Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HANGMAN, n. Sc. usages:

1. A kind of cheese made by hanging the curds up to dry in a cloth exposed to the sun instead of putting them in a press (Abd.⁴ 1931, Abd. 1956). Also comb. hangman cheese, id. (Abd.²⁷ 1920–56).Abd. 1992 David Toulmin Collected Short Stories 107:
Whiles she'd let the milk curdle and make a hangman cheese, hanging it outside on a nail in the wall for nearly a week or it dried and hardened.

2. The seventh groove from the point of a spinning top, into which a thong of the lash was fitted.Abd. c.1900:
The names of the grooves ran according to the following rhyme: — “Laird, Lord, Lily, Leaf, Piper, Drummer, Hangman, Thief.”