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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.

DOIST, DYST, n., v., adv. Also doyst, deish(t), deist, doish(t), †doyce. [dɔɪst, dəist, dɔɪʃ(t), dəiʃ(t)]

1. n. A heavy blow; a thud, a bump (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., dyst; Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems, Gl., doyst; Mearns⁶ 1949, dyst; Ags. 1808 Jam., doyce; dyst Abd., Abd. 2000s).Abd. 1926 L. Coutts Lyrics, etc. 21:
The lassie syed er milkin An set doon er pails wi a dyst.Abd.² 1948:
Did you hear the doisht an' doishtin' in the sheep cote last nicht? 'Twas jeest like a man at the flail.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) xiii.:
I took Sandy a doish i' the back wi' my umberell.Ags.¹⁷ 1940:
Remark of an old lady in Edinburgh castle to her soldier son who had explained to her that a gun she had just heard was “sunset”: — “Losh! I didna ken that the sun gaed doun wi' a deish like that in Edinbory.”

2. v., tr. and intr. “To give a dull heavy stroke” (Ags. 1808 Jam.); to fall, sit or throw down with a heavy thud (Abd. 1825 Jam.², doyst; Mearns⁶ 1949), to bump; of waves: to buffet (Ayr.⁹ 1949, doist); to move heavily and energetically (dyst Abd., Abd. 2000s).Bnff. 1929 Bnffsh. Jnl. (1 Oct.) 2/4:
Bit the twa o's got dystit doon on a seat weel back.Abd. 1916 T.S.D.C. II.:
Deisht doon yer pack.Abd. 1941 (per Abd.²⁶):
An Aberdeenshire lad, visiting a brother in London during the heavy air raids, was amazed to find him quite indifferent to danger and wrote home: “ — gaes aboot an' the bombs jist dystin' doon a' roon.”Abd. 1981 Jack Webster A Grain of Truth (1988) 112:
Porters would dyst along the platform, calling 'Maud, change for Fraserburgh',... Abd. 1988 Jack Webster Another Grain of Truth (1989) 25:
... a couthy congregation of Aberdeenshire farmers, who brought with them to the village thoroughfares all the dysting gait of the plough-rig and the warm aroma of the Bogie Roll...Bch. 1943 W. Spence Forsyth Guff o' Waur 52:
He coontit oot some metal rings and laid them in a line, Syne dystit them thegither on the fleer.Bch. 1946 J. C. Milne Orra Loon 2:
Reistit on a load o' rakins That gangs deistin' ower the stanes.

3. adv. With a bump, with a crash.Abd.¹³ 1910:
When the children are all running about, there is always someone coming “doist at yer elbick.”Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) xiii.:
The train gae a shoag . . . and brocht a tin box doish doon on his heid.