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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLADDERSKATE, BLATHERSKATE, BLETHERSKATE, -SKITE, Blatherumskite, Blatheremskyte, Bletheran Skate, Bletherkumskite, n. and v. Alsobletheranskite, blethering skite. [′blɑdər′sket Sc.; -′skəit Clc., Gall.; ′blɛðər′skəit Bnff., Ags., ‡Ayr., Kcb., Dmf.; -′sket Abd., Hdg., Gsw.; ′blɑðər′sket Hdg., Uls.; ′blɛðərən′sket Cai., Bnff.: ′blɑðərəm′skəit Kcb., Ir.; ′blɛðərkʌm′skəit Uls.]

1. n.

(1) A silly foolish person; a babbler. Given in N.E.D. as dial. and U.S. colloq. Gen.Sc.Sc. c.1680 F. Sempill Maggie Lauder in J. Ritson Scottish Songs (1869) II. 325:
Jog on your gate, you bladderskate; My name is Maggie Lauder.Sc. 1926 L. Moon Doorways in Drumorty 142:
Awa', ye impudent bletherskate, an' tak' yer candy wi' ye.Cai.⁴ 1920; Bnff.² 1934:
Bletheran skate is used in exactly the same sense as blatherskate, which is given as an Americanism in Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary.Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 274:
Thou'lt mind my words when'tis too late — Ye silly, antic blatherskatel [bletherskate, p. 14].Gsw. 1914 F. Niven Justice of the Peace 183:
That woman's a bletherskate — she's got nothing else to do.Kcb. 1896 S. R. Crockett Cleg Kelly xix.:
He's an awfu' blatherumskite.w.Dmf. 1917 J. L. Waugh Cute McCheyne (1929) ii.:
I was a bletherskite to mention the name o't.Uls. 1924 North. Whig and Belfast Post (7 Jan.):
A sore bletherkumskite — one who talks nonsense.wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 62:
"I've stood here for years," said Saunders, "and I've never heard it open its mouth once. And that's why, Tinto, it's a damned sight better at prophesying than you'll ever be, you rattling auld blatherskite. Will I tell you what the score will be? Six-nothing." wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 18:
You brassnecked neb you, ya bletheranskite Sc. 2000 Herald 28 Jun 16:
Historians who write the truth are subversive, and that has never been one of Fry's crimes. As a partisan, propagandist as historian, Fry is an assassin of memory. And he will get prizes for his intellectual assassinations. Besides, although he employs the factographic approach in his "historical" writings the facts of Scottish history known to this English Tory could be written on the back of a postage stamp. In my favourite pub in Polmont, the locals dismiss the man as "a blethering wee skite".

(2) “Bletherskite, a boaster” (Cai.⁴ 1920; Bnff.⁶ c.1920; Fif.¹ 1936).

Hence blether-skittish, adj.Ags. 1870 Kirriemuir Observer (2 Sept.) 1/3:
He is thocht to be that blether-skittish cobbler.

(3) Nonsense.Irel. 1892 J. Barlow Bog-Land Studies 82:
Wid yer little black book full o' blatheremskyte.

2. v. To caper.Uls. 1927 St John G. Ervine Wayward Man iv.:
For there's more in that place, my young fella, than you can see on the grass, so take my advice an' mind yourself, an' don't be blatherskatin' roun' that Ring the way you would roun' the junction on a Saturday night!