-pock, — powk, a beggar's bag for carrying meal received in alms.Lnl. 1881 H. Shanks Musings under the Beeches 323:
They'll hae tae sell their awmous pocks, man.Dmf. 1822 A. Cunningham Trad. Tales II. 75:
A lamiter's crutch and an awmous-powk.

(6) An elder's aumos, a small dole dispensed by an elder of a church; any small sum of money disbursed.Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 27:
Not ev'n an elder's aumos I'll disburse.