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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CLYTE, Clite, n.², v.¹ and adv. [kləit]

1. n.

(1) A sudden heavy fall (Bnff.², Fif.¹⁰, Lnk.³ 1936). Dim. forms clytie, clyty.Sc. 1821 Blackwood's Mag. (Nov.) 394: 
That man kens naething about managing a horse. He'll get anither clyty afore he taks hame the beast.Bnff. 1887 W. M. Philip Covedale x.:
He would get a deil o' a clyte amon' the stanes below.Abd. 1929 Mains and Hilly in Abd. Wkly. Jnl. (24 Jan.) 6/3:
Gin ye hid gotten the clyte I did ye wid 'a' kent a' aboot it.Edb. 1876 J. Smith Archie and Bess 79:
It was at the very moment o' his greatest confidence that he got the sairest clyte.Gsw. 1829 New Scotch Haggis 54: 
There's nae saying how soon we may be laired a' thegither in frost and snaw for ever. . . . Hech man, and that will be a cauld clyte to the feck o' us.

Phr.: to come a clite, to fall heavily, to “come a cropper.”Ags. 1931 W. Muir Imagined Corners (2nd imp.) ii. vii. 127:
She'll come a clite on her head one of these days.

(2) The noise of such a fall.Bnff.(D) 1933 M. Symon Deveron Days 50:
An' nae ae cheep; nae rants nor rows, Nae clyte o' cogs or churns; In lanely maijesty I'm aff To mak' a speech on Burns.

2. v.

(1) To fall heavily (Abd.¹⁹, Ags.¹, Lnk.³ 1936).Sc. a.1856 G. Outram Lyrics (1874) 78:
As he bangs at the wa', or clytes down on the stanes.Sc. 1829 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) II. 274:
The auld women frae chimley-taps are clytin wi' a crash into every area.Lnk. 1881 D. Thomson Musings 59:
But aft wi' pride their heads grow licht, An' doon they clyte again.

(2) To sit down heavily or suddenly; “to stop in the midst of a set speech for want of words or ideas, and sit down suddenly” (Sc. 1882 C. Mackay Poet. and Humour Sc. Lang. 49).Ib.:
“I couldna find words,” said a Glasgow bailie, “and so I clyted.”Bch. 1929 (per Abd.¹):
A' clytet doon in a heap — fair deen oot.

(3) tr. “To cause to fall; to overturn” (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).

3. adv. Heavily, suddenly (of a fall), gen. in conjunction with the verbs gae, come, play, fall. Often with another adv. (see Fif. quot.).Abd.²² 1936:
I ca'd 'im clyte on's back.Bch. 1921 J. Wight in Swatches o' Hamespun 12:
Clyte doon the lum cam' the boody.Per. 1895 R. Ford Tayside Songs 258:
Yestreen I cam' hame frae the trauchle, My brain in a fever wi' fyke, Fell clyte in a chair like a bauchle, An' growl'd at a' roun' like a tyke.Fif. 1894 J. W. M`Laren Tibbie and Tam 125–126:
The twa gaed clyte doon on a seat at the side o' the noo hauf-on Tougal.Ayr. 1882 R. Drennan in C. Mackay Poet. and Humour Sc. Lang. 49:
He got as far as the road, and then played clyte.Kcb.¹ 1936:
He fell clyte on the breed o' 'is back.