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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GUTTER, n., v. Also gitter, gaitter, gittar, guitter, gootar. Sc. usages. [Sc. ′gʌtər, m. and s.Sc. ′gøt-, ′gɪt-].

I. n. 1. (1) Gen. in pl.: thick mud, mire, muddy puddles (Dmf. 1825 Jam., gitter; Ayr. 1923 Wilson Dial. Burns, gitters, 166; Rxb. 1942 Zai; I., n. and m.Sc. 1955); “the foul, muddy sediment which remains in sinks and open street drains after the water has been drawn off” (Uls. 1924 W. Lutton Montiaghisms); a muddy dirty mess (Sc. 1825 Jam.), freq. in phr. in a gutter. Also fig. Also in e.Eng. dial.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 355:
Who can help Sickness, quoth the drunken Wife, when she fell in the Gutter.Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 25:
By this time the gutters was comin in at the coach door galore.Ayr. 1786 Burns Holy Fair vii.:
Swankies young, in braw braid-claith, Are springan owre the gutters.Kcd. c.1800 Fraser Papers (S.H.S.) 59:
Besmeared his light coloured cloathes with gutter and onions, the conflict having taken place in a garden on a rainy day.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian v.:
Ye little rin-there-out de'il that ye are, what takes you raking through the gutters to see folk hangit?Slk. 1818 Hogg Hunt of Eildon (1874) 234:
How wad ye like to gang plowin up the gittars for worms and dockan-roots wi' your nose, as I did!Ags. 1866 Brechin Advertiser (28 Aug.) 2:
An' mak's the floor a perfect gutter.Fif. 1875 A. Burgess Bk. of Nettercaps 83:
The tane was gain' plowsterin' through the gutters, wi a piece o' a whin buss trailin' at the end o' her bumbazine harrow.Gall. 1888 G. G. B. Sproat Rose o' Dalma Linn 226:
Joost look what a distance the hey's frae the byre, Through a wade o' a coort that is aye in a gutter.Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. vi.:
Far in the worl' o' Gweed hiv ye been? An' sic a mess wi' gutters tae.Ayr. 1901 “G. Douglas” Green Shutters x.:
This is an unco splutter, as the oald sow said when she tumbled in the gutter.Sh. 1902 J. Burgess Sh. Folk 95:
Lowri cam rinnin' in wi' his stockin' soles in a aggle o' dirt wi' gutter.m.Sc. 1989 Scotsman 4 Mar 8:
My wife being at the time up to her oxters in goats, ewes and gutters, I recently undertook to wash the dishes. Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 38:
If he could only find something to live for, he said to himself, it would all be worthwhile, all this trauchling through gutters and shite.

Hence gutterie, adj., muddy, miry, messy (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Cai. 1900 E.D.D.; I., n. and em.Sc., Arg., Kcb., Dmf., Uls. 1955). Also in Nrf. dial.Ork. 1796 Session Papers, Balfour v. Kirkwall T.C. (9 March) 41:
In wet weather the passage is very wet and guttery.Slg. 1862 D. Taylor Poems 139:
Tho' carters curse its narrow street, An' ladies in't get gutt'ry feet.Abd. 1867 A. Allardyce Goodwife 13:
It's jist a connachin o' claes, An' blaudin o' fowk's sheen, To traivel in sic guttery days.Uls. 1924 North. Whig (8 Jan.):
A wet, muggy day is said to leave everything very “clammy” and the roads “gutterey.”Ags. 1947 J. B. Salmond Toby Jug iii.:
My buits are gey guttery . . . so I'll juist hing aboot yer gate here till Margit's ready for the road.Sh. 1952 J. Hunter Taen wi da Trow 97:
Laek leepit lempits, Scoolmin oot troo guttery rings.

(2) A stepping-stone (Cai.¹ c.1920).

