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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

CHUCKIE-STANE, CHUCKIE-STONE, Chuckey-, Chackie-, n. comb. Also chucky stane.

1. “A small pebble; a quartz crystal rounded by attrition on the beach” (Sc. 1808 Jam., chuckie-stane); “a small flat stone used by boys for skimming across a water surface” (Abd.¹⁰ 1920, chuckie-stane). Also applied in Ags. to a curling stone (Ags.¹⁷ 1940). Fif.³ 1916 gives chackie-stane. Known to Bnff.², Abd., Ags. and Fif. correspondents, Slg.³, Edb.¹, Kcb. correspondents 1940. See also Chuck, n.², 1.Sc. 1743 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 524:
A meikle maun blue pouch hingin' at the carr side o'd, fou o' mullens and chucky-stanes.Sc. 1824 Susan Ferrier The Inheritance (1984) 465:
"Dinna think it's the money I care for," interrupted Mr Ramsay; "I value that five hundred pound nae mair than if it were five hundred chucky-stanes; ... " Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 113:
Gar wood is ill to grow, chuckie stanes are ill to chew.m.Sc. 1922 “O. Douglas” Ann and her Mother ix.:
The meat . . . was a' amang the gravel. What could we do but juist scoop up wi' a spoon what we could get — meat, chuckie-stanes an' a'.m.Sc. 1986 Colin Mackay The Song of the Forest 188:
The Soldier moved them, using the tree trunk as a great lever; then he rolled the rocks away and kicked them into the loch like chuckie stones, doing in one afternoon what generations of folk had failed to do with ropes and teams of harnessed oxen. m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 25:
The door that swung wi guidwull on its hinges
is no sae thrang the day as it wes then,
whan ilka callant rettled on yir wunnock
wi chuckie-stanes tae gar ye cry them ben. Per. 1990 Betsy Whyte Red Rowans and Wild Honey (1991) 25:
The words came clattering out of his mouth like chuckie stanes on a tin. That's the kind of voice he has.Lnk. 1793 D. Ure Hist. Rutherglen and E. Kilbride 268:
Quartzy nodules, or chuckie-stones, as they are vulgarly called, are very common, and are of various colours.

2. In pl. “A game played at by girls, in which four pebbles are spread on a stone, and while a fifth is tossed up, these must be quickly gathered, and the falling pebble caught in its descent in the same hand with them” (Sc. 1877 Jam.⁴, chuckie-stanes). Known to Bnff.², Arg.¹, Kcb.¹⁰ 1940. Cf. Chuck, n.², 2, and w.Yks. check-stones (see E.D.D. s.v. check, sb.²).Sc. 1823 J. G. Lockhart Reg. Dalton III. vii. v.:
Come, come, Leddy Catline — we've had enough of this work. Time's no chuckey-stanes — Has your leddyship not been holding any serious conversation?