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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SHOG, v., n. Also shogg, shogue, shoag, schog (Jam.); shoog; shoug, showg; shug and reduplic. form shug-shug; ¶shock-. Dim. shuggie, -y. [Sc. ʃog, ʃʌg; Fif. + ʃʌug, Inv., Mry., em.Sc. (b), s.Sc. + ʃug]

I. v. 1. tr. To shake, jolt, jog, push sharply, cause to swing or rock (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Uls. 1953 Traynor). Also fig. Gen.Sc. Comb. shoggin-board, the board on which the grain falls after the sheaf has passed through the grain-shakers in a threshing machine, also in form shock-board. Cf. shaker s.v. Shak, v., 1. (1).Sc. a.1758 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) III. 341:
Corbredus Gald in feght unkend to tire Or Caractatus shogan Rome's Empire.Ags. 1790 D. Morison Poems 47:
Ane does the cradle shogue.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 168:
It was hard to shog her heart.Sc. 1858 Slight and Burn Farm Impl. 382:
The grain which is shaken out of the straw by the action of the straw-shakers, falls on to the shock or shogging-board.Per. 1895 R. Ford Tayside Songs 170:
Shud mankind my faith aye shog.Lnk. 1895 W. Stewart Lilts 43:
He's a kind o' acquaintance they never wad shog.Dmf. 1905 J. L. Waugh Thornhill 201:
He “shugged” the end of his plaid over his left shoulder.Sc. 1933 W. Soutar Seeds in the Wind 30:
The wind withoot a hishie Fitters in atween the fleurs an' shogs them.

2. intr. To sway, swing, rock from side to side, to wobble (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 149; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; ne. and m.Sc. 1970). Also in dim. form shogie, shuggie, -y, (Slk. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Uls. 1953 Traynor), which may however be construed as a verbal use of n., 3.Sc. 1729 J. Brigs A Ballad i.:
Oh! our Kirk is shogan.Sc. 1821 Bannockburn I. i.:
Cannily down the brae; dinna shog.Peb. 1836 J. Affleck Poet. Wks. 62:
Ye fowls that sit upon a tree, And nightly shuggy.m.Lth. 1842 Blackwood's Mag. (March) 304:
A fat clergyman waddling before her, she continued crying, “Eh! but he's fat — see how he shugs!”Gsw. 1863 W. Miller Nursery Songs 15:
Wi' a kyte like a baillie's, shug-shugging afore him.Ags. 1872 J. Kennedy Jock Craufurt 97:
Their heads gaen shoggin' like weigh-bauks.Slk. 1889 T. Kennedy Poems 185:
To shuggy an' swing on the auld thorn tree.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 6:
Boondin bleithely on wui ma airms shuggiein lowce threh ma oxters.ne.Sc. 1950 Scots Mag. (April) 58:
The boatie shoggin sairlie til it's like tae droon us aa.

Hence (1) shog-bog, shug-, a soft, watery bog, a quagmire (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 154; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Also in reduced form sho(o)g (Watson); (2) shogie-bogie, adv., in a rocking manner, see-saw, used exclam. in a child's rhyme; (3) shoggin-boat, a swing-boat at a fair (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Kcd., Ags., Per., Rxb. 1970). Also in form shoog-boat (Ib.); (4) shoggie-shaggie, = (2); (5) schoggin-tow, a rope on which to swing, the rope of a child's swing (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 149).(1) Sc. 1933 W. Soutar Seeds in Wind 21:
Doun in a shog-bog Nickie-ben Heard the loud chitter o' the burds.Ags. 1961 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 157:
The rush-beds and glaur of the Sidlaw lochans and “shog-bogs”.(2) Ags. 1906 Rymour Club Misc. 52:
Shogie, bogie; Butter in a cogie.(3) Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden (1922) 139:
When they shuved doon his feet up cam' his heid, back an' fore juist like a shogin' boat.Ags. 1921 A. S. Neill Carroty Broon xvii.:
He had three goes at the shogging boats.Mry. 1968 Northern Scot (16 March) 9:
“Shoggin'-boats,” helter-skelters, merry-go-rounds, chair-o-planes.(4) Ayr. 1912 G. Cunningham Verse 208:
Rock the creddle, rock, rock, rock, Shoogie-shaggie, ten o'clock.

3. To walk, drive or ride at a slow leisurely pace, to jog along, to go on one's way, to keep going, lit. and fig. (Uls. 1953 Traynor; Sh. 1970).Sc. 1719 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 132:
Be blyth, and let the Warld e'en shog As it thinks fit.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Works (S.T.S.) 143:
But gin I wad shog about till a new spring.Lnk. 1827 J. Watt Poems 9:
On fit I plasht through to Burnwin'. Gain'd the coach-tap, an' shugg'd on fine.Sc. 1828 Scott F. M. Perth xvi.:
Night wears apace, will you be shogging?Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch xxii.:
Shug-shugging away home, on his grey sheltie.Knr. 1832 L. Barclay Poems 99:
Hame shuggin' east the way.Hdg. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-Head 121:
O Linton! what wey sid it be That I frae thee maun shog awa'?Abd. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 71:
Aw said ye're shoggin awa.

