Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1790-1868
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†GARSE, Gars, n., v.2 Obs. Sc. forms of Eng. grass. Cf. Girse.
I. n. Also adj.comb. gars-green.Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 231:
L—d, sen' us aye garse an' meat, Till ance thou skin an' bury us.Sc. 1802 Katharine Jaffray in Child Ballads No. 221 C. xi.:
He's taen her by the milk-white hand, And by the gars-green sleeve.Sc. 1827 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 362:
Wi' a' the roots o' garse like mouses' nests.Ayr. 1839 H. McCann Poet. Trifles 7:
Wi' dams o' gars an' gravel made.
Hence gars(e)y, adj., grassy.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 195:
I'll bang ye, for guid garsey laund, For ony kind o' cattle.Gsw. 1868 J. Young Poems 26:
And led me on at canny pace To this lowne, garsy, bonnie place.
II. v. In phr. to send (someone) a garsing, to send (someone) packing, to turn (someone) out. Cf. slang Eng. to be sent to grass, to be rusticated, and trade slang grass, to discharge from work for a time.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lv.:
But since that time he's been neither to bind nor to haud, threatening to send me, his mother, a garsing.
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"Garse n., v.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/garse_n_v2>
