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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PIG, n.1 Also †pige. Sc. form and usages: 1. As in Eng. in combs. and phr.: (1) pig crue, -croo, -crew, a pigsty (Ags., Per. 1965). See Crue; (2) pig frame, one of the side pieces placed on a cart when pigs are being transported (Arg.1 1937); (3) pig-hoose, a pig-sty. Gen.Sc.; (4) pig('s) lug, lit., a pig's ear (see Lug); fig. a strip or edge of lead worked up and remaining surplus when a plumber is making a lead box (Sc. 1950 B.B.C. Broadcast (12 May)). Cf. soo's lug s.v. Soo. Phr. to mak a pig's lug o, to make a mess of, to botch, mismanage (Ags. 1965); (5) pig('s) meat, pig-food, swill. See Meat, n., 1.; (6) pigmire, a muddy, trampled piece of ground, a slough, quagmire (Uls. 1965); (7) pig's whisper, “a loud whisper, one meant to be heard” (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.), a stage-whisper.(1) Uls. 1923 J. Logan Uls. in X-Rays 81:
There was mair hampers, an' boxes, an' barrels at oor hoose than wud hae made six pig-crews.
(3) Lnk. 1947 G. Rae Sandy McCrae 65:
Did ye ever spend the forepairt o' a nicht in a pig-hoose?
(4) Sc. 1876 W. P. Buchan Plumbing 28:
By bending up the ends and turning round the corners, which latter system in some places receives the cant terms of "pig-lugging" or "dog-earing" the corners.
(5) Kcb. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xxxv.:
A pail of pigs' meat in her hand.
(6) Lnk. 1902 A. Wardrop Hamely Sk. 18:
We can gang tae the park, when it is a park, no a pigmire.
(7) Dmf. c.1885 A. Marchbank Covenanters 82:
“Barefit, are ye there?” said the stout old man in a pig's whisper, trying to look as careless as he could.

Deriv. pigger, a pig-slaughterer.Ags. 1890 A. N. Simpson Muirside Memories 64:
Never since boyhood had he earned a penny other than by sticking pigs, and I am rather inclined to the belief that nature had meant him for a pigger.

2. A small, stunted lamb, which is fattened for the market instead of being kept for breeding, a draught-lamb (Dmf. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 243).Dmf. 1812 W. Singer Agric. Dmf. 362:
The wedder lambs, the second ewe lambs the draught lambs, called pigs.
s.Sc. 1849 Edb. Ev. Courant (18 Aug.):
Of the purer blackfaced, the highest priced were off Rigghead . . . Smallies of the same class, or, as they are often familiarly termed, pigs, 5s 6d.

3. By extension, in cloth-making: a piece of material which has been rejected as inferior and unsuitable for the market.Slk. 1876 R. Hall Galashiels (1898) 368:
When “pigs” come back frae buyer chiels Wha dinna care a straw.

4. Dim. form piggie, (1) a game in which a ball (the “pig”) is aimed at a hole (the “market”) guarded by a ring of boys with sticks who try to prevent it going in (Sc. 1910 Scotsman (9 Oct.)). Cf. Kirk, IV. 3. and Gussie, 6.; (2) reduplic. dim. form piggie-wiggie, the game of tipcat (Uls. 1965). Also found in Eng. dial. in form piggie.(2) Dmf. 1920:
Piggie-wiggie: a children's game, played with a 4-sided stick, pointed at both ends, with the figures I, II, III, IV on each side respectively. The game consisted in hitting an end of the stick with a larger stick sending it some distance away, and seeing which figure turned up on the top. The player who first reached up to an agreed amount won.

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"Pig n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 2 Nov 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/pig_n1>

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