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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WUID, n., v. Also wüd (Sc. 1939 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 379), wude; wid (Ags. 1894 F. Mackenzie Cruisie Sk. xvi.; Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.; Abd. 1920 C. Murray Country Places 2; ne.Sc. 1974), widd (Cai. 1891 D. Stephen Gleanings 138); wud(d) (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–23 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai). Dim. forms widdie, -y, wuddie, -y. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. wood. [Sh., n.Sc., em.Sc. (a) wɪd: Cai., Abd., m. and s.Sc. + wʌd]

I. n. 1. As in Eng., the material, timber. Arg. 1992:
A daud o wud.Gsw. 1999 Paul Foy in Moira Burgess and Donny O'Rourke New Writing Scotland 17: Friends and Kangaroos 50:
Cuz if therr's wan thin A hate mair thin the Tims it's the Guffs. So anywye, A picks up the bit a wid an starts tae sort mahsel oot fur the attack ...em.Sc. 1999 James Robertson The Day O Judgement 9:
"Can I no pit masel aye frae ye?
Can daith no perish ye for guid?
Can burnin flame nor God's reid rage
No connach ye like wuid?"

Hence (1) wudden (Edb. 1872 J. Smith Jenny Blair 27; Cai. 1915 John o' Groat Jnl. (25 June); Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; Fif. 1939 St Andrews Cit. (30 Dec.) 6; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai), wuden (Sc. 1812 The Scotchman 19–20), widden (Sh. 1897 Shetland News (25 Dec.); Ags. 1911 T. W. Ogilvie Poems 84; Ayr. 1923 Wilson Dial. Burns 194; Rnf. 1923 G. Blake Mince Collop Close 109; Abd. 1934 D. Scott Hum. Stories 13), wooden. Combs. (i) wooden breeks, a coffin (Per., Ayr. 1974); (ii) wooden doolie, a gall-nut (Mry. 1921 T.S.D.C.). See Doolie, n.²; (iii) wudden jeckit, = (i) (Ags., Ayr. 1974); (iv) widden overcoat, id.; (v) wooden sark, id. (Ayr. 1974); (2) widdie, wuddie, (i) adj., woody; (ii) n., (a) a nickname for a wood-worker, a carpenter; (b) a wood-eating insect infesting trees (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).(1) ne.Sc. 1986 Peter Mowatt in Joy Hendry Chapman 43-4 155:
"Thon chiel's queer as a bent widden leg. That's the maitter." m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 55:
Dae they mind on us, the trees, in the grey touns
whaur a tree is anither thing in a Cooncil Park
lik a widden bink, aw thir tame beds o flouers
in couthie suburbs hapt wi an airn dyke,
nae mair a pairt o thair realitie
nor fremit beasts in a faur ceetie zoo? Edb. 1991 Dae Ye Mind ...? Volume Three of Stories and Memories from Members of St. Ann's Reminiscence Group 6:
I used tae go tae Victoria Street and collect papers tae deliver. I had a widden barry wi' two shafts and two pram wheels. Gsw. 1993 Margaret Sinclair Soor Plooms and Candy Balls 16:
Funny when ye think o' it, the cludgy oan the stair,
It hid a long widden seat, an a widden flair.(i) Bwk. 1821 W. Sutherland Poems 19:
A pair o' doolfu' wooden breeks Now does him clede.(iii) Fif. 1943:
Of a dying man, it is said: “It'll no be lang afore he pits on his wudden jeckit.”(iv) Gsw. 1958 C. Hanley Dancing in Streets 125:
The only cure fur that yin'll be a widden overcoat.(v) Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 69:
After a' this frugal wark It pinch'dly coft a wooden sark.(2) (i) Sh. 1964 Folk Life II. 8:
Widdy peat, found deep down and in some places like the mires of North Dale so full of large tough roots, apparently of trees, that they could not be cut with normal implements.(ii) (a) Edb. 1964 J. T. R. Ritchie Singing Street 8:
Trades, too, carry nicknames: “snabs”; “wuddies”.

2. An inferior type of small coal. Comb. pan-wood, see Pan, n.¹, 1.(18).e.Lth. 1739 Trans. E. Lth. Antiq. Soc. X. 32:
The pan wood of coalls 8 lb.m.Lth. 1746 Bryan Pit Acct. Bk. MS. 122:
By Marrion Penman Agnes Euart Margaret Young and Margaret Patterson each 6 days bearing. Coal and wood from [Dyke of fowll Coall].em.Sc. 1832 Chambers's Jnl. (Feb .) 19:
The invention of manufacturing sea-salt in this way is so ancient, that it cannot be dated. [The small coal used in this manufacture is still, oddly enough, called wood.]

