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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

SING, v.², n.² Sc. form of Eng. singe.

I. v. A. Forms. Pa.t. weak singit (Ags., Per. 1970), strong sang, sung (Abd. 1970); pa.p. weak singit, singd (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth. 1915–26 Wilson: Rxb. 1942 Zai), strong sung (Sc. 1908 Jam.; Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 38; ne.Sc., em.Sc.(a), Lnk., Dmf. 1970). [sɪŋ, pa.t. and p. ′sɪŋɪt, sʌŋ]Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. ii. i.:
Fat are the Puddings, — Heads and Feet well sung.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 184:
Secundo, then a gude sheep's head Whase hide was singit, never flead.Dmf. 1797 Edb. Mag. (Dec.) 457:
Sax gude sheep-heads, sung i' the smiddie bleeze.Sc. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxviii.:
She smells like a singit sheep's head!Slk. 1819 Hogg Queen's Wake 87:
The lowe came up with ane angry blese, And it syngit his auld breek-nee.Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 35:
The bleezin' fire-flaught sang my vera beard.Fif. 1824 J. Bissett Poems 62:
If ony heads to you are sent Again to sing.Lnk. 1826 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes 41:
Singit sweens in Symingstane, And brose in Pettinain.Sc. 1847 R. Chambers Trad. Edb. 292:
I've been singin' hens wi' them [letters from David Hume] this half year!Abd. 1882 G. MacDonald Castle Warlock lv.:
The parritch 'ill be a' sung.Sc. 1933 E. S. Haldane Scotland of Our Fathers 29:
The old tradition for Sunday fare was to set a ‘singit' sheep's head to boil and leave it there during church hours.Abd. 1993:
E kitlin geed ower near e fire an got its fuskers sung.

B. Sc. usages: 1. Occas. used absol. with pass. force: to be fit for singeing (ne.Sc. 1970).Sc. 1822 R. M'Chronicle Legends Scot. II. 89:
Sicken a heed saw I never; it wunna sing.Sc. 1834 Chambers's Jnl. (May) 128:
I want a sheep's head that will sing.

2. In ppl.adj. singit, stunted in growth, shrivelled, puny, ill-favoured (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Per. 1970). Also singit like, -looking, id. (Bwk. 1942 Wettstein). Cf. Eng. phr. like a singed cat.Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 39:
His singet chaplain, clatty thing!Rxb. 1868 Trans. Hawick Arch. Soc. 32:
Let them alane, ye singit-like shurf.Edb. 1882 J. Smith Canty Jock 52:
The singit-looking witch, wi' her false hair.Rxb. 1919 Kelso Chron. (22 Aug.) 2:
The “heid yin” called the gamekeeper a “singit wasp” — a nice contemptuous phrase.Per.⁴ 1950:
That's a gey singit-lookin pup.

3. Phr. to sing the cobbler, see quot.Fif. 1886 A. Stewart Dunfermline (1889) 228:
He would meet with a crony or two of an evening in some public-house, drink with them and before the lawin' came to be settled, would quietly slip out of the room on some pretence or other, and say he would be back again, thus leaving his friends to pay the publican's bill. This mean trick was long ago familiary called “singing the cobbler.”

II. n. The act of singeing, a scorch, a burn(ing) (Abd., Ags., Lnk. 1970). Phr. on the sing, on the point of burning or scorching.Per. 1845 Stat. Acc.² X. 495:
The Highlanders had no good will to Crieff. . . . They were wont to say of it, that “she would be a bra toun gin she had anither sing.”Lnk. 1885 F. Gordon Pyotshaw 17:
Mind the parritch, lassie! They're on the sing.