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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STUDDIE, n. Also stud(d)y, studdey; stiddie, -y; stuthy (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Sc. forms of Eng. stithy, a blacksmith's anvil (Sc. 1808 Jam., stiddie, n.Sc. Ib., studdie; Sc. 1869 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 726; Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; I. and n.Sc., Per., Slg., Lnk., sm. and s.Sc. 1971). [′stʌdi]Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 79:
Our nibour Pate sin Break o' Day's Been thumpin at his Studdy.Edb. 1767 Caled. Mercury (20 May):
Sundry Studdies, Bellows, Vices, Hammers.Ayr. 1785 Burns Scotch Drink xi.:
Till block an' studdie ring an' reel Wi' dinsome clamour.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Proverbs 145:
When you're a study, lie you still; When you're a hammer, strike your fill.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1837) II. 335:
When I was a young man strikin' at the studdy.Ayr. 1879 R. Adamson Lays 119:
Sae wi a bringe he laup oot o'er the stiddy.Sh. 1892 G. Stewart Fireside Tales 245:
Laek twa hammers apon a study makin' spades.m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 131:
He gart the stiddy dirl an' the sparks flee.Abd. 1900 C. Murray Hamewith 17:
Mark the thuds 'at shape the shoon, An' dint the very studdy.Ags. 1901 W. J. Milne Reminiscences 289:
The hauf o' Grigg's studdy lang stude to be seen.Bnff. 1956 Banffshire Jnl. (5 June) 4:
He still gart his haimer clang on the studdy.

Combs.: 1. stithy-clog, an anvil-stock, the block of wood on which an anvil is set. The word has been misread as stilky-clog in a letter, also from Carlyle, in Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 1898) 458; ¶2. study-still, stock-still, quite motionless, with a play on study, Steady; 3. study-stock, = 1.; 4. studdie struck, thunder-struck, dumbfounded, as if struck a hammer blow.1. Dmf. 1824 Carlyle MS. Letters (4 Oct.):
A huge loaf like a stithy-clog.2. m.Lth. 1786 G. Robertson Har'st Rig (1801) lxv.:
The blasty Smith does brook it ill That he maun stand sae study still.3. Fif. 1759 Session Papers, Coutts Bros. v. Wilson (28 July) 58:
Robert Cuthbert, late Deacon of the Hammermen in St Andrews, depones . . . that he was not from his Study Stock.4. Abd. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 3:
Ye maist scare our lammies frae their pluck, An' flegg'd us sae, that we stan' studdie struck?