Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HERT, n., v. Also hairt, hehrt (Gregor), haert (Sh.), heirt (Abd.); †hart; and dim. he(a)rtie. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. heart. [hɛrt, hert]

I. n.

Sc. forms:wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 151:
"... I ken some folk would say I'm using my money to buy me a place in Christ's hert. ..."ne.Sc. 1982 Colin Lamont in Hamish Brown Poems of the Scottish Hills 100:
Pit smeddum in yir hairt wi frostit lungs straining
At the lang tchyauve climbingwm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 20:
Tell him ye canny boss the hert aboot.
Say love is the wan thing ye'll no mairry withoot.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 103:
That snod faith's gane,
but the steeple aye thrists frae the hairt o the toon,
the Auld Kirkyaird aside it, whaur the deid were lain
and grutten for lang syne.Sc. 1991 Kenneth Fraser in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 101:
Suppose, ae morn, ye got a muckle stoun,
Eneuch tae mak ye think your hert wad stap:
The heidline in your paper, at the tap,
Was: 'Embro Castle tae be dingit doun.'Abd. 1995 Flora Garry Collected Poems 18:
I've hard fiddle tunes sae rare
An sweet they'd thowe a hert o steenm.Sc. 1998 Ian Cameron The Jimmy Shand Story vii:
The mere mention of the name of Jimmy Shand, and Scots hairts the world oer burst wi pride, proud to acknowledge the man and his music as a true symbol of their nationality.Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 13:
Life's richt queer, is it no? Hauf the warld stervin, the ither hauf's overwecht an drappin doon in hairt attacks.Fif. 2000 William Hershaw in Alec Finlay Atoms of Delight 107:
It's no your creed
and it's never your airt,
mak your leid cam fae your hert.

Sc. usages:

