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.
GRAIP, v.2 Also grape, †grap. †gre(a)p. Sc. forms of Eng. grope. See P.L.D. § 32.
1. intr. To grope, to search with the hands. Gen.(exc. I.)Sc., obsol. Also freq. graiple.Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 44:
Whan greapin for his ain bed-stock, He fa's whare Will's wife's lying.Ayr. 1786 Burns Halloween iv.:
They steek their een, an' grape an' wale, For muckle anes, an' straught anes.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xxvi.:
I fand it amang my feet when I was graping about to set him on his legs again.Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. 71:
Greenbanks cam' hame, an' wis graipin' an' glampin' amon' the peats in the neuk for a fir licht.Kcb. 1897 A. J. Armstrong Robbie Rankine 57:
Then he faun a han' grape ower him, but he couldna utter a word.Lnk. 1910 C. Fraser Glengonnar 125:
Weel, we gaed on graiplin' wi' oor sticks, but sune things gaed wrang again.Ags. 1916 V. Jacob Songs of Angus 8:
Whaur ilka man grapes i' the dark to get his neebour's share.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 59:
He graips wi' caution ilka step alang Glenhichton braes.
Hence (1) graper, one who gropes; †(2) graping (greping)-office, a name given by Dr Pitcairn to a noted tavern in Edinburgh (see second quot.).(1) Slg. 1862 D. Taylor Poems 12:
But some . . . are drivellin' grapers, An' blind as moles.(2) Sc. 1702 Acc. Bk. Sir J. Foulis (S.H.S.):
Dec. 10: to Jamie Gray to pay ann in the graping office for a hen, a murefoull, a duck, and a mutchkin wine . . . . . . £2. 12. 0.Edb. 1824 R. Chambers Remarkable Fires in Edb. 53:
The cellar in which the celebrated Scottish wit, poet, and physician, Archibald Pitcairn, used to pass his convivial hours, upward of a century ago. . . . The cellar was the Greping Office which he celebrates in his “Poemata”, and was so called on account of people having to grope their way along its dark and tortuous passages.
2. tr. To search or feel with the hands, to probe, investigate, lit. and fig. Also used in an indecent sense (Rxb.5 1955). Also in n.Eng. dial.Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 88:
I'll grape their conscience wi' my hand.Edb. 1801 J. Thomson Poems 83:
The very pouch that ha'ds my mill, There's mony a time I canna mind it, I'll grape them a' before I find it.Dmf. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. v.:
All men in black, spite of their Tickets of Entry, are clutched by the collar, and groped.Gsw. 1888 A. G. Murdoch Readings (Ser. 2) 51:
I dinna want my cocker-nut graipit by you. Are ye a travellin' phrenologist, or what?Rxb. 1955 Abd. Univ. Review (Aut.) 144:
Their daylight turns to deepest gloom, And blind they graip in highest noon.
