Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

CHRISTENING BIT, n. comb. An offering of food given by a christening party on its way to the church (Kcb.¹ 1940), see quot. and cf. bosom cheese s.v. Cheese, n.¹, 5. B. (1).Edb. 1871 Notes and Queries (16 Dec.) 506:
Going along one of the principal streets of Edinburgh lately on a Sunday afternoon, I met a very respectably dressed female with an attendant (nurse) carrying an infant. They stopped me, and the former presented to me a paper bag. . . . She said . . . it was an old custom in Edinburgh on going with a child to be baptized to offer a “christening bit” to the first person met. Mine I found . . . consisted of a biscuit, bit of cheese, and bit of gingerbread.