II. n. 1. A jog, jolt, shake, nudge (wm.Sc. 1880 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Uls. 1953 Traynor; Sh., ne. and m.Sc. 1970). Also fig. Dim. shoggie.Sc. 1703 Particular Account of Several Earthquakes 3:
Two little Shogs of the Earth which they felt over and above the great one.Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) II. 43:
Thus thou, great King, hast by thy conqu'ring Paw, Gi'en Earth a Shog.Ayr. 1785 Burns Address to Deil xvi.:
Ye cam to Paradise incog, . . . An' gied the infant warld a shog.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 163:
They mean our throne to gie a shug.Kcd. 1819 J. Burness Plays, etc. 292:
At ilka puff I stood aghast . . . Sic shougs an howds I never got.Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 100:
At every shog I felt the smart O' grief and pain.Gsw. 1879 A. G. Murdoch Rhymes 81:
I roused up the wife wi' a shug.Sc. 1889 Stevenson M. of Ballantrae iv.:
With this in my hand I will give him a shog.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 89:
The train gae a shoag juist at that meenit.Bnff. 1936 Abd. Press and Jnl. (8 June):
She gied my he'rt a shog, For she smiled an' leukit roun'.m.Sc. 1979 Ian Bowman in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 41:
An' when they come shaughlin' doon ma lobby
they'll get a shog frae ma frien', the bobby.
The game's a bogey - but no' their game:
we'll gar them wish that they hadnae came. Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 57:
Nae mirligoes stacher the dancer birlin
joy-glaid aneath the licht o the moon;
he's daft, I doot, but he's set my harns dirlin
or I'm oot wi a lowp an' lauchin til a tune
I canna hear but sense, a michty swirlin,
ilka rissom gien a shog - the warl gaes roon.

Hence adj. shoggie -y, shaky, unsteady, wobbly (ne.Sc., Ags., Per., Ayr. 1970). Comb. shoggie-bog, a marsh, quagmire (Lnk., Dmf. 1970). See v., 2.Kcd. 1853 W. Jamie Emigrant's Family 66:
He hung his head out ower his rung, To stay his frame sae shoggy.Ags. 1866 D. Mitchell Hist. Montrose 22:
The narrow shoggy scaffold at the top of the spire.Abd. 1932 R. L. Cassie Scots Sangs 25:
The shoggie bog we'll full wi' fale.

2. A jogging, rocking movement, in quot. of an attempt to dance.Slg. 1788 R. Galloway Poems 93:
They had a fiddler at their lug, Where they might dance their fill When they did drink they made a shug.

3. The act or motion of swinging or rocking; a swinging-rope, a child's swing (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 149; Mry., Bnff., Kcd., Ags., Per. 1970), most freq. in dim. forms shog(g)ie, shuggie, shoogie, shougie, id. (Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai; m. and s.Sc. 1970), also a see-saw (Ayr. 1923 Wilson D. Burns 184).Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 207:
Sin' ilka mither's dauted wean Has here a shoogy o' its ain.Mry. 1889 T. L. Mason Rafford 22:
A small rickety loft, to which they say the “loons” delighted to go to get a “shoag”.Slk. 1899 C. M. Thomson Drummeldale 46:
I'll gie ye a shoogie on a graund brainch I ken o'.Sc. 1943 Scots Mag. (March) 435:
A rocking-horse, and the shog as a maid held me on its back.Ags. 1955 People's Jnl. (19 Nov.):
We could swing happily on the “shog”.

Hence combs. (1) sho(o)gie-boat, shugy-, a swing-boat at a fair (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Bnff., em.Sc.(a), w.Lth., s.Sc. 1970); a boys' game, for which see 1965 quot.; (2) shoggy-shoo, -shew, -shue, -shou, shuggie-; shoogie-shoo (Arg. 1990s); shougie-, a see-saw, the game of see-saw, also as a v., and adv., or excl. to accompany a rocking motion (Bwk. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 196, as v.; Ayr. 1928). Also in n. Eng. and Ir. dial.; a swing (Sc. 1825 Jam.; em.Sc.(a), wm.Sc., Kcb., s.Sc. 1970); a soft place in a bog (Uls. 1953 Traynor). See Shue. Agent n. shoogie-shooer.(1) Slk. 1892 W. M. Adamson Betty Blether 79:
Hobby-horses, shoogie-boats.Rnf. 1965 T. E. Niven East Kilbride 265:
“Shoogy boats”, a game in which a couple of boys “hunkered” on each other's toes, joined arms and rocked alarmingly backwards and forwards.Bnff. 1968 Banffshire Advert. (1 Aug.) 5:
Shogie boats an' merry-go-roon's.(2) Sc. 1727 A. Pennecuik Poems (1787) 14:
Wow but he be an ill back friend At shuggie-shew.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 426:
The amusement of boys on the slackrope, riding and shoving one another in the curve of the rope; they recite this to the swings — ‘Shuggie Show, Druggie Draw, Haud the grup, ye canna fa'.'Lnk. 1827 J. Watt Poems 55:
The wa's did shake like shuggie-shue.wm.Sc. 1837 Laird of Logan 133:
The ladder is aye shoggy-shouing.Edb. 1892 J. W. McLaren Sc. Poems 21:
Shouggie shou, shouggie shou! Hush-a-ba my dearie.Ags. 1895 Brechin Advertiser (9 April) 3:
Life is but a shoogie-shoo . . . My he'rt gaed shoogie-shoo.Kcb. 1899 Crockett Black Douglas xl.:
That unwieldy horseman swayed this way and that in the saddle. “Wha may ye be that comes shuggy-shooin' oot o' the bluidy city o' Edinburgh?”Dmf. 1912 J. L. Waugh Cracks wi' R. Doo 3:
The best shoogie-shooer that ever spieled my yaird dyke.

4. Specif. of the motion of a jacquard-loom, and in combs. shug-cam, -reed, of parts of the loom which control this motion (Ayr. 1975).