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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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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.

TIRR, v.¹, n.¹ Also tir, tyr; terr; turr. [tɪr, tʌr]

I. v. 1. tr. To take the top layer of sward or earth off (a piece of ground), to remove surface turf or soil in order to commence digging for peat or quarrying for stone (Sc. 1808 Jam., 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 67; n.Sc., Bwk., Rxb. 1972). Also with aff, up.Sc. 1724 Treatise on Fallowing 18:
After you have tirred the Ground by a Flaughter-Spade, or Breast-Plow.Gsw. 1728 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 303:
For each aiker tirred or to be tirred . . . £294 Scots money.Sc. 1743 R. Maxwell Select Trans. 279:
Tir as much of the Rock as is sufficient for a Blast.Ags. 1795 Session Papers, Arbuthnott v. Scott (11 March) 239:
Tirring a quarry, or redding a post.Lth. 1813 G. Bruce Poems 164:
He took his spade, an' hied awa To tir some peats to beet his fire.Ags. 1826 A. Balfour Highland Mary II. 18:
To tir off the turf that haps my father's head.Crm. 1835 H. Miller Scenes and Leg. 252:
Tirring up the yird about the lave.Bnff. 1902 Trans. Bnff. Field Club 11:
The “flauchter” spade was also in use for “tirring” peat banks.Abd. 1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick xxviii.:
Fin Geordie Birse gaed tae tirr aff 'e truffs wi his flachterspaad.

Vbl.n. tirrin, -en, the act of removing surface soil or vegetation, the layer of such overlying peat or stone which must be removed before digging or quarrying operations can start (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 67; Ork., n.Sc. 1972). Also attrib. in combs. tirrin-pick, -sod, -spade (Abd. 1930).Ags. 1707 L. Macbean Kirkcaldy Burgh Rec. (1908) 231:
It is very undecent by and through his cow abusing and tirring of the graves.Sc. 1742 J. Cockburn Letters (S.H.S.) 80:
The Quarry is very deep in Tirring.Sc. 1755 Caled. Mercury (27 May):
Plenty of free Stone through the whole ground, easily come at, and not two Feet of Tirring.Sc. 1798 Edb. Weekly Jnl. (7 Feb.) 46:
Through crevices of stones, the tirrings of former workings.Peb. 1815 in A. Pennecuik Tweeddale 72:
In building the peat stacks, the surface tirrings, or turfs pared off before casting, are laid in layers, at regular distances, to bind the stacks more firmly together.m.Lth. 1845 Stat. Acc.² I. 19:
The Gilmerton lime-work was perhaps the oldest in Scotland. It was at first worked by tirring, afterwards by mining.Fif. 1868 St Andrews Gaz. (28 Nov.):
Quarry Plant consisting of 90 Wedges; 3 Tirring Picks.Abd. 1905 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 177:
The first operation in mossing was “tirrin” the bank.Cai. 1916 John o' Groat Jnl. (31 March):
The peat bank had to be tirred and the “tirrens” or “tirvens” were sometimes taken home and burnt.Abd. 1962 Abd. Press & Jnl. (8 Nov.):
A tirrin spaad, used by a peat-caster.Abd. 1968 Buchan Observer (16 April) 7:
Weel backet wi' the tirrin-sod the hearth.

2. (1) tr. To uncover or tear the covering off, to strip (a covering) from, freq. of wind blowing thatch, sods, slates, etc., from a roof or leaves from trees (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis, 1825 Jam.; n.Sc., Fif. 1972); to rob a fruit-tree (Abd. 1972). Pa.t. tirred; ¶tör(r).Sc. 1702 G. Turnbull Diary (S.H.S.) 424:
It blew most fiercely all night, tirred houses, overthrew stacks.Sc. 1734 Sc. Antiquary XII. 26:
40½ yrd sacking to be tarred for covering the roof of the Reservoir where tirred.Rnf. 1758 Session Papers, Young v. Reid (6 Feb.) 9:
Alexander Warnock had at one Time four Bay of his Houses tirred, or the Divots taken off them.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 143:
He may tir our stateliest riggins bare.Ags. 1826 A. Balfour Highland Mary IV. v.:
The wind's tirring the barn.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xxxii.:
Gyaun awa' to tirr that bit huickie that we wus takin' into the barn to thrash.Gsw. 1872 J. Young Lochlomond Side 36:
An' sune we see a ramschoch tyke Turrin' the cape stanes o' the dyke.Ags. 1883 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) V. 302:
Ilka tree branch is sune tirr'd o' its leaves.Sh. 1900 Shetland News (5 May):
A roostid waer 'at we fan among da bissy faels whin we tör da byre.Ayr. 1913 J. Service Memorables 5:
God's malison forever on ony haun' that will tirr but a sclate!Abd. 1971:
A farmer still speaks of tirrin his tattie-pits, i.e. removing the earth and straw from his clamps of potatoes.

