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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.

TULLOCH, n. [′tʌləx]

1. A mound, knoll, hillock, freq. of a fairy mound (Cai. 1934).Per. a.1825 Donald and Flora 82:
There's no a tulloch that I set my foot on, But woos remembrance frae her dear retreat.
Cai. 1916 John o' Groat Jnl. (31 March):
The oldest cultivated land in the county is near the cairns or tullochs where our rude fore-fathers in their leisure hours were in the habit of doing a little husbandry.

2. Fig. a heap of money, a goodly sum.Fif. 1896 D. S. Meldrum Grey Mantle 244:
The guid tulloch he got from's mither, — five thoosand, they said.

3. Short for reel o Tulloch, see Reel, n.1. 2. (1). and Hoolachan, generalised in quot. of any lively reel.Ags. 1790 D. Morison Poems 23:
The fidler tifted ilka string, Play'd tulloch ev'ry smite o't . . . To tulloch lat us ramble Wi' vir this night.

[Gael. tulach, a small hill, a knoll, very freq. in Sc. place-names, esp. north of the Forth.]

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