A. 1. Phrs.: (1) heart of Midlothian, also earlier form the Heart of Lothian, a name given to the old Tolbooth or prison of Edinburgh dismantled in 1817, as being the administrative centre of the shire of Midlothian. The site is now marked by and the name transferred to a heart-shaped arrangement of stones on the street near St Giles's Kirk. The phr. is occas. used by a misunderstanding of Edinburgh itself and has been adopted as the name of one of Edinburgh's football teams, colloq. “the Herts”; ‡(2) heart o(f) the (y)earth, the self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, “because it chiefly occurs on thin poor soils, where the farmers give it the credit of eating away all the substance of the soil” (Rxb. 1886 B. and H. 249, Rxb. 1957). Also found in n.Eng. dials.; (3) on one's hert, by heart, in one's memory (Abd. 1957); (4) the heart o' corn, “one of the best,” a good fellow (Uls. 1923 Belfast Telegraph (15 Jan.)). Gen.(exc. I.)Sc. Used lit. in first quot. = the spirit or essence of the grain; (5) to cast the heart(s), see Cast, IV., 1.; (6) to hae one's hert an' one's ee in, to be extremely interested in; to be eager to possess (ne.Sc., Ags., Fif., Arg. 1957). See also Ee, n., 2. (1); (7) to pit one's heart awa, to cause one to faint. The passive is expressed by one's heart gangs awa. Cf. to flit one's hert s.v. Flit, v., 1. (1) and 2.; (8) to rin da hert, to make a charm with molten lead in the shape of a heart. Cf. castin' the hert, id., s.v. Cast, IV., 1.; (9) to tak one at the heart, to affect profoundly.(1) Edb. 1713 Answer to Queries upon Address of Episcopal Clergy 11:
They . . . were soon provided of a Stone Doublet in the Heart of Lothian.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian i.:
“Then the Tolbooth of Edinburgh is called the Heart of Mid-Lothian?” said I. “So termed and reputed, I assure you.”Edb. 1825 R. Chambers Trad. of Edb. III. 168:
A youth named Hay . . . who was under sentence of death for burglary, effected his escape in a way highly characteristic of the Heart of Midlothian.Edb. 1867 A. Leighton Romances 257:
He stood a chance any day in all the year round of being shut up in “The Heart of Mid-Lothian.”(2) Bwk. 1853 G. Johnston Botany E. Borders 164:
Prunella Vulgaris. . . . In the Merse called Heart-o-the-Yearth and Prince's-Feathers.(3) Ags. 1921 D. H. Edwards Fisher Folks 193:
Alec was wont to say that when he was a young chap he had “a' the book on's he'rt.”(4) Dmf. 1822 A. Cunningham Sir M. Maxwell 42:
By the heart o' corn One of the Galloway gods.Edb. 1881 J. Smith Habbie and Madge 13:
I'll see ye . . . i' the mornin', my heart o' corn! Guid nicht, my mannie!Gall. 1884 A. Glass Adventures 55:
“Weel dune, Doyle!” exclaimed Harrison, shaking hands with the horse-jockey across the table. “Man, ye're the heart o' corn.”Uls. 1901 Uls. Sayings in North. Whig:
The host who treats you in this generous way is indeed the rale “heart o' corn.”Uls. 1984:
She's the heart of corn. Per. 1990 Betsy Whyte Red Rowans and Wild Honey (1991) 199:
The McDonalds too, were the hearts of corn, taking my mother to the shops in their yokes and bringing all the firewood that we needed.(6) Abd. a.1880 W. Robbie Yonderton (1929) xviii.:
Her customer, who she saw had her “hert an' her ee” in the aforesaid napkin.(7) Abd. 1801 W. Beattie Parings 32:
That stouns amo' my taes, Will pit my heart awa!Fif. 1894 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxvi.:
Her heart actually gaed awa' for a few seconds.(8) Sh. 1932 J. Saxby Trad. Lore 175:
A good “wise-woman” could counteract suffering by “rinnin' da hert.” The invalid was set in a tub near the fire. A “blind sivv” (a sifter without holes in it) was set on his head and a bowl of water set in the sivv. Some lead was melted. Then two keys were held in the form of a cross, and the molten lead was poured through the “bools” (finger-holes in key-handles). While this was being done, the sick person in the tub was murmuring in low, solemn tones: May Gude show His face And gie me His grace. Then all the bits of lead were examined, and the bit most like a heart was tied up in a red rag and worn over the heart of the patient “for three moons.”(9) Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders xxiii.:
It's a queer-like thing when a wife o' nineteen months rins like a tod frae her married husband. That took me at the hert.

2. The stomach (Sc. 1825 Jam.; I.Sc., Cai., Abd. 1957). Now obs. or dial. in Eng. Combs. hert-scaud s.v. Hertscaud; heart-wear, see 1899 quot.Abd. c.1780 A. Watson Wee Wifeikie (1921) i.:
It [drink] gaed about the wifie's heart And she began to spew.Ags. 1890 A. N. Simpson Muirside Memories vii.:
Try the cheese, it's real guid, and the carvie bannocks are a treat tae a body's hert.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 156:
If the sufferer further complained of having “lost dir stamack” they were supposed to be afflicted with the “heart-wear.” This disease assumed two forms, viz. the aaber and the feckless. In the former the heart was understood to be too big, and there was a voracious appetite without doing the body any good. In the latter — or feckless form — the heart was supposed to be wasting away under some trowie influence, and there was no desire for food.Cai. 1902 E.D.D.:
Hid widna lie on his hert, it made him vomit.Abd.¹ 1929:
The hert fins the bit an' ye look as bricht as a new preen, i.e. you are fortified, invigorated after a meal.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 57:
Noo, Lowrie, doo's no gyaan athoot da door apo de fastin hert.Cai. 1957:
A taste for a wersh hert — said of something tasty, appetising.

