Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STUMP, n., v. Sc. usages, more freq. in dim. form Stumpie, q.v.:

I. n. 1. The core of an apple, what is left after the flesh has been eaten (Lnk. 1927; em., wm.Sc., Wgt., Rxb. 1971).Gsw. 1972 Molly Weir Best Foot Forward (1974) 118:
I didn't much like the apples themselves, for they were usually cookers and far too sour for my taste, but Maggie munched them with noisy enjoyment, finishing them right down to the smallest core before she would throw the stump away. Gsw. 1987 Peter Mason C'mon Geeze Yer Patter! 32:
Whit'll ah dae wi' this stump? What shall I do with this apple core? Dmb. 1990:
Gie's yer stump. Sc. 2002 Scotland on Sunday (1 Sep) 19:
At school, for example, she and her friend used to ask one another for the stump of an apple one of them was eating. "Choony me your stump" was a not uncommon playground request.

2. In pl.: stilts, as a plaything (Mry., Bnff. 1971).

3. (1) A short, stocky person or animal (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 185; Sh., Cai. 1971); one who is stiff or sluggish in his movements, a sluggard (Sc. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 213); an old, shrunken, slow-moving person; a child beginning to waik (Inv. 1971).Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 9:
Your guidame may tak him hersel, twa auld tottering stumps.Gall. 1825 J. Denniston Legends 68:
A guid strong stump o' a naig.Sc. 1875 J. Grant One of Six Hundred xxv.:
A short, thick-set little stump of a fellow.e.Lth. 1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-Head 164:
Wives, bairnies, auld stumps — sire and dame.

(2) A stupid fellow, a blockhead (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., Rxb. 1971). Hence adj. stumpish, dull-witted (Slk., Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Watson).Slk. 1834 Hogg Dom. Manners Sir W. Scott (1909) 79:
I sat beside them like a perfect stump; a sheep who never got in a word.

(3) The odd-job man on a farm (Slg. 1971). Hence Stump Fair, a hiring fair for farm workers formerly held at Falkirk (Id.).

4. Phrs.: stump and rump, completely, absolutely, entirely (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.; ne., em.Sc.(a), wm.Sc. 1971), holus bolus. See Rump, Stoup, and cf. Ger. mit Rumpf und Stumpf, id. Also in n.Eng. dial.; up a stump, in a quandary or fix (Lnk. 1971).Ags. 1869 Arbroath Guide (13 March) 3:
Nor stump nor rump I'll see ye mair.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden (1922) 83:
Some tramp had lifted the hale stump an' rump.Slg. 1901 R. W. Buchanan Poems 140:
Geordie swallowed them “stump an' rump.”

II. v. 1. As in Eng., now obsol., to cut short, stunt, truncate, reduce in height. Hence ppl.adj. stumpit, short, stunted (Sh., Slg., Fif., Lnk., Kcb., Dmf. 1971); of a person: stocky, dumpy (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)).Sc. 1752 Scotland's Glory 24, 55:
That idol dagon prelacy We might have stumped tightly . . . This stumped idol still here stands.Rnf. 1876 J. Nicholson Kilwuddie 27:
Their stumpit linsey winceys Scarce had three breedes in the tail.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 312:
A wee thickset stumpit craitur.Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
A stumpet hill, a stumpet square face o' a hill.

2. tr. To boast of, to make a brag of. Cf. Eng. slang †stump, to brag, vaunt oneself.Edb. 1788 G. Wilson Masonic Songs 95:
My Hammer-head's broke off the shaft, And now no more I'll stump the Craft.