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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.

BOUCHT, BOUGHT, BUCHT, BUGHT, n.² and v.² See also Bucht. [bʌuxt, bʌxt, buxt]

1. n.

(1) “A sheep-fold; more strictly a small pen, usually put up in the corner of the fold, into which it was customary to drive ewes, when they were to be milked” (Sc. 1808 Jam.); a foldful of sheep.Sc. c.1750 D. Herd Sc. Songs (1776) I. 48:
At boughts i' the morning nae blyth lads are scorning.Sc. 1994 Scotsman (26 Mar.)  8:
The task of twinning is designed to produce a cardiac arrest in the most patient shepherd ... It has driven me to jump on my hat, kick the twinning bucht, punch the woodwork, ...Ork. c.1912 J. Omond Orkney 80 Years Ago 8:
It was no easy matter to get the sheep into the boughts, and the bare-footed and bare-legged youngsters were a great help in collecting and hauding in the sheep and lambs.m.Sc. 1939 James Barke The Land of the Leal (1987) 236:
' ... I've sent for one o' the herds to give us a hand - unless he's awa' to the buchts - and like as no' that's just where he'll be with the snow coming on. ... ' Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 268:
O Minia, sair I blame your want of thought, By this I reckt ye had been at the boucht.Gsw. 1831 Perthshire Adv. (11 Aug.):
Black-faced sheep went off at from 18s to 21s; a bught from the Ochils was sold at 22s a head.Lnk. 1993:
The men are ower at the buchts. sm.Sc. 1988 W. A. D. and D. Riach A Galloway Glossary :
bucht a sheepfold (Wgt 'for sortin' at a clippin'). Kcb. 1893 S. R. Crockett Raiders xlvi.:
And wha was't that gathered a' yer sheep intil the buchts the nicht afore the great storm o' February-was-a-year?

(2) A shelter of any kind.Sc. 1929 W. P. Kennedy Fore-Entresse in Scots Mag. (Aug.) 386:
But it's a searching thocht That on a muir That has nae single boucht, At last Ye'll answer as ye've wrought.

(3) “A square seat in a church, a tableseat” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²); a square pew with a table. Also bucht-seat.Fif. 1905 “S. Tytler” Daughter of the Manse II. v.:
It was singular how the idea taken from the Master's simile of sheep in a fold . . . had clung to the old builders and furnishers of the kirks, so that they had named the seats “buchts.”Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick i.:
An' there's me wi a muckle bucht-seat o' my ain in the pairish kirk, an' no' a bawbee to pay for't.

(4) Comb.: boucht curd, “the droppings of the sheep, which frequently fall into the milk-pail, but are soon sans cérémonie taken out by the fair hands of the ewe-milkers. This in a great measure accounts for the greenish cast assumed by some of the cheeses” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.²). Given as obs. by Watson in Rxb. W.-B. (1923).

(5) An out-of-the-way spot, a sheltered nook. Ayr. 1913 J. Service Memorables 108:
In a bucht o' the kintra, near Dundonald, and sitting cosiely on a brae side in the heart o' a plantin'.

2. v.

(1) “To inclose in a fold. This properly denotes the inclosing of ewes while they are milked” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²); also intr.Sc. 1722 W. Macfarlane Geog. Coll. (S.H.S.) I. 363:
Where is to be seen boughted and milked upwards of twelve thousand ewes at one view.Abd. 1828 P. Buchan Ballads (1875) 168:
Lang, lang she thought ere her ewes wou'd bught, Wi' her pail for to milk the ewes.Rxb. 1855 A. Jeffrey Hist. of Roxburghshire (2nd ed.) I. 342:
In 1722 . . . there was to be seen at one view, boughted at Tait's Cross, upward of 12,000 ewes about eight o'clock in the milking season.

(2) Extended to human beings: to summon, bring together.Sc. 1701–1731 R. Wodrow Analecta (Maitland Club 1842) II. 30:
The Scots Peers are all boughted again, except the Duke of Hamiltoun and another.

Comb.: bouchting-time, boughting-, “that time, in the evening, when the ewes are milked” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²).Sc. 1724 Ramsay T. T. Misc. (1733) 72:
O were I but some shepherd swain! To feed my flock beside thee, At boughting-time to leave the plain, In milking to abide thee.