2. Fig.: (1) the doing of anything in an unskilful or dirty manner (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 71; Abd., m.Lth. 1955; Cai., Bnff., Ags., Fif., Ayr., Dmf. 2000s); a muddle, mess (Cai., Abd., Ags., Per., Kcb., Dmf. 1955); (2) a stupid, awkward, untidy or messy worker (Cld. 1880 Jam.; Cai., em.Sc. (a), Lth., Kcb., Dmf. 1955).(1) Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) viii.:
“Mester Bowden 'ill say the grace noo,” says Aleck . . . I dreedit he wud mak' a gutter o't.Abd. 1913 D. Scott Hum. Sc. Stories 74:
Bumpie hid the hin-hoch o' a rabbit in his plate, an' he wis makin' an awfa gutter at it wi' his knife an' his fork.Ags. 1990s:
Mak a gutter o'd: make a mess of it.(2) Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 71:
He's jist a perfit gutter at's wark.

3. Phr., Combs. and attrib. uses.: (1) gutter bairn, a street arab, a gutter-snipe (‡Abd.²⁷ 1955). Cf. Eng. gutter-child, id.; (2) gutter-bluid, (a) a lowly-born person, one of poor breeding, a gutter-snipe (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); (b) a native of a particular town; one whose ancestors have also been born in the same town for generations (Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Bwk., s.Sc. 1955), used esp. with ref. to †Keith in Bnff., and Peebles. Hence ppl.adj. gutter-blooded, native-born; †(c) used adj. = having been reared in the same locality and of equal social rank (Abd. 1825 Jam.); ¶(d) the blood of a native (of a place), one's native blood; (3) gutter-dub, mud; (4) gutter-ga(w) (sometimes contr. to gutter), a sore between the toes of a person or animal (Fif. 1909 Colville 293; Ags. 1910 Arbroath Gazette (22 Oct.), -gaud; Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 250; Bnff.⁴ 1927; Ags., Per., Slg., Fif. 1955); a sore at the back of a horse's hoof caused by dust and grit (Ags. 1955); also used as v., esp. in ppl.adj. (Ags.¹⁸ 1955); ‡(5) gutter-hole, a drain-hole into which kitchen refuse is thrown (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 249; Cai. 1900 E.D.D.; Bnff.² 1940; Cai., Abd. 1955). Also in Eng. dial.; a mud puddle (Kcb., Dmf. 1955); (6) gutter-partan, an opprobrious term for a meanly-born, disreputable person, a gutter-snipe; †(7) gutter-raiker, a street-cleaner, scavenger; †(8) gutter skelper, contemptuously, a yokel, a farm worker. Cf. dub-skelper s.v. Dub, n., 4.; (9) gutter teetan, the rock-pipit, Anthus petrosus (Ork. 1877 Sc. Naturalist (Jan.) 9); (10) to loup a gutter, see Loup.(1) Fif. 1898 “S. Tytler” Mrs Carmichael's Goddesses xiii.:
She who had been little better than a gutter bairn.(2) (a) Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xviii.:
They maun hae lordships and honours, nae doubt — set them up, the gutter-bloods! and de'il a gentleman amang them.Edb. 1866 J. Smith Poems 36:
The sprightly barefoot Gutterbluids.Gall. c.1880 Bards of Gall. (Harper 1889) 43:
Nae gutterbluid he, but a brave duniwassal, Wha stan's na abeigh at the biggest ha' door.(b) Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel vii.:
I ken him by report to be a just living man in many respects, and a real Edinburgh gutter-blood.Sc. 1839 Wilson's Tales of the Borders V. 409:
If any gutter-blooded burgher of Linton had, in his cups at Cantswalls, alledged . . .Bnff. 1849 R. Sim Leg. Strathisla 19:
The old locality, in days not very remote, was, by the descendants of its ancient inhabitants, called . . . Keith; and . . . they assumed the cognomination of “Gutter-bleed” to distinguish them from the offspring of the new settlers.Slk. 1875 Border Treasury (27 March) 394:
Clean oot o' keepin' a'thegither if I was to consort wi' the fine dandy Peebles gutter-bluids on onything like equal terms.Peb. 1909 W. L. Calderwood Salmon Rivers 11:
The Eddleston Water . . . called by the true gutterbluids “The Cuddy.”Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
He's a guitterbluid o' that toun.Peb. 1944 Peeblesshire News (5 May) 2:
Gutterbluid . . . in Peebles meant in olden times “a native of the town.”s.Sc. 1953 Scotsman (31 Dec.) 4:
He is rightly claimed as a gutter-blude of Hawick.(d) Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 17:
Duist there lay auld Hawick Amang the Hills; an oh! the sicht garrd the guitter-bluid gang lowpin an puttin an stoondin throwe aa ma book.(3) Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays and Lyrics 203:
'Midst spret and gutter-dub to splatter.(4) Ags. 1819 J. Ross Angus-shire Chaplet 36:
Their hose an' shoon an' a' gaed dune; Their taes did gutter-ga', man.Ags. 1914 I. Bell Country Clash 201:
The sheep he has chairge o' suffer fae gutter-ga'.Fif.² 1930:
Gitter-gaw, used by my father, who explained it as really being a growth on the hoof of a cow, for which the part is treated with tar: transferred to the human being, meaning a growth on the foot, such as a corn, hardened skin, etc., which may be caused by excessive walking.(5) Sc. 1819 Blackwood's Mag. (Sept.) 636:
Who having dined abroad, returning late, Besplash your stockings in the gutter-hole.(6) Abd. 1865 G. Macdonald Alec Forbes lxvii.:
Never a glaiss sall ye hae frae my han', Mr Cupples. It wad be the deid o' ye. And forbye, thae ill-faured gutter-partans toomed the pig afore they gaed.(7) Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) xvi.:
Sandy gae the Lichtin' Committee an' the gutter-raikers a gey haf-'oor's throo the mill.(8) Bch. 1832 W. Scott Poems 83:
There's nae a gutter skelper ca's the pleugh, But maun hae siller wi' his wife, forsooth.