Deriv. and phrs.: (i) tirrin, (a) the act of uncovering or unroofing, dismantling or robbing a fruit-tree or the like (ne.Sc. 1972); (b) the debris of old straw, sods, etc., from a thatched roof; (ii) to tirr a kiln, in milling: to clear the dried grain from the kiln (Abd. 1966); (iii) to tirr the kirk to theek the quire, ¶— the pulpit, proverbially, to act in an improvident makeshift manner, to rob Peter to pay Paul (Sc. 1825 Jam.).(i) (a) Gsw. 1722 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 158:
For tirring of the Laigh Kirk on both sides and sclateing twelve rodd and a half.Fif. 1865 St Andrews Gaz. (14 Jan.):
Nothing of a more serious character transpired in town than a general tirring. In the country, roofs of houses, ricks, &c., suffered severely.Abd. 1961 People's Jnl. (20 May):
The tirrin' o' the meenister's aipple tree the nicht afore.(b) Slg. 1717 Balgair Court Min. (S.R.S.) 15:
The fuilzie that was upon an house commonlie called tirrins.Bwk. 1773 R. Romanes Lauder (1903) 105:
Not to allow the Treasurer any part or share of the Old effects about the Tolbooth The Turring and rotten wood excepted.(iii) Sc. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife (1803) 193:
Those who conform'd to the Romish rites (as the proverb has it) “Tirr'd the Kirk, to theek the Quire.”Ayr. 1895 H. Ochiltree Redburn ix.:
He can ne'er theek the poopit without tirrin' the kirk.

(2) intr., of a roof: to come off or blow away in the wind. Rare. Cf. Tirve, v., 4.Lnk. 1893 T. Stewart Among the Miners 131:
The house micht be “turrin”, our mithers aghast! But wanton we revelled, jist rowed in the blast.

3. tr. or refl. (1) To strip one(self) of clothes, to undress one(self) (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis, 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 95, tyr, 1808 Jam.; Rnf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 157: ne.Sc., Ags. 1972). Also rarely of skin.Abd. 1718 Third S.C. Misc. I. 35:
Every person of age found doing so shall be tirred of their cloaths.Sc. 1733 Session Papers, Petition D. Dickson (9 March 1763) 17:
[He] saw him tirring himself naked.Sc. 1825 J. Wilson Foresters (1867) v.:
It's a bitter night — eneuch to tirr a taed.Ags. 1880 A. M. Soutar Hearth Rhymes 23:
Tirred tae sark, an' tae the wark.Abd. 1888 Bon-Accord (3 Nov.) 16:
Well, I tirred mysel', an' hauds awa ben tae ma bed.Abd. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 54:
They wurna lang o' tirrin Jean an' pittin' 'er tull bed.Abd. 1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick vii.:
He wud hae been nae sharger hid 'e been tirrt nyaakit.

Phr. to tirr the goat, a children's game: one child (the ‘goat') stands in the midst of a circle of children who sing and dance around him. Next they remove the ‘goat's' shoes or jacket and run off to hide while he replaces these before searching for the others. The last child to return becomes ‘goat' in his place (Ags.²⁰ 1955).

(2) To take (clothes, a garment) off (ne.Sc., Ags. 1972).Abd. 1933 J. H. Smythe Blethers 38:
The lassie, tee, flew hame An' tirred aff ilka stitch.Abd. 1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick xxvi.:
A tirrt aff ma weet cleys.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 24:
Henry wisna eesed wi seein sae muckle bare-buff weemin - nae ooto a magazine. Naebody else battit an ee. Henry vowed nae tae tirr his sark, kennin his pectorals war like lumpy parridge spurtles.

4. intr. To take off one's clothes, to strip, undress (Sc. 1825 Jam.; ne.Sc., Ags. 1972).Bnff. 1787 W. Taylor Sc. Poems 67:
Than I tirr'd, an' to my bed.Ags. 1879 J. Guthrie Poems 21:
The laddies to the water rin to dook, Afore they tir they round them tak' a look.Abd. 1959 People's Jnl. (25 July):
Niver hae Ah been sae thankfu tae tirr an' win intae dry duds an' in amon the oo'.

5. To pull off, denude, dismantle, in gen. (Ags., Per., Knr. 1972), e.g. to tirr a bed (Abd. 1972).Abd. 1900 C. Murray Hamewith 79:
When chiels fae wires the wark mith tirr To sweep the lum.Bch. 1904 Abd. Univ. Review (Summer 1943) 108:
An' yonner, tirr'd o's micht o' thew an' bane, Tam Grieg, that beat the parish at the stane.Kcd. 1934 L. G. Gibbon Grey Granite 281:
The workmen had bade in the house all the afternoon tirring the rooms of their furniture.Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 19:
Noo Nell's mither wis tirrin the chaumer fur Gibby Craib tae bide in - a gamie's loon frae echt mile aff, ...

II. n. The layer of top soil, clay, gravel, turf, etc., removed from the rock of a quarry (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 67; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 271; n.Sc., Fif., Bwk., Rxb. 1972).Abd. 1769 Abd. Journal (16 Jan.):
This Lime Quarry has no Tirr, the Rock being equal with the Surface of the Earth.Bnff. 1845 Stat. Acc.² XIII. 127:
The depth of tir, or superincumbent soil.Abd. 1889 Sc. Naturalist (Oct.) 169:
The “terr” or loose mossy substance being first removed.m.Lth. 1948 Scotsman (18 June) 4:
Having a sand pit, extending to ten acres, filled in and the “tirr” or top soil restored, a few years ago.