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 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCUIP, n., v. Also scup(e), sküp, skup; skep (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.), scaip, skaip (Fif.); skip; skjop, skjüp (Sh.); ‡skeep (ne.Sc.); ¶skube (Jam.). Sc. forms and usages of Eng. scoop. See P.L.D. §§ 35, 128 and Scoup. [skøp, skɪp; Fif. skep; ‡ne.Sc. skip]

I. n. 1. As in Eng., a vessel for ladling or baling; a wooden scoop for throwing water on bleaching clothes (Fif. 1921 T.S.D.C.); anything hollowed out (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.), esp. a hollowed-out wooden drinking vessel (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 422); a drink from such (Fif. 1825 Jam., a skube o' drink). Hence scuipfu, a scoopful, sküp net, scoop net.Ags. 1857 A. Douglas Hist. Ferryden 15:
Ye'll get the fu' o' your boats' scupe for a saxpence.Abd. 1881 J. W. Ritchie Geordie Tough's Squeel (1931) 3:
Helms an' fitspars, skeeps an' clips.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (13 Aug.):
Wid Donald Ertirson sleep soond if he saw ane takkin a skjöpfu' o' herrin'?Bwk. 1906 Rymour Club Misc. I. 35:
Gae tak' a scuipfu' frae ilk sack.Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 130:
Mind da boy's sküp net is i' da boat.

†2. A kind of tennis bat. Cf. Scuif, 2. Phr. scupe and maggie, “a game in which a flat piece of wood is used for striking a ball into a hole made in the ground. To lodge the ball in this hole is the object of the player” (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 200).

3. A hat, bonnet or the like, of a shovel shape with a protruding brim; a straw-hat worn by women field-workers (Slk. 1825 Jam., scoopie; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., scoopie).wm.Sc. 1837 Laird of Logan 57:
An awfu' looking skup it was, [a mutch] boilled round wi' crape.

4. The front brim of a hat, the peak of a man's cap (Sc. 1904 E.D.D.; Fif., Slg., w. Lth., wm.Sc., Gall. 1969). Ppl.adj. scuppit, skippit, having a peak, esp. in phr. skippit bonnet, a man's cloth cap with a peak (Id.), †a woman's bonnet with a projecting brim.Dmb. 1844 W. Cross Disruption x.:
Wha was the auld gentleman wi' the scuppit beaver?Gsw. 1889 A. G. Murdoch Readings I. 83, II. 29:
A skippet bonnet wi' a red band roond it. . . . That ugly twa-faced kep wi' the skip baith back an' fore?Cai. 1902 J. Horne Canny Countryside 24:
Nellie's scooped bonnet in one bandbox.wm.Sc. 1906 H. Foulis Vital Spark viii.:
Hey! you with the skipped kep.Lnk. 1923 G. Blake Mince Collop Close ii. ii.:
The old man touched the polished skip of his cap and withdrew.Gsw. 1947 J. F. Hendry Fernie Brae 167:
He had taken to wearing a cap, what they called in Glasgow “a hooker”, or a “skippet bunnet”.wm.Sc. 1958 Daily Express (29 Oct.):
A cap with skips front and back.w.Lth. 2000 Davie Kerr A Puckle Poems 17:
Skippit bunnets [title] Bathgate mens' bunnets sit square on the heid
but Airmadale men are mair gallus, -
pu'd doun ow'r wan ee, an cockit a wee,
thir helluva fellas, thae tell us. Sc. 2001 Sunday Herald 15 Jul 19:
It may not be to everyone's tastes, but it is sure to have the skipped-bunnet brigade drooling. Sc. 2001 Scotsman 14 Aug 12:
The boy two doors up had round glasses, prominent teeth and wore a skipped bunnet with ear-flaps, summer and winter.

II. v. As in Eng. Specif. to take herring out of a net with a scoop or baler; to catch herring which have fallen out of the meshes of a net (Sh. 1969).Sh. 1899 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd (1922) 135:
Ye'll skjüp nane dis night. If we hae thirty cran, ye'll git as mony as ye'll saat fir da winter.