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

OCH, int., v. Also ocht, oich, oigh (Abd. 1836 J. Grant Tales (1869) 205); ooch, ough. [ox, oxt, †ɔiç, †ux]

I. int. An exclamation, orig. of sorrow, pain or regret, now mostly of exasperation, peremptory dismissal of a subject, or weariness, alas!, oh!, confound it! Gen.Sc. Cf. Ach, Ouch. Phr. och aye, yes, of course.Ayr. 1786 Burns To a young Friend vi.:
I wave the quantum o' the sin, The hazard of concealing; But Och! it hardens a' within, And petrifies the feeling!Gsw. 1810 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 792:
After this, [witness] heard her say “och”, or something like it.Sc. 1819 Scott B. of Lamm. xxv.:
Och, gentlemen — Och, my gude lords — Och, haud to the right!Kcb. 1828 W. McDowall Poems 22:
But och! for us 'tis nought but toil.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 530:
“Do they speak to you, and you to them?” “Ough aye.”Sc. 1858 Scotch Haggis (Webster) 123:
Ay, ay, those were days indeed . . . But noo — oich!e.Lth. 1885 S. Mucklebackit Rhymes 91:
Och, sic a dreary harvest day!Per. 1903 H. Dryerre Blairgowrie 127:
Although it was never positively certain that the Aldchlappie innkeeper had a still of his own, the general opinion might be expressed in the words of another worthy — “Maybe ay, an' maybe ooch ay!”Abd. 1916 G. Abel Wylins 38:
Och, I weel ken fat they ca' me.Ags. 1922 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden ii.:
Och, dinna bather yersel! wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 19:
"Och Hugh, I wonder when these new enclosure-ways are goin' to come that the Jacks are ay sayin' its the way of doing up Edinburgh way and by Lanark?" wm.Sc. 1991 Liz Lochhead Bagpipe Muzak 35:
Ocht, aye you do mind Moira Lennox. Big fet lassie, brilliant at Letin. Well, epperently, she joined the Scotstoun branch of the Society of Serious Slimmers and ended up semi-enorexic. Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 54:
'I have done,' admitted Dougie. 'Och but wi my father dead I couldna leave the ould woman.' m.Sc. 1994 Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay Forever Yours, Marie-Lou 7:
MANON You've niver stoapped fur two seconds tae think aboot what he done, hiv ye? His it niver croassed your mind that ...
CARMEN That what?
MANON Och, nothin ... nothin. wm.Sc. 1998 Alan Warner The Sopranos (1999) 12:
Och that's a shame, Manda whispered, She must really fancy him.

Also in various extended forms or combs. with more emphatic force: ochaine (Cai. 1907 County of Cai. (Horne) 80), oh! an!, o(c)hanee, -ie, -an-nee; o(c)hon(e), o(c)hhon, -(h)on-ee; oh whan, -when (Ork. 1887 Jam.); oh-shon; och-och-anee; o(c)hon(e) o(ch)ri(e), -a-chree, ochone-a-me, o(c)h(h)onari(e), -ori; ochasoch (Arg. 1936 L. McInnes Dial. S. Kintyre 12), och-hoch (Per. 1964) all used orig. and freq. in Gael. contexts; och how (Sc. 1825 Jam.), -(w)hey (Sc. 1868 G. Webster Strathbrachan 403); oh! on a-lack (Sc. 1795 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 719), alas!, woe is me!Sc. c.1710 Jacob. Relics (Hogg 1819) 68:
She fetch'd a deep groan, with many Ohon! “O were I a Thistle again!”Sc. c.1750 Young Chevalier 7:
Others who understood the English tongue, cried out, “Prince! Oh! an!, Oh! an!”, a Sign of Mourning, and a Scottish Particle expressive of the greatest Grief.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 138:
Hard na ye tell o' the twa Highland wives, how the tane cry'd oh, on, oh on, Shenet my cows shot.Edb. 1799 Edb. Mag. (July) 55:
Oh-on-o-ri! the chanter fails, Whase music bum'd upo, the gales.Rnf. 1807 R. Tannahill Poems (1876) 291:
Och, hey! Johnnie, lad, Ye're no sae kind's ye should hae been.Peb. 1817 R. Brown Lintoun Green 71:
My Peter dying! Oh anee!Slk. 1819 Hogg Tales (1874) 140:
Ochon, ochon! an' is that the gate o't? — a black beginning maks aye a black end.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals xiv.:
But, och how! this was the last happy summer that we had.Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 104:
Indeed, the warle is at a height Wi' folly an' vice — oh shon!Sc. 1827 G. R. Kinloch Ballads 255:
Monie a lady fair Siching and crying, Och how!Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie x.:
Och-on och-rie, Och-on och-rie I'm weary sad and lone.Abd. 1872 J. G. Michie Deeside Tales 134:
“Ochone, ochone, laird,” cried Fleeman.Kcb. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy xix.:
“Ochanee-ochanee!” she said softly to herself, using the old half-Erse keening cry of Galloway.Cai. 1907 County of Cai. (Horne) 80:
Ochanee got I — “Ochanee” quoth I, — an ejaculation of surprise.Inv. 1931 I. Macpherson Shepherd's Calendar 224:
Molly, tell him to haud up his dowie head. Ochanee, we'll be bonny and merry this fine night. m.Sc. 1986 Colin Mackay The Song of the Forest 102:
" ... But he was lost - ochone, the poor soul - and he wandered round and round howling away and talking to the air, syne he just sat down and began pouring pine needles over his head, and a wolf got him. ... " m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 9:
Ochon, ma leddie did ye nivir see
yon yin wha pit his haund atour ma hairt
whan I spak quaitlie, saftlie? Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 142:
Ochanee it's warm. Blinded wi sweat. Still, if this keeps up, the hill road will be bone-dry and I'll get the peats home next week. Sc. 1999 Sunday Mail 7 Feb 23:
OCHONE, OCHONE. The bachelors of North and South Uist have sad and heavy hearts ... for they outnumber the women by almost two to one. Sc. 2003 Scotland on Sunday 19 Jan 21:
Ochone! Ochone! We live in terrible times. A House of Lords committee has come to the conclusion that the Scottish Secretary is less than indispensable, along with the entire bloated Disneyland Office that she heads.

Phr.: och aye the noo, Expression of affirmation; freq. used as a humorous marker of Scottish speech (Fif., Edb. 2000s).em.Sc. 1986 Ian Rankin The Flood 110:
The office beckons. Och aye the noo. Take best care. TomSc. 2002 Daily Mirror 3 Aug 4:
Swing from the rafters, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts tomorrow. Och aye the noo!

II. v. To say och!Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) xviii.:
[I] heard the spittin' , an' the ochin' an' ayin'.