Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
MOORIT, adj., n. Also moorr- (Sh. 1903 E.D.D.), mour-, mur(r)-; -et, -a(i)t; -id, -ed, -ad, -od. [′murət, ′murəd; Ork. + ′mør-]
I. adj. Reddish-brown, applied esp. to one of the characteristic colourings of the Shetland sheep or its wool, either as a solid colour or combined with white (I.Sc. 1963).Sh. 1795 J. Sinclair Agric. N. Counties (App.) 27:
The silver grey wool is thought to be the finest and softest in Shetland; but the black, the white, the mourat, or brown, is very little inferior.Sh. 1832 Old-Lore Misc. VIII. iv. 190:
Purchased a lamb, of the moorit or brown and white variety, for one shilling and six-pence.Sh. 1884 Crofter's Comm. Evid. II. 1330:
We have to pay a little higher for the coloured wool, — dark and light brown — murrait wool.Ork. 1911 Old-Lore Misc. IV. iv. 185:
Da peerie moorid burd no bigger ar me toom, at gaed flouchteran about da facies o' tha gues.Ork. 1939 Orcadian (15 June):
That moorit sheep o' Reekielums broke oot o' the drive as uswal.Sh. 1956 Shetland Times (9 Nov.):
Straying at Veensgarth — Moorit gimmer, half out before right ear.
II. n. The reddish-brown colouring characteristic of the Shetland sheep or its wool, gen. combined with white (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 146); a sheep of this colouring.Ork. 1832 Old-Lore Misc. VI. iv. 190:
White woolled sheep are rare, most of those in Yell, where the genuine Shetland breed is to be found in its greatest purity, are black and white, or spotted of a lighter red, but the prevailing colour is certainly the moorit, or a piebald mixture of blueish brown and white.Sh. 1948 J. G. Johnston Come fish with me 204:
A sensibly short skirt of natural murret.Sc. 1951 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 83:
Although white is the predominant colouring of the modern Shetland sheep, there are still considerable flocks of faun-coloured moorits in the North Isles.
