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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

DELEER, Delire, v. Also delier, deleir, deler. To intoxicate, to render delirious. Rarely found exc. as ppl.adj. deleerit, etc., delirious, mad; temporarily out of one's senses (Per. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 238, Fif.¹⁰ 1940; Rnf. 1948 (per Abd.²⁷); Ayr.⁹ 1949; Rxb. c.1920 Mr Clelland W.-L.). Delire = to be delirious or mad, was in use in Eng. in 17th cent. [də′li:r]Sc. 1824 Scott St Ronan's W. I. xii.:
The woman is delireet.Mry. 1824 J. Cock Hamespun Lays 79:
An' whiles her rhymin' pate grows dizzy An, maist deliriet.Abd. 1995 Flora Garry Collected Poems 30:
Deleeriet drunks wid lift it, fechtin mad, ...Fif. 1991 Tom Hubbard in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 143:
The gless slips fae my haund, stramashes, finds
Raskolnikov mair disjinit an deleerit.wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 21:
Guid kens yir da's deleerit ower yon!
But whit Valère's done wrang, Ah fail tae unnerstaun.Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 94:
Even they you rin agroun deler't.Ib. 219:
The whisk[y]'s been in my pate, And that's deleer't me.Edb. 1979 Albert D. Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 42:
Deleerit or in dreams I lippen til
Mair mervellous ferlies nor the Nazarene wrochtGsw. 1863 J. Young Ingle Nook 59:
For when I thocht hoo that my folly Had stown my siller, watch, an' jolly, I grew amaist dounricht deleerit.Lnk. 1922 T. S. Cairncross Scot at Hame 10:
Whaur an auld wife delieret, sick, Has nocht to leeve on for next week.Ayr. 1786 Burns Halloween xiv.:
For monie a ane has gotten a fright, An' liv'd an' di'd deleeret, On sic a night.Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 47:
In despair your fingers eatin', Clean deleiret a'thegither.

Hence delirietness, delirium.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail II. iv.:
My mother did na send word o' the nature o' this delirietness o' Charlie.