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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

WUID, adj., adv. Also wud, wudd (Mry. 1899 C. A. Elf Hill of Birnie 12); wude; wood; wod (Ork. 1931 Orcadian (7 May)), wode, †wodde, woad (Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 42); wid(d); ¶wit-. [wɪd, wød, wyd; wʌd]

I. adj. 1. Mad, insane, out of one's mind, demented (Sc. 1808 Jam., “outrageous in a state of insanity”; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Rxb. 1942 Zai). Gen. (exc. I.) Sc., freq. in phrs. as clean wuid, like wuid, to gang wuid; crazed or beyond oneself with excitement, fear, anxiety, weariness, etc.; of animals: rabid, furious.ne.Sc. 1714 R. Smith Poems 85:
He's neither gaady, wood nor scar.Sc. 1726 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 185:
But now, poor man, he's e'en gane wood, Since Jenny has gart him despair.Fif. 1733 D. Beveridge Culross (1885) II. 103:
There has been some wood dogs going through the town.Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T S.) II. 91:
In tents the carles bend the bicker, An' rant an' roar like wud.Per. c.1800 Lady Nairne Songs (Rogers 1905) 214:
The women are a' gane wud! Oh, that he had bidden awa'!Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality xxxvii.:
Pride and anger hae driven him clean wud.Ayr. 1826 Galt Last of Lairds xxi.:
She's just been wud wi a passion o' haste the night.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Proverbs 6:
Ne'er put a sword in a wud man's hand.Sc. 1887 Stevenson Underwoods 132:
An' the morn's mornin, [a dog ] wud's the wind, Yokes on his master.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss-Hags liv.:
The lassie's gane wud.Bwk. 1904 Lady J. Scott Songs 81:
Oh sair was his heart, an' a wud man was he.Sh. 1928 Manson's Almanac 186:
He wis really ower wid an' weary . . . to think about anything but “a rest i' da aald shair”Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 94:
Gin that bull o' oors gaes wude.Ags. 1945 Scots Mag. (April) 39:
Fa keeps me eident weyvin' 'oo An' nearly wud wi' wark to do.Abd. 1955 Huntly Express (4 Feb.):
The moon came in on a Saturday and if we accept the ancient lore, “A Saturday meen gangs three times wid,” then we cannot hope for many fine open days.

2. Fierce, violent, recklessly daring, wild in behaviour; ravening.Sc. 1723 W. Macfarlane Geog. Coll. (S.H.S.) I. 123:
Widd Willie Graeme . . . being so called by reason of his resolution and Boldness.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xxviii.:
There's as wud lads haunt within a day's walk from hence, as on the braes of Doune.Abd. 1832 A. Beattie Poems 119:
Chief to chief, and man to man, And sword to sword flauchtbred and wode.Lnk. 1922 T. S. Cairncross Scot at Hame 30:
Fechtin' to keep the wud wolf frae the door.

3. (1) Furiously angry, beside oneself with rage (Sc. 1808 Jam.; ne.Sc., Ags., Slg., Lnk., Dmf. 1974).Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) II. 47:
Gentlemen, what! are ye wood? What's ye'r Quarrel?Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 225:
Wise Willy gaed wood at the wean.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals xxvi.:
Mr. Cayenne could not get it out, which put him quite wud, and he attempted to fling it at Sambo.Fif. 1825 Jam.:
Ye haud a stick in the wod man's e'e, i.e., you continue to provoke one already enraged.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 125:
Ye'll no be wud because I tell my mind t'ye.ne.Sc. 1884 D. Grant Lays 7:
A wudder souter lingan ne'er Through leather tried to rug.Lnk. 1922 T. S. Cairncross Scot at Hame 38:
I'm demented and half-wud When ony ca's me Poachin' Wully.Ags. 1932 A. Gray Arrows 82:
The shepherd-lass gaed wud, and sprang up frae the grund.

(2) Fig. of wind or water:Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 88:
E'en Crawick as wud, as wud can be, Spent a' their foaming rage on me.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller i.:
Whaur the wheel tears in tatters the wud waterfa'.

