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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

HEAT, n., v. Also noun: hate (Ork. 1929 Peace's Ork. Almanac 137), haet (Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 18; Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 41); heyt (Cai. 1929 John o' Groat Jnl. (18 Oct.)); †haid; verb: heet (Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 209); haet; het(t). [ne., em.Sc.(b), w. and sm.Sc. hit, Cai. heit, ne.Sc. + ‡het, I., em.Sc.(a) het; s.Sc. hit n., hæt v. See etym. note.]

Sc. usages:

I. n. 1. The act of heating, a heating (Sc. 1825 Jam.); the state of feeling hot. Now obs. in Eng. Gen. in phrs. to get a heat, to gie (anesel) a heat, to make oneself warm, to become warm. Gen.Sc.; to gie (somebody) a heat, to make (someone) smart, lit. and fig.Edb. 1798 D. Crawford Poems 13:
His shop was in a bleeze. Your arses then wad get a heat, Had ye not fled out to the street.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxxv.:
Twa puir, fizzenless, handless lookin' mortals . . . but she wad gie them a heat afore the end o' the day.Bch. 1874 W. Scott Dowie Nicht 54:
Gae awa' an' get a heat, an' eat yer breakfast.Ags. 1905 A. N. Simpson Bobbie Guthrie 67:
I wid gae the banker a heat for'd. He just wants a bigger haul himsel'.Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains & Hilly 16:
Aw . . . hae gotten a greater heat takin' hame neeps amon' the deep snaw nor aw ever got on the hettest simmer day 'at ever aw saw.Abd.²⁹ 1952:
Ye're lookin' awfu caul-like, lassie. Come awa' in an' gie yersel a heat at the fire.

2. Phrs.: (1) neither haid nor maid, neither heat nor meat, i.e., neither fuel nor food; (2) to come a-heat, to become hot (m.Lth., Bwk., Slk. 1956); (3) to run a heat, — o' the heat (Cai. 1902 E.D.D.), — wi the heat (Cai., Abd., Kcb. 1956), of cattle: to run about in hot weather when tormented with flies.(1) Ags. 1825 Jam.:
Neither haid nor maid, an expression used, in Angus, to denote extreme poverty.(2) Lth. 1885 J. Strathesk Blinkbonny 270:
Soop weel when I tell ye, an' ye'll sune come a-heat.(3) Cai. 1772 Session Papers, Henderson v. Sinclair (26 Oct.) 32:
The cattle of Clayock and Knockdee might run a heat beyond that.

II. v. Sc. forms: Pa.t. het (Sc. 1825 Jam.; ne.Sc. 1956), hat; heatit, -ed. Pa.p. het (Rxb.), hetten (w.Fif.¹ 1930); heatit, -ed.

1. As in Eng. but freq. referring to slighter rises in temperature where Eng. now gen. uses warm.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 71:
On skelfs a' round the wa's the cogs were set, Ready to ream, an' for the cheese be het.Lth. 1813 G. Bruce Poems 164:
The peats brought hame soon het the pat.Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) xxvi.:
A wheen cookies, either new baked for ladies' tea-parties or the yesterday's auld shopkeepers' het up i' the oven again.Fif. 1887 G. Gourlay Old Neighbours 83:
Let's gang 'yont and het oor taes, as we drain a cog tae the guid cause.Lnk. 1893 J. Crawford Verses 58:
He hett the cake girdle.Abd. 1933 Abd. Press and Jnl. (29 March):
The lazy man is aptly described when it is declared that “his back's seen het.”Abd., Dmf. 1957:
To het your bottom = to spank.

2. In phrs. to heat the hoose, hearthstane, etc., to celebrate the completion or occupation of a house by lighting the fire and entertaining friends, to hold a house-warming (Sc. 1825 Jam.; m.Lth. 1956). Vbl.n. heating, a house-warming party. For house-heat(ing), a house-warming (Ib.), also used attrib., see House, n., Combs.Sc. 1837 Lockhart Scott xlii.:
It was then that the new dining-room was to be first heated in good earnest.Sc. 1862 G. Roy Generalship 6:
I proposed to John that we should hae a kind o' haunlin' by way o' heatin' the house.Mry. 1887 J. Thomson Speyside Par. 11:
It was deemed the genteel thing to “heat the hoose,” and the presence of the minister was requisitioned.Fif. 1887 G. Gourlay Old Neighbours 13:
Two years later he “het the hearthstane” of his pleasant seaside home.Kcb. 1897 T. Murray Frae the Heather 112:
The heating gaed blithely, yet ilk ane regretted The chief was on business and couldna be there.