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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLOB, Blobe, n. and v.

I. n.

1. A drop of moisture, a bubble.Bnff.4 1926:
“Is the corn (crop) dry?” “No, it's jist a blob o' watter” — meaning hanging full of drops of water.
Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 82:
Wi' faut an' heat I just was like to swelt, An' in a very blob o' sweat to melt.
Per. 1869 W. Pyott Lord Ruthven in R. Ford Harp of Perthsh. (1893) 341:
The tears cam' drappin' doon her cheek Like the mornin' blobes o' dew.
Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle iii.:
Andy is like a hogshead — a blob of creesh with a turnip on the top.
Rxb. c.1885 W. Laidlaw Poetry and Prose (1908) 68:
A sparkling blob o' caller dew Bends down each grassy blade.

Hence, (1) blobby, “rainy” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 13); (2) blobby-like, rainy-looking.(2) Bch. 1928 (per Abd.15):
Some blobby-like, the day, na?

2. “A blister on the skin, as by burning” (w.–s.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).

3. The bag of a honey-bee.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail xxiii.:
“Father,” said the fool, “I hae catched a muckle bum-bee; will ye help to haud it till I take out the honey blob!”

4. A gooseberry. Sometimes applied to the fruit of the bramble. Also in comb. honey-blob. Given by N.E.D. as applied to a soft round fruit, but with only two examples, one of which is Sc. and means a gooseberry. Eng. quot. gives the meaning of “a cherry.”Sc. 1746 H. Walpole Letters (ed. Toynbee 1903) II. 223:
As he [Lord Balmerino] returned to the Tower, he stopped the coach at Charing Cross to buy honey-blobs, as the Scotch call goose-berries.
Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Blob. A large gooseberry; so called from its globular form, or from the softness of its skin.
Abd.19 c.1875:
In my young days we called the small yellow gooseberries honey blobs.
Edb. 1845 F. W. Bedford Hist. G. Heriot's Hospital (1859) 346:
Naething but hips and haws . . . with some blobs frae the bramble bushes.

5. “A rash” (Bnff.9 1927).

II. v. E.D.D. gives blob, to swell up, and blobber, to bubble, for Eng. dials. only.

1. tr. and intr. To be covered with drops; to blot.Abd.(D) 1924 “Knoweheid” in Swatches o' Hamespun 81:
An' aye . . . he clawed his towsy roch hide That blobbit wi' swyte, fae side te side.
Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick ii.:
After he'd gotten't he could mak neither heid nor tail o't, it was that sma'-written, forby bein a' blobbit and crunkled.

2. To rob a bee of its honey-bag (E.D.D.); fig., to plunder.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Thir Notandums x.:
He'll blob him like a bumbee.

[Prob. imitative in origin, phs. influenced by blow. Cf. Blab and Blubber.]

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"Blob n., v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/blob>

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