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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLAUD, BLAD, BLAAD, BLAWD, v., tr. and intr. [blɑ(:)d Sc.; blǫ(:)d em. and wm.Sc.]

1. To blow, beat against, buffet.Bnff. 1913 Bnffsh. Jnl. (4 Nov.):
There's a welcome a' the fonder, For the storm that bladded's a'.Ags. 1874 Kirriemuir Observer (6 March) 4/3; Ags.¹ 1934:
Had a big day o' rain. Losh, fu we were bladdit wi't.Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays and Lyrics 30:
The cantie Spring scarce reared her head, And Winter yet did blaud her.Uls. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn.:
The wind would blad the young trees about.

Used impers.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ags.² 1934:
“It's bladdin on o' weet,” the rain is driving on; a phrase that denotes intermitting showers accompanied with squalls.

ppl.adjs. (1) blaudin', beating; (2) bladded, blaadit, bladit, beaten down, blown about.(1) Sc. 1925 T. G. Snoddy in Scots Mag. (Feb.) 355:
On whinny braes the towzie kye Bide dourly till the storm blaws by, Or wi' impatient sturts defy The blaudin' rackets.Ayr. publ. 1808 Burns To J. McMath (Cent. ed.) i.:
While at the stook the shearers cow'r To shun the bitter blaudin show'r.(2) Bnff.² 1929:
Ca' canny, noo; I'm a' carfuffilt an' blaadit.Uls. 1928 Belfast Telegraph (7 July):
Bladded, [applied to] trees or grass or corn down after a storm.

2. To slap, strike, thrust violently; to shut (a door) forcibly, slam (Ags. 1963).Sc. 1896 A. Cheviot Proverbs 249:
Mind me to a' that ask for me, but blad me in naebody's teeth. [Kelly Proverbs 1721 gives this in Anglicised form.]Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 35:
Whae'er they meet that winna draw Maun hae his lugs weel blaudit.Ayr. 1787 Burns Ordination (Cent. ed.) ii.:
This day Mackinlay taks the flail, An' he's the boy will blaud her!

3. To drive violently.Ags. 1706 Mare of Collingtoun in J. Watson Choice Collection (1869) i. 61:
For when I was by Mortoun Dogs, O'erbladed through the Stanks and Bogs.

4. To spoil, deface, soil; fig. to defame. Also ppl.adj. Gen.Sc. Mry.(D) 1806 in J. Cock Simple Strains 127:
E'en thae few lines ha'e war'd me sae, That I'm oblig'd to lat them gae, For fear o' blawding fat I ha'e.Bnff.² 1934:
It's a sin t' blaud gweed meat.Abd.(D) 1929 W. Robbie Mains of Yonderton 101; Abd.⁹ 1934:
That's nae rizzon for you sayin' things caulkilatit t' blaud his character.Abd. 1996 Norman Harper and Robbie Shepherd Anither Dash O' Doric 18:
John Duff tells of the Braemar father who watched as his daughter's new boyfriend turned up at the house to take her to a village dance. As they turned to go, he warned the boy: 'Noo dinna blaad the lassie.' Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 50:
Henry wis a bit o an orral, wi bladdit teeth an fooshty braith that rikkit o garlic. Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 18:
"A spylit, thankless, lazy vratch," banned Auld Dod Mowatt. "Yon's fit ye get fur bladdin a guid fairmer wi education."Ags. 1993 Mary McIntosh in Joy Hendry Chapman 74-5 113:
The wup roon his airm seepit reid an the pine wis sair tae thole. ... She crulged ower him and taen the watter boattle frae him. Her haunds wur canny as she sweiled the bluid awaa and rowed up his airm wi the blauded wup. He settled doon seekin tae get some ais frae the stounin.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto Tammas Bodkin (1868) xxxiii.:
Wi' the exception o' their bits o' duds bein sair bladdit wi' glaur.

5. “To maltreat in whatever way” (Abd. 1808 Jam.); to spoil: (1) A human being.Sc. 1927 T. McWilliam Around the Fireside 18:
A mother called down the table to an elder daughter sitting near a very young member of the family before whom a huge helping of pudding had been placed, “Eat it up yersel', d'ye hear? an' nae blaud the bairn!”L.Bnff. 1935 J. M. Caie The Foundling in Abd. Press and Jnl. (17 Jan.):
Fear na ye, sirs, I'll be liken tae blaud him, I'll fess him up freely tae traivel his leen.

(2) An animal.Bch. 1932 Bch. Observer (10 May):
The other horse was prancing about as if it were being “blaudit.”

(3) An injured part of the body.Bnff.² 1934:
If ye dinna pey mair attention to that sair airm o' yours ye'll blaud it.

ppl.adj. blaudit, spoilt, damaged.Bnff.² 1934:
A blaudit kweet is not so much an ankle that has been hurt as one that has sustained prolonged or permanent disability through failure to take remedial measures.

6. With aff: to describe fluently, to rattle off a discourse about. Lnk. 1890 H. Muir Reminiscences 24:
Man, Jamie, but ye've got a capital mem'ry, Ye blaud aff a thing there as if ye had seen't.