Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

TIRVE, v. Also tirf. [tɪrv]

1. tr. To strip, remove (a covering of clothes, thatch, etc.) from (a person, a building, a stack, etc.) (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; Ork., Cai. 1972).Ork. 1905 E.D.D.:
When the thatch of a cottage is torn off by the wind it is said to be tirved.Ork. 1911 Old-Lore Misc. IV. i. 24:
Many a time after a stormy night the farmer awoke to find his roof tirved.

2. tr. To take (the surface-soil or vegetation) off a piece of ground, esp. in order to uncover peat or quarrying stone (Ork. 1929 Marw.). Also absol. Vbl.n. tirvin, the turf so removed (Cai. 1905 E.D.D., Cai. 1972).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 burned.Ork. 1956 C. M. Costie Benjie's Bodle 161:
He dug an' tirvid i' yin lan' till hid's a winder the airms wirno aaf o' him.

3. intr. Of a roof or covering: to come off, be blown away, be stripped. Cf. Tirr, v.¹, 2. (2).Ork. 1929 Marw.:
The riff's tirvan, the stacks are a' tirvan.