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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LAUCH, v., n.¹ Sc. forms and usages of Eng. laugh. For I.Sc. forms see Laich, v.

I. v. A. Forms. Pr.t.: lauch (Gen.Sc.); lach; laach (Sh. 1952 Robertson and Graham Sh. Dial. 33); liach (Ork. 1909 Old-Lore Misc. II. i. 30); leuch; ¶leugh (Lnk. 1890 H. Muir Rutherglen 12). [lǫ(:)x, lɑ(:)x; s.Sc. + ‡lɑx^ʍ. See P.L.D. § 111.] Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 41:
Reid een gleanin
bushels o bumbazement frae his past, frae the mockrife faces
lauchin aroon him.Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 15:
An men in thir semmits,
juist lik they'd come aff
the back shift an hour syne.
Sae fou o thirsels they wir
lauchan an drinkan ... ne.Sc. 1991 Lilianne Grant Rich in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 23:
Skirlin and lauchin, ilk wi spindrift weet,
At the waves' edge the bairns their taes try inwm.Sc. 1991 Carol Galbraith in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 73:
Lachen amang freens
I turnt owrequikAbd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web iii:
Far, far coorser nor ony tawse wis the skeely wheep o a teacher's tongue that cud bare yer wee mistaks an shortfaas fur aa tae leuch at.Edb. 1998 Dawn Louis Turner in Neil R. MacCallum Lallans 51 12:
It wes here that A saw Rabbie last. Lauchin, jokin, as lood as ye please, makkin us aw smile.

Pa.t. strong: leuch (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 255; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 252; ne.Sc., Ags. 1960), leugh; lewch (Bnff. 1893 W. Gregor Dunbar's Works (S.T.S.) III. 98); lough (Sc. a.1805 in Child Ballads (1956) V. 254), leough (Ork. 1909 Old-Lore Misc. II. i. 30), lyooch (Edb. 1873 D.S.C.S. 119; Sh. 1952 Robertson and Graham Sh. Dial. 33); weak: laucht (Gen.Sc.), lauchet, lauched; lachit (Abd. 1931 J. H. Hall Holy Man 82); mixed form leuched (Gsw. 1868 J. Young Poems 30; Dmf.³ c.1920; Sc. 1926 E. M. Brougham News out of Scotland 248). [str. løx, lɪ, le, l(j)ux(^ʍ) wk. lǫxt, lɑxt] Pa.p. strong: lauchen (Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) iii.; ne. Sc. 1960); laughin (Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 26), leuchen (Sc. 1812 The Scotchman 13; Rxb. 1876 D.S.C.S. 205; Per. 1916 Wilson L. Strathearn 215; Fif. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 252); leuchin (Cld. 1825 Jam.); leuchen (Slk. 1817 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) i.); laachen (Sh. 1952 Robertson and Graham Sh. Dial. 33); weak: laucht (Gen.Sc.), lauched (Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai); laacht (Sh. 1952 Robertson and Graham Sh. Dial. 33); mixed forms leucht (Fif. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 252), leuched, leugh't (Lnk. 1890 H. Muir Rutherglen 56); leuch (Gsw. 1881 J. Young Selections 147). m.Sc. 1985 William J. Rae in Joy Hendry Chapman 40 18:
The ither owls aa leuched whauniver his name wis heard, and ill-trickit young houlets made up impident sangs aboot him. Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 48:
"Even though it is plastic. Ye're hefty eneuch tae flatten it." The lave o the Broonies keckled an leuch. [str. lxn, lɑxn, løxn; wk. lxt, lɑxt, luxt]

B. Usages: 1. intr. as in Eng. Hence derivs. lauchable, laucher, ¶leughingly (Lnk. 1890 H. Muir Rutherglen 14), lauchify, to make fun of, la(u)chter; and combs. lauchin bonnet, fig., a cloth cap with the stud of the peak undone and hence gaping open as if laughing (Dmb. 1969); laughing-duck, the sheldrake, Tadorna tadorna, from its call (Dmf. 1922 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. (1921–2) 105); lauchin-fu, at the laughing or merry stage of intoxication; lauchan land, applied by fishermen at sea to land which appeared to be nearer than it actually was and, as it were, mocked them by never seeming to come nearer (Cai. 1975, from Stroma);lauchin rain, see 1881 quot. (Ags. 1960). Proverbial phr. to come or gae lauchin hame, of something which has been borrowed: to be returned to the lender with a gift as a recompense (I.Sc., Abd. 1960).Sc. 1736 Ramsay Proverbs (1776) 9:
A borrowed len shou'd gae laughing hame.Sc. 1828 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1863) II. 85:
Oh, but their heads are wake, wake — before the fire has got sun-bricht, they are lauchin-fou.Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 167:
I wadna … laughify your orthography, In case your Highland heart gets huffy.ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 154:
When rain comes from the south-west with a somewhat clear horizon, with the appearance that the rain would cease in a short time it is called “a lauchin rain,” and is believed to last for some time.Uls.⁴ 1960:
A lauchin rain that makes fools vain. Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 51:
His voice wis the sum
o unkennable scauds, o joukin lauchter,
o aa that ever took a flauchter
intil the clairt.Sc. 1991 R. Crombie Saunders in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 30:
The son brak out in lauchter:
"There's a twa-three chiel at the inn
Can mak a hantle o siller
An'll show me hou it's duin!"

2. tr. To laugh at, to ridicule. Obs. in Eng. since 16th c. Nonce.e.Lth. 1885 J. Lumsden Rural Rhymes 57:
We'll laugh the Russ an' Yankee.

II. n. As in Eng. Also erron. leuch (Sc. 1923 Sc. Univ. Verses 18), leugh (Lnk. 1890 H. Muir Rutherglen 11).Edb. 1979 Albert D. Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 45:
'Twad be nae mowes, the joke wad be on me.
Yon Jesuits in La Fleche wad hae the lauch.