3. As in Eng., a cluster of trees, a small forest, wud (Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 200; Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 81; Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xviii.; Bwk. 1879 W. Chisholm Poems 19: Knr. 1891 H. Haliburton Ochil Idylls 33; Dmf. 1913 A. Anderson Later Poems 89; Lth. 1920 A. Dodds Songs of Fields 8; s.Sc. 1933 Border Mag. (June) 82), wid (Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains and Hilly 96; Bnff. 1934 J. M. Caie Kindly North 24).wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 18:
Marianne, Tartuffe and his guidwife'll bask
In Heaven's ilka blessing, and sich treasure
Will merely crown their earthly pleasure!
Like weans in the wid, like twa turtledoos.Sc. 1991 R. Crombie Saunders in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 28:
Abune the sough o branches in the wuid
A music that wad tell me you were near.Abd. 1994 Stanley Robertson in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 17:
A large pine forest ... Trodgin deeper intae this wid she could see different kinds o wildlife and strange sma shrubs and fungi.Abd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 33:
Ah, did ye meet in derkened wids, bi chaunce,
Thon singer, fa o luv an wae dis sing?

Comb. and deriv.: (1) wuddie (Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 169; Ags. 1934 J. Angus Sheltering Pine i. v. i.), widdie, -y (Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 149, Abd. 1923 Banffshire Jnl. (30 Jan.)); (2) wudlan(d), woodland (Dmf. 1874 R. Reid Moorland Rhymes 72; Bwk. 1879 W. Chisholm Poems 35: Lth. 1920 A. Dodds Songs of Fields 11).(1) Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 18:
Forkietails an wyvers crawled ower the kinnlers that war hackit an riven frae muckle logs gaitherit frae the fairm widdie.

4. Combs.: (1) widd-bin, wudbine, the woodbine or honeysuckle; (2) wood-carrier, the caddis-worm, so called from the splinters of wood adhering to its case (Rxb. 1915 Jedburgh Gaz. (3 Sept.) 2). Also in Eng. dial.; (3) wood-court, a court illegally set up by the baillie-depute in Carrick in 1722 to try people accused of cutting growing timber; (4) wood-crow, the rook, Corvus frugilegus (Cai. 1887 Harvie-Brown and Buckley Fauna Cai. 149); (5) wood cushat, a wood pigeon; (6) wood-forester, -foster, erron. -fosterer, a forester, one in charge of the woods on an estate; (7) wude-ill, a disease of cattle, red-water (e.Lth. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ VI. 160; s.Sc. 1825 Jam.); (8) woodlaid, floored with wood (Cai., Abd., Lth. 1974); (9) wood-lark. not applied as in Eng. to Lullula arborea, which is rare in Scot., but to the tree-pipit, Anthus trivialis (Bwk. 1889 G. Muirhead Birds Bwk. I. 116), the willow-warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus (Sc. 1911 Trans. Edb. Field Naturalists' Soc. VI. 332), or poss. to the sedge warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, in 1795 quot.; (10) wood leave, permission given to the tenants of an estate to cut growing timber; (11) woodlouse, a bookworm (Lth. 1825 Jam.); (12) wood neuk, the corner of a wood; the corner of a room where firewood is stored (Sh. 1974); (13) wood-pease, the heath-pea, Orobus tuberosus (Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife (1803) 142); (14) wood-pecker, the tree-creeper, Certhia familiaris (Per. 1885 C. Swainson Brit. Birds 57; Bnff. 1888 Trans. Bnff. Field Club 26; Bwk. 1911 A. H. Evans Fauna Tweed 69; Rxb. 1915 Jedburgh Gaz. (27 Aug.) 2); (15) wood-rasp, the wild raspberry, Rubus idaeus; (16) woodroo, woodruff, Asperula odorata. Cf. Eng. †wood-roue, id.; (17) wood-thrush, the missel thrush, Turdus viscivorus (Dmf. 1885 C. Swainson Brit. Birds 2). Also in Eng. dial.; (18) widwig, the dragonfly, Odonata (Bnff. 1968). For -wig, cf. Eng. earwig; (19) wudwise, ‘a yellow flower, which grows on bad land, and has a bitter taste' (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 486), prob. = Eng. woodwax, †-wesse, -wish, dyer's green weed, Genista tinctoria.(1) Sc. 1819 Scots Mag. (June) 526:
The wudbine scougs frae sun an' shower.ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 188:
The rawn-tree in the widd-bin Haud the witches on cum in.(3) Sc. 1722 D. Hume Punishment of Crimes (1797) II. 213:
They were also charged with the repeated holding of unlawful proceedings, called Wood-courts, in the different parishes of the bailiary.(5) ne.Sc. 1958 Jessie Kesson The White Bird Passes (1987) 76:
Wheeling curlews cried out in their loneliness. Wood cushats grumbled in their sleep.(6) Dmf. 1744 Session Rec. Moffat MS. (Record Office):
John Lorimare, woodfoster, in Craigieburn.Gall. 1776 Dmf. Weekly Mag. (26 Nov.):
Andrew M'Cormick the wood-fosterer at Cardoness.Sc. 1865 Queen Victoria More Leaves (1884) 32:
The Duke's head wood-forester.Kcb. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy xxv.:
Uncle Rob, the wood-forester, had come down that morning early to the saw-mill.(7) Rxb. 1798 R. Douglas Agric. Rxb. 150:
When [cattle are] reared in open pasture, and afterwards carried to fields where there is heath or brushwood, they are seized frequently with a serious and alarming disease, called the wood-ill, and sometimes the moor-ill, generally ascribed to their eating some herbage growing among the heath or bushes, to which they were not accustomed from their infancy.Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot., App. I. 406:
Many cows, that are said to be witched, or die of the wood-ill, &c. may suffer from this very plant [crowfoot].(8) Cai. 1902 J. Horne Canny Countryside 25:
I slept in ‘the room', the only woodlaid bit of the house.(9) Ayr. 1794 Burns Letters (Ferguson) No. 620:
On a wreath of the colors, a woodlark perching on a sprig of bay-tree, proper, for Crest.Clc. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XV. 199:
The woodlark ought to be particularly mentioned, as one of our sweetest warblers. He begins to sing early in the spring, and continues till late in harvest. Like the nightingale, he is frequently heard singing in the clear, still summer evenings. On these occasions, he commonly prolongs his song till midnight.Bnff. 1918 Trans. Bnff. Field Club 75:
Harvie-Brown says that in Banffshire records for the Wood-Lark are in a muddle, and suggests that Tree-Pipit should be read for Wood-Lark.Ayr. 1929 Paton & Pike Birds Ayr. 37:
Many Ayrshire observers in the past have mistaken some of these eggs for those of the Wood-Lark, . . . and it is for this reason that the Tree-Pipit has obtained the local name of Wood-Lark.(10) Arg. 1771 Arg. Estate Instructions (S.H.S.) 3:
I desire you give positive orders to the tenants within your charge never to apply for wood-leave to any of my wood-keepers without your warrant specifying the quantity and sorts of timber they require.(12) Dmf. 1845 Stat. Acc.² IV. 559:
There are lands, which of old extent are designated Woodneuk, because they were situated at one of the corners of the grove.(15) Slk. 1820 Hogg Tales (1866) 125:
Gathering wood-rasps for a delicate preserve.(16) Lnk. 1893 J. Crawford Sc. Verses 108:
The sweet scented woodroo, sae modest an' shy.

