Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PEEL, n.⁵ ne.Sc. forms of Eng. pool (ne.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Cai. 1922 J. Horne Poems 17, Bch. 1943 W. S. Forsyth Guff o' War 5). See P.L.D. § 128.

Sc. form of Eng. pool.

Combs. and phr.: 1. haddock-peel, a jocular name for the sea. Cf. 2.; 2. herring-peel, id. (Bnff. 1885 Folk-Lore Jnl. III. 52). Cf. herrin-pot, id., s.v. Herrin, (11); 3. peel deuk, the oyster-catcher, Haematopus ostralegus (Abd.¹² 1923; Bnff. 1965), which frequents seashore pools; 4. peel-rushich, -och, a heavy shower, a downpour (Abd.⁴ 1930), a rush, a torrent (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.); 5. to mak one's peels, of a child: to urinate (Cai. 1903 E.D.D.).1. Bnff. 1885 Folk-Lore Jnl. III. 52:
Names given to the sea are: — The Haddock, the Herring Peel. “To send one across the Haddock Peel” means to banish one.4. ne.Sc. 1920 People's Jnl. (18 Sept.):
It was a peel-rushoch o' weet, wi' an antrim [sic] spell o' drucht.