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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡GANSH, v., n. Also ga(u)nch, †gansch; gainch. [gɑnʃ, gǫnʃ, Rxb. + genʃ]

I. v. 1. To snatch at anything with open jaws, to snap, snarl (Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr., Gl. 692; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 219, gansh; Lnk. 1825 Jam., gansch, gaunch; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., gansh, gainch, obsol.; Mry.¹ 1925; Peb., Ayr.⁸ 1954); prop. applied to a dog but also used fig.; to gnash the teeth.Sc. c.1715 Jacobite Minstr. (1829) 133:
They girn, they glour, they scouk, and gape, As they wad gaunch to eat the starns.Uls. 1804 J. Orr Poems (1935) 62:
Sud at her haunch Bauld Moses rise to “slay the witch” They'd mak' him gaunch.s.Sc. 1856 H. S. Riddell St Matthew xiii. 50:
The angils . . . sall cast them intill the furnace o' fire: ther sall be gowlin' an' gaunchin' o' teeth.wm.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan 79:
You would gansh a body's head aff without rhyme or reason.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick xiv.:
I'm juist a hungry tyke, an' whan I see the bane hingin afore my nose, I canna but gansh at it!Sc. 1928 Scots Mag. (May) 143:
The malairey wis ganshin' at his banes.Per. 1987 Roger Leitch ed. The Book of Sandy Stewart 39:
He wed traivel fae here tae God knows whaur tae get ganshin in aboot the ham.

2. “To eat quickly or a lot” (Mry.¹ 1925).

3. To stammer, stutter (Uls. 1910 C. C. Russell Ulster 43; Rnf.¹ c.1920, gaunch; Ayr. 1954; Arg. 1990s). Lnk. 1805 G. McIndoe Poems 111:
Deil's in't, I'm (hic) beginning to (hic) ganch, I canna (hic) faith staun my (hic) lane.Ayr. 1868 J. K. Hunter Artist's Life iii.:
He was troubled with a stuttering, or gaunching.Uls. c.1921 J. Logan Ulsterisms, List IX.:
The fellow was ganchin' at every word.Arg.¹ 1939:
Tak yer time noo an' speak plain; there's nae sense ganching awa' laike that.

†4. To grimace, “to be very ugly” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.).

II. n. †1. “A snatch at any thing; properly applied to a dog” (Sc. 1808 Jam.); a snarl.Sc.(E) 1935 W. Soutar Poems 24:
And lauch, and lauch, while his bluid sings, Abüne the gaunch o' the thunner.

2. “A piece cut or riven roughly out of anything” (Kcb.⁴ 1900).

3. A stammer, stutter.Arg.¹ 1949:
That poor chap has an aafu' gansh.Arg. 1992:
It's funny how a person wi a gansh can be good at singin.

‡4. “The act of gaping wide” (Rxb. 1825 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B., obsol.).

5. A person with widely-gaping mouth (Ib.), hence a stupid, dull-witted or clumsy person (Uls.³ 1930); “a silly, stammering fellow, who tries to explain himself and fails” (Uls. 1910 C. C. Russell Ulster 43).Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.:
A sore ganch of a craithur.