Phrs.: (1) my (your, etc.) hertie's growin!, said of a child with an attack of hiccup (Abd.³⁰, Ags. 1957). Cf. also B. 16., below; (2) neist (next) the hert, on an empty stomach, fasting. Now obs. or dial. in Eng.; (3) the heart gaes (gangs) wi' (something), (something) is agreeable to the taste, to one's liking (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Ags. 1957); (4) to gae (gang) wi' (tae, roun) one's heart, to be appetising or palatable, to one's liking in any respect (Sc. 1825 Jam.; ne.Sc., Ags., Ayr., Dmf. 1957; Bnff., Abd., Ags., Fif., Edb., Dmf. 2000s); (5) to gang against one's heart, to be unpalatable, distasteful, disliked (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Cai. 1902 E.D.D.; ne.Sc., Ags., Ayr., Dmf. 1957); (6) to gar the hert rise, to cause nausea (Fif. 1912 D. Rorie Mining Folk 403; Ags., Fif., Rxb. 1957); (7) to taste one's hert, = (3) (n.Sc. 1957); (8) to turn one's hert (ower), to make one sick, e.g. from disgust or fright (Abd., Ags. 1957).(2) Sc. 1827 C. J. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce II. xiii.:
To send me word, next my heart this morning that she had got another lass-bairn.Sc. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 129:
Ye maun tak that neist your heart as sune as ye waken.(4) Edb. 1986:
On a cauld day the smell of that soup wid go roond yer hert. Sc. 1995 David Purves Hert's Bluid 27:
Yon whuf o birsilt flesh that A'm
that pairtial til, wul fair gang roun
ma hert an serr me weill aneuch! Abd. 2004:
Gaes roon yer hairt like a hairy worm.(7) Bch. 1944 C. Gavin Mt. of Light iii. i.:
Now that's a pie will taste oor herts.Mry. 1954 Bulletin (2 Feb.) 4:
We have been putting oats through the hammer mill and the resulting mash “tastes their hearts” [of sheep], as we say in Morayshire.

3. Kindly feeling, cordiality. Rare and arch.Sc. 1827 Scott Journal (7 March):
I must say, too, there was a heart — a kindly feeling prevailed over the party.

4. In pl.: wood sorrel, Oxalis acetosella. Also in n.Eng. dial.Bwk. 1853 G. Johnston Botany E. Borders 50:
Oxalis Acetosella. Wood Sorrel . . . Hearts, from the shape of the leaflet.

5. The central core of sheaves in a corn rick. Gen.Sc. Cf. v., 5. Also attrib. in comb. heart-gang, the inner row next the hert. Cf. Gang, n., 6. (2).wm.Sc. 1773 Sc. Farmer I. 592:
This is done by filling the heart well, and thereby sloping the outer sheaves, so as to drain off the wetness readily.Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. I. 392:
[He] continues to lay alternately outside gangs, heart-gangs, and heartings, always carefully preserving a considerable central elevation, by which all the butts in the whole composition of the rick have an obliquity outwards and downwards.Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Benachie 121:
Knee them [sheaves] weel doon, or full in the hert weel.