4. With for, o, to with inf.: eager, ardent, desperately keen (Slg. 1974).Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie xl.:
Are nae ye wud for your wedding?Ags. 1824 Literary Olio (24 Jan.) 29:
We maun hae some o' ye buckled to auld Laird Anderson; he's lang been wud o' a wife.Knr. 1895 H. Haliburton Dunbar 14:
Wud to be rich, they want the pow'r.Edb. 1901 J. W. M'Laren Scots Poems 62:
Syne mak' the book-worms everywhere, Wud for the wark!Ags. 1954 Forfar Dispatch (18 March):
I wuz affa interestit ee Pharaohs, but efter my short veesit there I wiz fair wuid tae ken mair aboot them.

5. In phrs. and combs.: (1) aince wuid and aye the waur, getting madder and madder, becoming progressively more insane, daft once, daft always. See Waur; (2) brainwude, impetuous, working at a reckless tearing pace. See Brain, adj.; (3) red wud, stark, staring mad. See also Reid, adj., 1.(80); ¶(4) slauchter-wode, mad for slaughter, full of blood-lust; (5) to rin wud, to go clean off one's head, act with reckless abandon; (6) widdrim, -dreme, wuddrum, a dazed state, great mental confusion, as in waking from a dream (Sc. 1825 Jam.); “a sudden gust of passion without apparent cause” (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.); an unconsidered headstrong impulse, a brainstorm. Now only liter. See also 6.(1); (7) wud scud, “a mad romping boy or girl” (Ags. 1825 Jam.). See Scud, v.; (8) wud spur(s), fig., an ardour for riding on forays or the like; hence a nickname for a person of this disposition. Cf. Eng. hotspur.(1) Sc. 1720 W. Fraser Scotts of Buccleuch (1878) II. 382:
He is now acting the Scots proverb — 'ens wod an' ey the war.Sc. 1818 Scott O. Mortality xlii.:
Now he's anes wud and aye waur, and roars for revenge.Ayr. 1901 G. Douglas Green Shutters xx.:
It's aince wud and aye waur wi' her.(2) Dmf. 1821 Blackwood's Mag. (Jan.) 403:
Gin I can make ye gain the half length of my chanter on thae brainwude bairns on the haft and point [at reaping].(3) Ayr. 1786 Burns Earnest Cry xvi.:
Now she's like to rin red-wud About her Whisky.Kcb. 1797 R. Buchanan Poems 16:
A' the fouk red wod, Guid guide us! Like as mony furies ran.Sc. 1819 Scott Bride of Lamm. ix.:
He's daft — clean daft — red wud, and awa wi't.Slk. 1822 Hogg Three Perils (1973) xxix.:
The copper-nosed Kers, the towzy Turnbulls, and the red-wudd Ridderfords.(4) Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry 143:
Within their rests their trams o' wood [spears] Stood tremblin', as if slauchter-wode.(5) Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 66:
He fleecht ane sae she ran red wud.Sc. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxix.:
Rin wud among the lasses, like Squire John!ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 109:
The drunken wives of Fochabers Is a' rinnin wid.Ork. 1910 Old-Lore Misc. III. i. 32:
A' da hooses i da toon hed a swad o' sheep rinnan wud trou da hill.Ayr. 1913 J. Service Memorables 56:
She made twa o' his kye rin wud and rammish to deid.(6) Sc. 1810 in Scott Minstrelsy III. 389:
The trout, the par, now here, now thare, As in a widdrim bang.Cld. 1818 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 329:
Bonnie May cleekit it up, — gied a loud gaffaw, — vanished in a widdrim, — an' was neer mare seen.Lth. 1825 Jam.:
He took a wuddrum, and nothing would serve him but he would tak on for a soldier.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry 45:
Sae fiercelins had his wid-dreme stirr'd him.Sc. 1935 W. Soutar Poems in Sc. 28:
A hantle's daft Just like yoursel', and hardly ane Hadna a wuddrum i' the bane.(8) Sc. 1802 Scott Minstrelsy I. 106:
His name was Watty wi' the wudspurs! It's I, Watty Wudspurs, loose the kye!Dmf. 1822 Scots Mag. (April) 493:
Will's a sad rackless fallow, and Duncan's a wicked wud-spur o' a body, when his blude's up.

