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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.

DOOL, DULE, n.¹, adj., v.¹ Also †doul, dul(l); duil (Bnff. 1782 Caled. Mercury (15 Aug.)); dol(e), deul, dill, †dael, †doole. [dul Sc., but døl I., m., s.Sc., dɪl Lth., Ayr., del Bwk.]

I. n.

1. Grief, sorrow, misery; suffering. Formerly Gen.Sc. but now rare exc. poet. Occas. in pl. Also in n.Eng. dial. Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Letter xi.:
Muckle was the dool and care that came o't to my gudesire.Sc. 1874 A. Hislop Sc. Anecdotes 246:
Of a' the miseries and dools that women are doomed to dree, that of bearing bairns to a gomeril is the saddest and the sairest.Sc. 1991 T. S. Law in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 31:
Alanerlie
the lane sodger lad
his leefou lane.
His leefou lane
wi a wurld o dool an luve. Sh. 1891 J. J. H. Burgess Rasmie's Büddie 56:
O! dat soond o dül an sorrow!Abd. 1746 W. Forbes Dominie Deposed (1767) 9:
Then dool and sorrow interveen'd.Abd. 1987 Sheena Blackhall in Joy Hendry Chapman 49 57:
An ill-yokit pair is merriment an' dule
Ane's trottin trig, the tither rugs the load... Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 23:
There wis nae room inno yon plane tae swing a cat, thocht Henry-an syne winced, mindin on puir Sylvester condemned tae the dule o the cattery.Ags. 1945 “S. A. Duncan” Chron. Mary Ann 47:
I fand, to my dool, that my share wiz tae be the ootside [of nuts].Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 74:
Gin the ae answer tae dool is wark then here's
as muckle ontak as onie could want, fendfu bliss,
kyauve warthy o the laist drap o strength. Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) x.:
Words cannot describe the fear, and the dool, and the misery it caused.Lnk. c.1850 Rymour Club Misc. (1906–11) I. 5:
I'll sit in my dill, I'll ca' you a fule, I'll ca' you a creeshie weaver.Ayr. 1789 Burns To Toothache (Cent. ed.) iv.:
Of a' the num'rous human dools . . . Thou bear'st the gree!Ayr. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize III. vii.:
News of Sarah Lochrig having been permitted to leave the tolbooth of Irvine, without farther dule than a reproof from Provost Reid.Kcb. 1896 S. R. Crockett Grey Man 203:
Such dule and lament as I saw that day saw I never anywhere.

Hence (1) doo(l)fu', dule-, -some, adj., sorrowful, gloomy, sad, causing pain. Also used adv.; (2) doolie, dooley, idem; (3) ¶dooly, gloom, misery (-y phs. being thought of as an abstract n. suff.).(1) Sc. 1797 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 689:
Come tell me Jamie, what's the wyte ye mourn? Why ha'e your thoughts tain sic' a doolsom' turn?Sc. 1887 R. L. Stevenson Underwoods 106:
They'll to your dulefü' house succeed.Mry. 1865 W. H. L. Tester Poems 175:
The clods are dowfin' doo'some on her little coffin lid.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 40:
I fear the warst, that doolfu' is their lot.Abd. 1916 G. Abel Wylins 104:
Oh, waesome months hae they been to me! Oh! doolsome to young an' to aul'!em.Sc. 1999 James Robertson The Day O Judgement 13:
Aw throu itsel the haill warld grues;
The stanes o its mountains shither an pairt;
Awfu tae hear its doolsome murn
An the rivin o its hert.Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 27:
Tis not the loss o' warldly gain . . . That gars me pour my doolfu' main, Wi' harp unstrung.Ayr. 1787 Burns Lament for W. Creech v.:
The brethren o' the Commerce-Chaumer May mourn their loss wi' doolfu' clamour.s.Sc. 1847 H. S. Riddell Poems 306:
My dream's wild light was not o' night, Nor o' the doofu' morning.Rxb. 1805 A. Scott Poems 85:
In the flesh . . . [a] doofu' thorn.(2) Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lxxviii.:
But for Dirdumwhamle, . . . to be as one in doleful dumps, is sic a doolie doomster.

Comb. †doolie claes, see quot. Ags. 1953:
Doolie claes: funeral clothes; specif. black coats kept at a cemetery for the use of grave-diggers who had to act as extra pall-bearers at a funeral.(3)Ayr. 1836 Galt Rich Man (1925) 16:
A cordial that cheered me long, and made the dooly of my first night in the world as blithe as the banqueting of a baptism.