B. Combs., where hert is used attrib. in its orig. meanings, the heart, the centre, innermost or deepest part, and also fig. with an intensive force = through and through, extremely, deeply: 1. hert-alane, absolutely alone, lonely, desolate (Sh., Peb. 1957); 2. heart-axes, cardialgy, heartburn (Lth. 1825 Jam.). Cf. 48. See note to Aixies; 3. hairt-beat, also hert-beat, Sc. forms of Eng. heartbeat; 4. hert-brak, -brek. Gen.Sc. forms of Eng. heart-break. Used once by Burns as a v., to break the heart of; †5. heart-brunt, very fond, greatly enamoured (Abd. 1825 Jam.). Cf. obs. Eng. heart-burnt, jealous; †6. heart-crack, heart-break, sorrow; 7. heart crops, the wood-rush, Luzula pilosa [heart here however may represent hart, stag]; 8. Hert-dry, thoroughly dry (Ags. 1890; ne.Sc., Ags. 1957); 9. heart-eident, exceedingly industrious; 10. hert-feart, very frightened (Ayr. 1957); 11. hairt-feelin, heart-felt sentiments, thanks, goodwill, etc.; 12. heart-fever, a febrile condition, an illness causing a feeling of exhaustion. Used fig. in phr. to measure for the heart fever, to pass a tape round the chest of a person while performing certain rites in a charm (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.) [Cf. O.Sc. 1623 Lanark Presb. Rec. I.: she confesses hir charming of the heart-feawers.]. Comb. heart-fever-grass, the dandelion, used as an antidote for the complaint; 13. Heart-flichtered, with fluttering heart, palpitating; 14. hert-gled, very glad, delighted (Sh., Ork., Cai., Ags. 1975); 15. heart-goin, touching the heart, moving; 16. heart-grown, over-stout, corpulent, pursy, short-winded (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 75, 1923 Watson W.-B.). Used in n.Eng. dial. for a rachitic condition with protruding chest [Cf. O.Sc. 1601 Elgin Rec. II. 96: the charming of bairns for the heart growing.]; 17. heart-hale, (1) of the body: organically sound (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh., Ags. Arg., Ayr., Dmf. 1957); (2) = Eng. heart-whole (Ayr. a.1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage (1892) 326; ne.Sc., Per., Peb., Ayr., Dmf., 1957); 18. heart-hankin, fig., making the heart a prisoner, captivating, touching the emotions, appealing; 19. heart-heezer, that which cheers or uplifts the heart, a source of encouragement; 20. heart-heezin, -heisin, hairt-heezin, encouraging, uplifting, heart-warming. See Heeze, v., 1.; 21. hert-hol, the very centre or heart. See Hole, n., 7. (3); ¶22. heart-hove, uttered, lit. “heaved” from the heart; 23. heart-hunger, (1) longing, yearning for affection (Sh., Abd., Ags. 1975); (2) a ravenous desire for food (Sc. 1825 Jam.; ne.Sc., Ags. 1957). Hence ppl.adj. heart-hungered, also heart-hungry, ravenously hungry, filled with longing (Per. 1957); 24. hertkake, heart disease (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., Sh. 1957). For the second element ? cf. Caik; 25. heart-kind, very kind, sincerely amiable and helpful; 26. hert-kittlin, uplifting, stimulating, heart-warming. See Kittle, v.¹, 2.; 27. he(a)rt lazy, exceptionally lazy, bone-lazy, naturally indolent (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl. 51). Gen.Sc.; 28. heart-likin', affection, love (Sh., Abd. 1975); 29. hert loaf, a French loaf, so called from its heart-shaped slice (Kcb., Dmf. 1957). See s.v. French; 30. hert maegins, the very heart, the dead (of night). See Megin; 31. hert-peety, deep compassion (Sh., Abd. 1975); 32. hert-roastit, also heart-roasted, exasperated; annoyed. Also in phr. to roast someone's heart (Edb., Gsw. 2000s); 33. hairtsab, a sob from the heart (Per., Ayr. 1957). Hence heart-sabbed, mournful, as if sobbed from the heart; 34. hert-sair, hehrt-sehr (Gregor), (1) n., a great vexation, constant grief (Cld. 1880 Jam.; Ayr.⁴ 1928; Bnff., Ags., Per., wm.Sc., Dmf., Uls. 1957). Rare or obsol. in Eng.; (2) adj., = Eng. heartsore. Gen.Sc.; 35. hert-sairin, deserts, found only in phr. to get one's hert-sairin, to get what one thoroughly deserves (Abd.⁴ 1932; ne.Sc., Ags. 1957). See Sair, v.; 36. heart's care, anxiety, deep worry (I.Sc. 1975); 37. heart's good, in phr. to do one heart's good, to do one's heart good (Ags. 1957); ¶38. heart's gree, delight. See Gree, n.³; 39. hert-shot, n., a loud burst of laughter (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., Sh. 1957), a loud sneeze. Orig. appar. an exclamation by a person hearing such a sound to express how startled he was (Ib.); 40. hert-sorry, deeply grieved. Gen.Sc. 41. hert-stawed, thoroughly surfeited (Sc. 1911 S.D.D. Add.); 42. hert-stoun(d), -stoon, n., a pain at the heart, lit. and fig. Gen.(exc. I.)Sc. Vbl.n. hairt-stoundin. See Stound; 43. heart-taking, likeable, inspiring affection; ¶44. hairt-thrang, crowded with emotional experience, exciting, exhilarating; 45. heart-warm, deeply affectionate, sincerely warm, cordial (Sh. 1957); 46. hert-vexed, very grieved. Cf. 40; 47. heart-welcome, a welcome from the heart, a warm welcome; 48. heart-worm, = 2. (Mearns 1825 Jam.).1. Abd. 1893 G. Macdonald Songs 36:
He heard thee lauch far oot i' the bay, But hert-alane gaed he.wm.Sc. 1947 H. Reid Soiree Crackers 40:
He stood, hert-alane, 'mang the graves and the shilloch.3. Dmf. 1979 Ron Butlin in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 36:
... every hairtbeat wis echo tae their hammerin wings,
an every thocht wis a shaddaw-shaw
o the lang-syne generations.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 87:
Oor shared deceit:
we're baith camsteery and, for me, I'm prood,
an' that clock's tick, gin it were a hairt-beat,
wad dootless hae doctors skartin their pows.Edb. 2003:
She would move hoose in a hertbeat.4. Ayr. 1792 Burns What can a young Lassie do iv.:
I'll cross him, an' wrack him Until I heartbreak him.wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 21:
Ah must be daft to no see
The easy wey oot o' a' this hertbrek is tae dee!6. Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 81:
Sad is the heart-crack, ye to us hae geen, An' dowie for your cause, my hap has been.7. Rxb. 1889 Proc. Bwk. Nat. Club 473:
Liddesdale and Kidland coincide in naming Luzula pilosa, Heart or Hart-crops.9. Dmb. 1868 J. Salmon Gowodean 31:
With hands, heart-eident, labourin' late and air.10. Uls. 1879 W. G. Lyttle Paddy McQuillan 41:
I wuz heart-feared o' my ma, fur she haes a terble bad tongue.11. Cai. 1872 M. McLennan Peasant Life 81:
I'll aye bear him depth o' gratitude, store o' hairtfeelin', walth o' a' guidwill.12. Don. 1883 W. G. Black Folk-Medicine 114:
She next hands the patient nine leaves of “heart-fever grass,” or dandelion.Don. 1886 Folk-Lore Jnl. IV. 256:
In Donegal women have what they call “heart-fever,” or a sort of “alloverness.”13. e.Lth. a.1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 128:
I fell on his bosom, heart-flichtered an' fain, An' sighed out, “O Johnnie, I'll aye be your ain!”14. Dmf. 1915 J. L. Waugh Betty Grier xi.:
I'm gled - he'rt gled - to see them peaceable at last.15. Sc. 1837 Tait's Mag. (Jan.) 54:
Weel, now, that is what I ca' a very bonny story, and a very heart-goin' story.18. Per. 1881 R. Ford Hum. Sc. Readings 84:
The preacher may wowf as he'd wauken the dead, But ne'er an e'e lifts aff his heart-hankin' maid.19. Sc. 1892 in H. Ainslie Pilgrimage Pref. xxxii.:
There were three brief “heart-heezers” that always recurred to me in moments of depression.20. Per. 1835 R. Nicoll Poems 143:
Whiles a bicker o' swats — whiles a heart-heezin' gill.Edb. 1864 A. Logan Musings 100:
The ingle, the heart-heezin ingle for me!Gsw. 1888 A. G. Murdoch Readings (Ser. 2) 83:
We cast aff in fine style amid a lot of heart-heezin' hurrahs.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 30:
I ken they'll no, nor will their be a horn
glorious wi hairt-heezin spatrils upsteir
or e'en the deid wad pairt oceans tae hear.21. Sh. 1956 Shetland News (27 Nov.):
Ida hert-hol o da winter.22. Per. 1893 R. Ford Harp Per. 319:
The feckfu' grip, an' the heart-hove sigh Gae token o' sanction enou'.23 (1). Ags. 1895 M. M. Black House of Cargill 179:
Suffering meantime no more from homesickness and heart-hunger than fell to the lot of all men engaged in the great war.(2) Sc. 1897 L. Keith Bonnie Lady xiv.:
He never lets us go heart-hunger'd for a meal of love.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
A'm fair heart-hungry; A could eat the deil an' sup his mother!25. m.Lth. 1885 J. Strathesk More Bits 283:
He's a weel-doin', heart-kind, respectable cratur.26. Ayr. a.1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage (1892) 76:
The weel-worded win' ye hae baith let lowse on this memorable an' heart-kittlin' occasion.27. Sc. 1927 D. Carswell Brother Scots 160:
Ye're hert lazy, that's whit ye are.Rnf. 1935 L. Kerr Woman of Glenshiels i.:
“Well, get up,” she insisted. “I'm sick of dragging at you every morning. You're heart lazy.”Abd. 1946 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 344:
She wis heirt-lazy, of coorse. I'd aye maist o' the work tae dae masel'.28. Mry. 1873 J. Brown Round Table Club 254:
The hairt-likin' grew up atween them fae the time they were bairns. Gsw. a.1881 Recent Sc. Poets (Murdoch) 142:
We've a' a warm heart-liken to our ain gate en'. Sc. 1876 Bk. Sc. Story 540:
They bound and obliged themselves to hae a heart-liking for ane anither!30. Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 46:
