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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SHOD, v., n. Also shode, shoad. [ʃod]

I. v. 1. To furnish with shoes, to put shoes on; to shoe (a horse) (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.) Gen.Sc. Pa.t., pa.p. shod(d)it, shod; vbl.n. shoddin, boots and shoes, footwear.Ork. 1721 H. Marwick Merchant Lairds (1939) II. 41:
To the oversiers fies & all the Servants Shoading . . . £40[Scots]Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 43:
Many of them are so handy, as not to shod their feet the year round.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 155:
The smith wiz shoddin' the horse. He shodit's bairns weel at the tail o' the herrin' fishan.Ork. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Evid. II. 1486:
In 1706 the bowmen's wages were ten pounds Scots, and half a cow's hide for what we call shodding instead of boots or shoes, and meal and bere.Sh. 1898 “Junda” Klingrahool 45:
Dey hed aald bain soles for da shoddeen.Abd. 1969 Huntly Express (12 Sept.) 2:
I've this horsie tae shod.

2. To fit with a metal tip, band or ring, as a bootlace, an arrow, a spade, staff or pole, a cartwheel, etc. (wm.Sc. 1880 Jam.; Cai. 1904 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc.; in 1899 quot. to put a leather guard on. Vbl.n. sho(d)ding, shoading. See also n., 2.Edb. 1702 Burgh Rec. Edb. (1967) 21:
No person hereafter doe import any quantitie of gun pouder exceeding four pound weight . . . upon shoad carts but upon sledds or unshoad carts allenarly.Ags. 1730 Session Rec. Carmyllie MS. (16 April):
Margt. Mackie with a shod shovel offered violence to their daughter.Cai. 1737 J. E. Donaldson Cai. in 18th Cent. (1938) 190:
I have a boat to go to Orkney tomorrow morning for iron for shoding to my carts.Ork. 1769 P. Fea MS. Diary (29 April):
Sent my Cart to the Smidie to get new Shoading.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 242:
Henry o' Viggie wis sittin' wi' a yarkin alishen shodin' da rackie.Bnff. 1902 Trans. Bnff. Field Club 11:
Spades were of wood with iron shodding.

3. To fit iron toe and heel pieces on shoes, to cover the soles of shoes with studs, to hob-nail (wm.Sc. 1880 Jam.; Sh., Abd., Ayr. 1970). Hence shoddit shoon (Fif. 1880 Jam.).

II. n. 1. A shoe, esp. a child's shoe (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 155), dim. shoddie, id. (Cld., Dmf., s.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); a horse-shoe. Hence shodless, without shoes, bare-footed.Sc. 1706 J. Watson Choice Coll. I. 59:
My Halter and my four New Shods.Ayr. 1826 Galt Last of Lairds i.:
The kitchen-lass snodless, snoodless, and shodless.

2. An iron tip or point fixed on some, usu. wooden, object, to prevent wear, the metal tag of a bootlace (Cld. 1880 Jam.). Dim. shoddie, the iron point of a pike-staff, the pivot of a spinning-top (Fif. 1825 Jam.); the metal tyre of a cart-wheel (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.; Ayr. 1923 Wilson D. Burns 184; Ork., Cai., wm. and sm.Sc. 1970). Also in form shoddum, which may be a corruption of shoddin, vbl.n., s.v. I. 2.Abd. 1832 Aberdeen Mag. II. 76:
John Rough's peers, wi' the cassen shods.Rnf. 1870 J. Nicholson Idylls 88:
My [a bellows] sides “a' cloutit, the shod off an' awa'”.Kcd. 1900 Crockett Stickit Minister's Wooing 394:
Shrinking the iron “shods” on the wheels of the red farm carts.Arg. 1896 N. Munro Lost Pibroch (1953) 38:
He was stirring up the logs with the shod of a crutch.Arg.¹ 1937:
Harrows made of heavy iron hoops or old cart wheel shods, very useful when harrowing old lea break or levelling turnip drills.

3. A metal plate on the toe or heel of a shoe (Cld. 1880 Jam.; Cai., Uls. 1904 E.D.D.); a hobnail (Mry. 1970). Also fig. See also heel-shod s.v. Heel, n.¹, 5. (11).Kcb. c.1840 A. Trotter East Gall. Sk. (1901) 102:
Brass, airn, and tin, and shods o' shoon.Ayr. 1862 J. Baxter The Kirn 33:
Shoon, wi' muckle nails and shods.Lnk. 1890 J. Coghill Poems 43:
Wi' Gospel-shods in ilka heel.Mry. 1927 J. Ross Memories 11:
Gettin' shods and tackets in my shoon.Kcb. 1965 C. Little Kirkgunzeon 29:
All the school children wore clogs and when the shods (or caulkers as they were called) came off, the blacksmith put new ones on.

4. A metal wedge pushed under a cartwheel to prevent slipping, a skid.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Stickit Minister 198:
The great iron curved shods which the lorrymen used to stop their coal waggons on the steep streets.

5. Any implement with a metal tip, an iron-shod shovel, a pick (Fif. 1958).Abd. 1847 Gill Binklets 16:
With the assistance of a shod which they had in the bosom of the plough.