2. In excls. of distress or sorrow, e.g. l(a)ess an' döl, döl an' wae, = Alas! (Sh.¹¹ 1949), doolanee; dulence [dule on us] (Dmf. 1825 Jam.²).Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems II. 94:
O Dool! and am I forc'd to die, And nee mair my dear Siller see.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 242:
Pairtin' wi' dee dis mornin' mak's da aald sair ta blöd — laess an' döl.Abd. 1931 D. Campbell Uncle Andie 64:
Alan Ogilvie hurtit wi' the oak! . . . Dool-a-nee! dool-a-nee!Rnf. 1788 E. Picken Poems, etc. 41:
But, dool an' ee! or I was wattan They had secur't your servan' Rattan.Lnk. c.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 61:
A dole! woman, I took a sudden blast o' the hame gawn.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 167:
O dool! an' what will douce fouk say, When this I tell?

†3. “A blow or stroke, properly one of a flat description” (Fif. 1825 Jam.²).

4. Phrs. and Combs.: †(1) dule-knot, a knot of ribbon worn as a sign of mourning; †(2) dool-string, a piece of black crepe, worn round the hat as a sign of mourning; (3) dule-tree, a gallows tree; arch.; known to Kcb.¹⁰ 1940; †(4) dule-weeds, mourning garments; also in n.Yks. dial.; (5) in the dools, depressed, “in the dumps”; †(6) to cry (sing) dool, to lament, mourn; †(7) to thole the dool, to take the consequences (Sc. 1808 Jam.).(1) Dmf. 1885 F. Miller Poets of Dmf. (1910) 203:
Oh, mither, the dule-knot's on my breast The dank dew's on my hair.(2) Gall. 1796 J. Lauderdale Poems 55:
O! Glasserton and Whithorn, you may wear The doole-strings now, and drop the mournful tear.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 179:
The nearest of kin to the deceased have commonly the largest dool-strings.Wgt. 1877 G. Fraser Sketches 289:
The hilarious widower . . . began to dance vigorously, the while the long dool-strings, pendant from his hat down to his haunch buttons, danced and diddled together.Kcb. 1814 W. Nicholson Poems 143:
The dool-string I should soon get rid on, An' dance an' sing.(3) Sc. 1875 J. Grant Six Hundred I. ix.:
Make him a tassel on the dule-tree there without.Sc. 1881 R. L. Stevenson Virginibus Puerisque (1887) 154:
The gibbets and dule trees of mediæval Europe.Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle iii.:
My place goes up to the knowe beside his gallows; but his Grace's regality comes beyond this, and what does he do but put up his dule-tree there that I may see it from my window and mind the fact.Ayr. 1864 J. Paterson Hist. Ayr. and Wgt. II. 272:
The tree [at Cassilis Castle] is called the “Dule Tree.” . . . Every baronial residence had its dule-tree.Kcb. 1896 S. R. Crockett Grey Man xx.:
There would be an end of all his misery upon the dule-tree.(4) Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel ix.:
We had weelnigh lost our life and put three kingdoms into dule-weeds.(5) Ags. 1929 W. L. Anckorn in Scots Mag. (April) 77:
He trudged as far as Restenneth and came back in the dools.(6) Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shepherd Act I. Sc. i. in Poems (1728):
'Till bris'd beneath the Burden, thou cry Dool.Hdg. 1885 J. Lumsden Rhymes and Sk. 93:
Let King George sing dool on his throne.Ayr. 1786 Burns Bard's Epitaph i.:
And o'er this grassy heap sing dool, And drap a tear.

II. adj. Sad, sorrowful, gloomy.Bnff. 1927 E. S. Rae Hansel fae Hame 32:
What's a' their boastit pride o' state When they deal oot sae dool a fate Tae aul' an' wearit?Bwk. 1880 T. Watts in Minstrelsy of Merse (ed. Crockett 1893) 195:
Ay! dreich an' dowie's been oor lot, . . . Sin' yon dool day we pairtit wi' Oor ain wee wean.Ayr. [1836] J. Ramsay Woodnotes (1845) 221:
He never gets sulky, he never gets dool.Gall. 1745 J. Douglas Book of Gall. (1882) 5:
The minister was very gentle in his recognition — “John, this is a dule day.”Wgt. 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables frae French 90:
He thocht himsel the doolest dog alive.Rxb. 1889 Ellis E.E.P. V. 714:
A dule mirk nicht an nae mune.

III. v.

†1. tr. and intr. To lament, bewail. Also in n.Yks. dial.Abd. after 1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherd (S.T.S. 1938) ll. 783–4:
Then sat he down beneath this birn of wae, An' dool'd an' mourn'd.Ayr. a.1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage, etc., and Poems (1892) 238:
Stout Wharrie spak' — “I dool'd the wrack O' a my heart hings on.”

†2. To chastise.Fif. 1825 Jam.²:
I'll dool you, i.e. I will give you a drubbing.