Ye may tink yoursel lucky 'at hit happen'd no apo da hert maegins o' da night wi da kye i da byre.31. Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains & Hilly 17:
Jist 'cause he hid he'rt peety on the peer breet.32. Gsw. 1955 J. Fullerton Miller in Moira Burgess and Hamish Whyte Streets of Stone (1985) 121:
Joe and his women troubles had heart-roasted his auld faither to the grave.Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 32:
heart-roasted A graphic term meaning annoyed, exasperated, at the end of your tether: 'They weans've got me heart-roastit wi their carry-on.'Gsw. 1987 Peter Mason C'mon Geeze Yer Patter! 52:
A'm really jist heart roasted wi' the lotty yous. I'm exasperated with all of you.Sc. 1998 Scotsman 22 Sep 14:
The struggle to keep clean and warm, the worry about where the next meal was coming from and the sheer exhaustion these women felt ... I remember my mother saying, 'My heart's roasted!' when she was tired. Now I know what she was talking about because Maggie is ground down by poverty and one crisis after another."Sc. 2004 Herald 4 Feb 13:
She'd have your heart roasted, so she would.33. Gsw. 1872 J. Young Lochlomond 78:
Ah! 'tis the heart-sabbed coronach, Owre some departed chieftain's bier.Lnk. 1923 G. Rae 'Mang Lowland Hills 22:
See the mither bends wi' a hairtsab o' content.34. (1) Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 76:
It's a hehrt-sehr he winna seen cour it's sin's gain' the black gett.Per. 1903 H. MacGregor Souter's Lamp 107:
In more ways than one, they had made themselves a heartsore to decent, Kirk-going folk.Abd. 1993:
I feel hert-sair for him.Edb. 2005:
Ah wis hert-sair for these bairns.(2) Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 76:
A wiz jist hehrt-sair fin a got the news o' sic ill-deean.Ayr. a.1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage (1892) 325:
Nights lain dementit Hairt sair for thee.Dmf. 1910 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo 39:
I wipet his cheek wi' my pocket napkin as I wad hae dune to a hert-sair bairn.Abd. 1928 J. Baxter A' Ae 'Oo' 27:
O hert sair sicht Tae cadge a toun!36. Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck x.:
They're grey now, an' will soon be snaw-white if heart's care can alter them. Abd. 1868 G. MacDonald R. Falconer I. xii.:
It was hert's care aboot him that shortent her days.37. Sc. 1824 Scott St Ronan's W. vii.:
It's done me muckle heart's good.38. Sc.(E) 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms i. 2:
The law o' the Lord is his hail heart's-gree.39. Sh. 1892 G. Stewart Fireside Tales 244:
He . . . sent me gröfflins apo my face i' da gutter, an' den Sizzie got inta a hert-shot o' lauchin' at me.Sh. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. vii. 273:
Thus a certain minnie was reputed to “keen what da very soond o a hert-shot carried.”40. Edb. 1876 J. Smith Archie and Bess 62:
She's sorry for't noo — heart sorry for't.Abd. 1992 David Toulmin Collected Short Stories 49:
The chiel was hert-sorry for the quine. wm.Sc. 2005:
I'm hert-sorry for that lassie wi the bad asthma.41. Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Wayside Flowers 85:
I'm heart-stawed wi' the dinsome town.42. Sc. 1831 S. Ferrier Destiny II. 370:
Just a heart-stound, my leddy, that's past and awa'.Abd. 1917 D. G. Mitchell Clachan Kirk 85:
Na, na, it was a' needit — ilka stab, ilka sweat-drap, ilka hert-stoun! . . . The frail bit clay that hoosed His spirit had to be a' used up for the savin' o' the warl'.Dmf. 1917 J. L. Waugh Cute McCheyne 52:
When I saw them thegither for the first time, I — I got a he'rt-stoun' sic as I'll no forget.Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 72:
The chackit plaid hairtstoundin's made, I spakna, for my een were weet.Abd. 1923 R. L. Cassie Heid or Hert xii.:
The thocht aboot her fader, . . . began tae deiden the hert-stoons some.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 55:
Whit's that? In the shaddas?
Oh it micht be mair nor ye bargaint for. Yase
ither senses, touch, smell,
listen til yer hairt-stound.43. Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 217:
It's weel for them, lovely lambs! that they're sae heart-taking.44. Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde & Tweed 69:
But I wistna then, for a laddie's road Is ower hairt-thrang for lang thochts o' God.45. Ayr. 1786 Burns The Farewell:
Adieu! a heart-warm, fond adieu! Dear brothers of the mystic tye!Sc. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 200:
A shout of heartwarm and heartfelt gratitude.46. Lnk. 1902 A. Wardrop Hamely Sk. 122:
I'm hert-vexed for them.47. Per. 1901 I. Maclaren Young Barbarians 56:
He 'ill have a heart welcome, and . . . I'll answer to ye baith, father and mother, for yir laddie at the Day o' Judgment.

