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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

COORSE, adj. Also courss. Sc. form of Eng. coarse. Only usages peculiar to Sc. are illustrated below. The form coarse (also illustrated in a Sc. sense) is rare in Mod.Sc. [kurs]

Sc. forms of Eng. coarse.Ork. 1957 Orcadian 3 Jan :
... and The Orcadian, 3 January 1957, had this to say about it: 'The New Year's Day Ba' of 1957 will certainly go down in the history of the game as one of the most remakable ever played and as one of the longest and "coorsest".m.Sc. 1979 Tom Scott in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 89:
His hide's that thick and coorse he can rype oot
bykes o wild bees and wilder wasps
impervious o their stings.Fif. 1985 Tom Hubbard in Joy Hendry Chapman 40 30:
There in thon fremmit grun they howk
Neath trees whase gentie leaves pynt doun
Tae kythin o their courss beginnins:

Sc. usages:

1. Of weather: foul, stormy, rough. Gen.Sc.ne.Sc. 1771 in I. F. Grant Old Highland Farm 1769–1782 (1924) 180:
The coarsest day ever seen.Ags. 1920 A. Gray Songs and Ballads 32:
It's a coorse, coorse nicht and it's rainin'.m.Sc. 1815 W. S. Brownlie ed. Thirteen Letters from a Scottish Soldier (1988) 11:
... "3 weeks going and returning, very coarse weather and were driven twice back from the Irish to the English coast and almost cast away on our return".Arg. 1906 “H. Foulis” Vital Spark x.:
Oh man! the cut of his jeckets! And never anything else but 'lastic-sided boots, even in the coorsest weather!

2. (1) Of persons: wicked, bad; naughty (Cai.⁷, Fif.¹⁰, Kcb.¹ 1937; ne.Sc. 1975).Sc. 2000 Herald 20 Jun 36:
Ach, ye'll eat a peck o' dirt before ye die, said the farmer's wife to my mother, who with two small babies had been evacuated to deepest Aberdeenshire in 1940, and at this juncture had just expressed the thought that someone might have flicked a duster over the root vegetables before they were cooked and presented to the exiles of war from coorse Clydeside.Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Orcad. Sk. Bk. 26:
Brockie wus a coorse chield.ne.Sc. 1952 John R. Allan North-East Lowlands of Scotland (1974) 112:
Old Ronald knew about the translation from Mortlach: "Aye, the Cathedral was first biggit in anither place. But coorse [evil] men troublet the Bishop - he was the minister at that time - and, being a Pape, he workit a miracle. ... " Abd. 1918 W. A. Mutch Hev ye a Spunk? 25:
He was coorse an' he was lickit, He was sent till's bed himleen.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 47:
But ach, I doot
I'm no cut oot
for sic mense
(that's dowit leid for "common sense");
the auld coorse Scotland's in me. m.Sc. 1979 Donald Campbell in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 66:
Even as a teeny lass
ye tried my birse fu sair.
Sermons are as thowless as
the coorse clashin ye prefer. Edb. 1993:
Dinnae be sae coorse.

(2) Rough; vulgar; awkward, over-direct in manner(s) (Sh., Ork., Cai., Bnff., Abd., Fif., Edb., Arg., Gsw., Ayr., Dmf., Rxb. 2000s).Cai. 1932 Neil M. Gunn The Lost Glen (1985) 165:
'He was trying to be coorse,' explained Donald, 'because he knows he has the wrong of it. ...

3. Hard, trying; disagreeable (Bnff.², Abd.⁹, Ags.¹ 1937; Bnff. 1980s; Cai., Fif., Ayr. 2000s).Abd. 1895 G. Williams Sk. of Scarbraes 39:
The happiness of being in possession of “sic a nice wee wifie an' sic a nice wee hoosie after a coorse day's trachle i' the muckle furth.”Abd.¹⁶ 1937:
“It's coorse!” is an exclamation I have heard used by young people when drinking medicine.

4. Comb. coorse-traited, coarse-featured. Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 222:
She was awfu kin'o tallowny-faced an' coorse-traited.