6. Derivs.: (1) wuiden, mad, crazy. Rare except in comb. widden-dream, -dreme, wudden-, wooden-, and reduced form windrem, 5.(6). Phr. in a widden dream, in a sudden frantic motion or effort, like fury; (2) woodish, crazy, crack-brained; (3) wudlins, in a crazy, excited manner, desperately and eagerly; (4) woodly, frantically, in(to) a state of frenzy; (5) wudness, wuidness, wid-, mad rage; a paroxysm, fit, seizure, affecting the brain; (6) widriff, witriffe, wild to madness, raging, lit. and fig. of the elements. See -Rife, suff., 3.(1) Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Journal 26:
We, like fierdy follows, flew to't flaught-bred, thinkin to raise it in a widden-dream.Cai. 1773 Weekly Mag. (28 Oct.) 146:
Ae morning in a woodendream I raise.Sc. 1806 R. Jamieson Pop. Ballads I. 297:
Bess out in a widden-dream brattled.Sc. 1820 Scots Mag. (May) 423:
In a widdendreme, the thunder-leem Shot ower me blae as lead.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xxxix.:
It was natural . . . that . . . Peter Birse, junior, should in a sort of reckless “wudden dream,” determine that his marriage should not pass over otherwise than in the form of a regular out-and-out demonstration.Abd. 1905 W. Skene East Neuk Chron. 45:
In a wooden dream the young man, not knowing what he was about, clambered out by the skylight.wm.Sc. 1928 J. Corrie Last Day 41:
Yir daft, Jock, even though ye dae hae a D.C.M. in the hoose; aye, yir clean wudden.Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 27:
Tae win awa, tae courie doun,
tae courie doun, aiblins tae dream
aye that's the fasherie.
For whan the sheilin's duin
the mool maun haud sic wudden dreams
as mak us raither bide sair hudden doun. Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 55:
Twis a widdendream caain fur Molly. I trailed frae ae place tae an ither, speirin the bourachs o charred fowk, ... (2) Sc. 1773 D. Hume Punishment of Crimes (1797) I. 26:
He was at all times a weak and passionate creature, and especially (as they expressed it) “on the woodish order when he got drunk.”(3) Abd. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 12:
Then ilka wanter wudlins jinks To hear a tune.(4) Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. v. iii.:
They skelpit me when woodly fleid.(5) Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 12:
I just girn wi' perfect wudness when I think o' you.Abd. 1847 Sc. Farmer (2 July) 589:
To this disease the Farmers have applied the very significant name of staggers, from the fact of the animal staggering or reeling when under its influence. Another local term, confined, however, to the district of Foveran, is that of widness of the head.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 55:
An that is foo I maun set doon this tale: as a tellin tae ye aa, fit can happen fin men alloo the waesome wuidness o war.(6) Bnff. 1869 W. Knight Auld Yule 19:
Blin' drift's snorin' doun the lane Wi' witriffe scud.Sc. 1951 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 410:
She glowered at me wi widriff een.

II. adv. Crazily, in a daft or demented manner. Also fig. Freq. used before adjs. denoting craziness, error, rage, etc., as an intensive: absolutely, ‘clean'.Per. 1766 A. Nicol Poems 93:
The clergy, that should people shaw The gate to heaven, are wood wrang a'.Sc. 1776 D. Herd Sc. Songs I. 27:
When he saw her dear heart's blude A' wood wroth wexed he.Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 349:
Compar'd wi' you, they're a' a mock, And clean wud wrang.Rxb. a.1860 J. Younger Autobiog. (1881) 93:
The bodie's gane wood crazy.Kcb. 1882 G. Murray Poems 54:
The weaver lad In nearest dam may tak' a dip Or gang wud mad.Ags. 1894 A. Reid Sangs 79:
Whaur wud the switherin' torrents fell.