II. v. 1. To embolden, to hearten (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Kcb. 1957). Also with up (Ib.). Arch. in Eng.Sc. 1848 Fraser's Mag. XXXVIII. 315:
It was long before I was hearted to herd again in the woods by myself.

2. Ppl.adj. hertit, overwhelmed with emotion, ready for tears (Ayr. 1957).

3. To deprive of the power of respiration or sensation by a blow in the region of the heart, to wind (Sc. 1818 Sawers, hart; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).Ayr. 1912 G. Cunningham Verse 30:
The callan was heartet and couldna get breath.

4. To sicken, nauseate (Dmf. 1957).Lth. 1885 J. Strathesk Blinkbonny 93:
Did ye really pit a thing like yon intil yer mooth? The sicht o't, na, the very thocht o't, fair hearts me yet.

5. To build up the inner sheaves of a cart-load or stack of corn (Bwk. 1942 Wettstein). Sometimes with up. Gen.Sc. Found gen. in vbl.n. heartin(g), the building up of the inner sheaves; the inner sheaves themselves. Gen.Sc. Cf. n. A. 5. Similarly, to pack small stones into the space between the outer faces of a dry-stane dyke (Gall. 1957 F. Rainsford-Hannay Dry Stone Walling 33).Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. I. 391:
It is a matter of great importance to heart well, as by negligence in this respect a serious loss is often incurred.Abd. 1835 Trans. Highl. Soc. 191:
The sheaves formed of the rakings are always . . . first dry for the stack. They are therefore properly built in the hearting, and can be readily distinguished for being so.Gall. 1865 in F. Rainsford-Hannay Dry Stone Walling (1957) 35:
The double to have both sides brought up together, having the stones properly blocked, laid close together, well hearted and packed in the centre.Abd. 1923 Swatches o' Hamespun 51:
He wis awfu' shootit 'at I cud pit up sic a weel-faurt ruck, an''at Aw hertit sae weel.Abd. 1932 Abd. Press and Jnl. (17 Oct.):
The corners of his cart were not secured, and the “hearting” of the load was neglected.