Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
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.

CROY, n.¹

†1. “An inclosure, more commonly wattled, for catching fish” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²).

†2. “A sort of fold, of semicircular form, made on the sea-beach, for catching fish. When the sea flows, the fish come over it; and are left there, in consequence of its receding” (Arg. Ib.).

3. “A mound, or kind of quay, projecting into a river, for the purpose of breaking the force of the stream, and guarding the adjacent ground from encroachments” (Per.Ib.). Per. 1819 Edb. Ev. Courant (14 June) 4: 
The body was discovered at a croy, about a mile below where the accident happened.Per. 1880 Sc. Naturalist (April) 258:
It [a cormorant] frequented a croy at Benchill fishing-station very much. Per. a.1940 (per Fif.¹): A dam at Kirkmichael, Perthshire, stretching nearly across the R. Ardle, is called “the Croy.”Ags.¹⁷ 1941:
There was, and still is, I think, a croy on the border of Angus used for retaining the upper waters of the Queich to augment the mill-dam lower down. It is a kind of a quay which can be closed by a sluice. Fish are sometimes trapped there. There is another type of croy, however, projecting partly across a rushing stream, so that salmon may rest behind them.