5. In phrs., proverbial expressions, etc.: (1) gweed wid, good stuff, used fig. of a person; (2) to be i' the wud o', to be in need of (ne.Sc. 1808 Jam.). Cf. n.Eng. dial. in a wood, in a perplexity or fix; (3) to get or pit throu the wud, laddie, to (be) scold(ed) severely (Kcb. 1930). Cf. Muir, 2.(1); (4) to tak to the wood, to take to hiding or concealment, like an outlaw (Sc. 1887 Jam.). Cf. Forest, 2.(2); (5) when the wood 'ill be cuttit, see quot.; (6) wood and water, see quot.(1) Abd. c.1780 Ellis E.E.P. V. 774:
Breece wis a pauchtie chappie, and a bittie gweed wid o's size.(2) Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 184:
I'm i' the wud o' winter shoon, The pair I hae are mair than dune.(5) Per. 1896 D. Macara Crieff 2:
We'll get it when the wood 'ill be cuttit (a favourite expression when there was an unsuccessful search for anything).(6) Sc. 1829 Scott Rob Roy Intro.:
The Duke of Argyle was also one of Rob Roy's protectors, so far as to afford him, according to the Highland phrase, wood and water — the shelter, namely, that is afforded by the forests and lakes of an inaccessible country.

II. v. 1. To make or construct from wood.Lnk. 1893 J. Crawford Sc. Verses 56:
The flure wasna wuddet or flagget.

2. To plant trees in (a place), to afforest. Vbl.n. wooding, a planting of trees, the trees so planted, a copse or wood.Rnf. 1788 E. Picken Poems 76:
The mantlan ivy cling To wooding in the grove.Sc. 1828 H. Steuart Planter's Guide 355:
The wooding of two acres of ground as a Close Plantation.Dmb. 1846 W. Cross Disruption xxxii.:
What does he know about the quarries, the fishings, and the woodings?Wgt. 1875 W. McIlwraith Guide Wgt. 103:
Much of the wooding which gives variety to the landscape.Per. 1923 H. Coates Per. Naturalist 222:
Whole hillsides were stripped bare of wooding.