II. v. 1. tr. To bespatter with mud (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.), to bemire.Mry. 1852 A. Christie Mountain Strains 68–69:
Some o' them lost their sheen, An' some o' them had gutter't coats.

2. intr. (1) To do anything in a dirty, slovenly or unskilful way (Ags. 1808 Jam.; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 71; n.Sc., Ags., Per., Fif., m.Lth., Kcb., Dmf. 1955; Cai., Ags., Ayr. 2000s); to potter, tinker, “mess about,” to waste time in a fiddling way (n.Sc., Per., Fif. 1954). Rarely tr. to inconvenience, to be a hindrance or nuisance to (someone).Abd. 1887 Bon-Accord (15 Jan.) 15:
Com' awa', Shanie, fat are ye gutterin' at, never min' newsin' an' biddin' a' yer freens good-bye.Kcd. 1889 J. & W. Clark Musings 118:
I wager I'll be guttered wi' ye yet.Ags. 1896 A. Blair Rantin Robin 153:
I could hear something in the goatie's pock, aye fizzin like when I guttered wi' its tits.Bnff. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 34:
Fat's come ower her? She's awa gutterin in the byre, I suppose.Edb. 1931 E. Albert Herrin' Jennie 312:
I'll get a decent man-doctor, see if I dinna. Thae gittering lassies [women doctors] fair gie me the pip.Bch. 1943 W. S. Forsyth Guff o' Waur 40:
But if ye had a watchie that wad sometimes call a halt, He'd gutter at it till his een were sair.Per.⁴ 1950:
He's gitterin back and fore in the garden and gettin naething duin.Edb. 1992:
We've been gutterin away aw mornin. Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 234:
'They reeted and guttered in the engine.' He bent and twiddled his fingers as if he, too, was delving into the guts of a motor.

Hence gutterer, a dirty, unskilful worker (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 71; ne.Sc., Ags., m.Lth. 1955).

(2) To talk nonsense, to gabble, jibber (Fif., Ayr. 1910; wm.Sc. 1955 gitter), rarely tr. with cogn. obj.; to talk in a low aside to someone during a general conversation (Uls.⁴ 1952).wm.Sc. 1935 B. Marshall Uncertain Glory 361:
Awa' wi' ye, . . . ye gittering gowk!Gsw. 1937 F. Niven Staff at Simson's 116:
He . . . was gittering that nonsense at him.Ayr. 1997:
Whit are ye gitterin on aboot?

(3) To make an indistinct, gurgling noise.Edb. 1886 Mod. Sc. Poets IX. 70:
An' aye it [stream] guttered, an' gurled, an' clang, An' yattered, an' yammered, an' chirled alang.Arg. 1914 N. Munro New Road xxvi.:
[The mate] coughed as if his chest were racking . . . lay on his side and barked, with guttering.

3. intr. Of a sore: to fester, suppurate, discharge matter (Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Cld. 1880 Jam.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., 1942 Zai).