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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 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

DUNTER, n.² Also †duntur.

1. Applied to some cetaceans: the common porpoise, Phocaena phocaena (Bwk., Tvd. 1825 Jam.²; Bwk., Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.), or the dolphin, Grampus griseus (Sh., Ork.¹ 1940, Ork. 1990s; Abd. 1815 J. Arbuthnot Fishes 4). Also in n.Eng. dial.Ork. 1956 C. M. Costie in Neil R. MacCallum Lallans 51 (1998) 5:
" ... 'Can thoo see the buttons apae his cott? bit neebody's ever offered me as muckle as a bite o bere bannock. A body gets fairly tired o fish an dunters year in year oot!" Ork. 1995 Orcadian 28 Dec 13:
The tide was high, lipping the tidemark along the bay where dunters sailed, and swallowing all the redware and the rocks from the noust to the Freequarry.

2. Freq. in comb. dunter-duck (duke), -goose. The eider-duck, Somateria mollissima (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., -duck, 1908 Jak. (1928), dunter (-duke); Sh.¹⁰, Ork.², Fif.¹⁷ 1950; Bwk. 1895 G. Muirhead Birds II. 123; Dmf. 1909 Colville 124).Sh., Ork. 1774 G. Low Tour (1879) 43:
Sometimes the Dunter or Eider Duck build[s] here.Sh. 1992 Bobby Tulloch A Guide to Shetland's Breeding Birds 33:
EIDER
(Somateria mollissima)
shet: Dunter.Ork. 1693 J. Wallace Orkney (1883) 19:
Plenty both of wild and tame Fowls . . . Dunter-Goose, Claik-Goose.Ork. c.1912 J. Omond Ork. 80 Years Ago 5:
The dunter duck scurrying off its nest at our approach.ne.Sc. 1903 G. Sim Fauna of “Dee” 152:
Dunter duck. Common, especially about the mouth of the Ythan.Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Fife and Knr. 44:
Many Fowls frequent the Rocks of it, the Name the People gave to them, are Skarts, Dunturs, Gulls, Scouts, Kittiewakes.m.Lth. 1809 Scots Mag. (April) 244:
About a dozen of Eider-ducks, here called Dunters, (a rare species,) were brought to market, having been accidentally entangled in nets set for catching padles or lump-fish in the Frith of Forth.