Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1783-1795
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†SKIFF, n.3 Also skift.
1. A trough-shaped box, basket or sim. container.Sc. 1783 W. Gordon Livy (1823) 20:
The water had subsided and left the trough or skift in which the infants had been exposed, on dry ground.
2. In dim. form skiffie: a kind of sledge or small hutch in which coal was formerly brought from the working-face to the pit-head. The form skiff is found in Cornish mining usage.Slg. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XV. 331, XVIII. 241:
There were employed at least two men at the windlass, putting up the coal in skiffies. . . . The manner in which they [coals] are wrought is by pick and wedge; boys, and sometimes girls are employed to draw the skiffies, below ground.
