Chapter 13
"That is, cherish or love him, he'll never be naturally affected towards you."--_Ray._
Put nae force against the flail.
Put on your spurs and be at your speed.
Put twa pennies in a purse, and they'll creep thegither.
Put your finger in the fire, and say it was your fortune.
Spoken of a person who has wittingly placed himself in difficulties, and who attributes his bad position to fortune.
Put your hand in the creel, tak out an adder or an eel.
"In buying horses and taking a wife, shut your eyes and commend yourself to God."--_Italian._
Put your hand nae farther oot than your sleeve will reach.
Put your hand twice to your bannet for ance to your pouch.
"Put your hand quickly to your hat, and slowly to your purse, and you will take no harm."--_Danish._
Put the man to the mear that can manage the mear.
Put the saddle on the right horse.
Put your shanks in your thanks and mak gude gramashes o' them.
Literally, put your legs in your thanks and make good gaiters of them. A sharp remark on those who pay in thanks only, when a more substantial reward is expected.
Put your thoom upon that.
"Conceal it carefully--keep it secret."--_Jamieson._
Quality without quantity is little thought o'.
Quey calves are dear veal.
A "quey calf" is a female calf. They are generally kept to replenish the stock; it is bull calves that are principally fattened for killing young.
Quick at meat, quick at wark.
Quick, for you'll ne'er be cleanly.
"That is, do a thing nimbly, for you'll never do it neatly."--_Kelly._
Quick returns mak rich merchants.
Quietness is best.
Rab Gibb's contract,--stark love and kindness.
Raggit folk and bonny folk are aye ta'en haud o'.
Spoken jocularly when a person has rent or caught his clothes upon a nail or other projection.
Raise nae mair deils than ye are able to lay.
"Raise no more spirits than you can conjure down."--_German._
Rather spoil your joke than tine your friend.
Raw dads mak fat lads.
Raw leather raxes weel.
"Raw leather will stretch."--_English._
Reavers shouldna be ruers.
Literally, robbers should not repent.
Reckless youth maks ruefu' eild.
"People who live too fast when they are young will neither have a vigorous nor a comfortable old age."--_Kelly._
Reckon up your winning at your bed-stock.
Red brackens bring milk and butter.
"In October, the bracken or fern on hill pastures becomes red with the first frosty nights, and about that time the autumnal herbage is very rich, and productive of the good things in question."--_Robert Chambers._
Red wood maks gude spindles.
"'Red wood,' the name given to the reddish or dark-coloured and more incorruptible wood found in the heart of trees."--_Jamieson._
Refer my coat and lose a sleeve.
"Rejoice, bucks," quo' Brodie, when he shot at the buryin' and thought it was a weddin'.
Remember, man, and keep in mind, a faithfu' friend is hard to find.
Remove an auld tree an' it'll wither.
Riches are got wi' pain, kept wi' care, and tint wi' grief.
Rich folk hae routh o' friends.
"Routh o' friends," that is, many of them.
Rich folk's wit rives poor folk's jaws.
Rich mixture maks gude mortar.
Ride fair and jaup nane.
"Taken from riding through a puddle, but applied to too home jesting."--_Kelly._
Right, Roger, sow's gude mutton.
A proverbial expression, meaning that a person is totally mistaken about a matter.
Right wrangs nae man.
Ripe fruit is soonest rotten.
Rise when the day daws, bed when the night fa's.
Robin, that herds on the height, can be blithe as Sir Robert the Knight.
Rome wasna built in a day.
Rot him awa' wi' ham and eggs.
Rowan-tree and red thread mak the witches tine their speed.
These particular articles were formerly supposed to have a controlling power over witches.
Royt lads may mak sober men.
To "royt" is to go about idly or dissolutely.
Rue and thyme grow baith in ae garden.
Rule youth weel, for eild will rule itsel'.
Ruse the fair day at e'en.
"Commend not a thing or a project till it has had its full effect."--_Kelly._
"It is not good praising the ford till a man be over."--_English._
Ruse the ford as ye find it.
Speak only of things as your experience has found them.
Rusted wi' eild, a wee piece gate seems lang.
Literally, decayed by age, a short road seems a very long one.
Sae mony men, sae mony minds.
"Saft beddin's gude for sair banes," quo' Howie when he streekit himsel on the midden-head.
"Saft's your horn, my friend," quo' the man when he grippit the cuddy's lug.
"Sail," quo' the king: "Haud," quo' the wind.
Sair cravers are ill-payers.
"This proverb, and the reverse, viz., 'Ill payers are sore cravers,' I have never yet seen fail."--_Kelly._
Sairs shouldna be sair handled.
That is, delicate or painful subjects should be cautiously alluded to.
Sair wark and poortith downa weel be joined.
Sairy be your meal-pock, and aye your nieve i' the neuk o't.
An uncharitable saying, expressing literally a wish that the meal bag may be empty when the hand is put in to take some.
"Saut," quo' the souter, when he had eaten a cow a' but the tail.
"Spoken to them that flag when they have almost finished a difficult task."--_Kelly._
Save yoursel' frae the deil and the laird's bairns.
"A caution of poor people to their children, how they meddle with their superiors; for, if they hurt the laird's bairns, they will be sure to be punished, but, if hurt by them, they will get no right."--_Kelly._
Saw thin, shear thin.
Saw wheat in dirt and rye in dust.
Saw ye that and shotna at it, and you sae gleg a gunner.
A satire upon a boaster who is telling of some extraordinary thing which he pretends to have seen.
Say aye "No," and ye'll ne'er be married.
A jocular remark to a person who has refused something which has been offered to him.
Saying gangs cheap.
"Talking pays nae toll."--_English._
Say weel and dae weel, end wi' ae letter: say weel is gude, but dae weel is better.
Say what you will, an ill mind will turn't to ill.
Scant-o'-grace hears lang preachings.
Or, at least, thinks them so.
Scanty cheeks mak a lang nose.
Scart-the-cog wad sup mair.
To "scart the cog" is to scrape the inside of the dish.
Scorn comes wi' skaith.
Scornfu' dogs eat dirty puddin's.
"'Hout, fye--hout, fye--all nonsense and pride,' said the Laird of Summertrees, 'scornful dogs will eat dirty puddings, cousin Crosbie. Ye little ken what some of your friends were obliged to do yon time for a sowp of brose or a bit of bannock.'"--_Redgauntlet._
Scorn not the bush ye get beild frae.
Scotsmen aye reckon frae an ill hour.
Scotsmen aye tak their mark frae a mischief.
That is, always reckon from the date of some untoward event, such as a death, an accident, or a fire.
See for love and buy for siller.
Seein's believin' a' the world ower.
Seek muckle, and get something; seek little, and get naething.
Seek till you find, and ye'll never lose your labour.
Seek your sa' where you got your ail, and beg your barm where you buy your ale.
The surly reply of a person who has been shunned for some trivial or mistaken reason by one who is compelled by circumstances to apply to him for information or assistance.
Seil ne'er comes till sorrow be awa.
Seldom ride tines his spurs.
Seldom seen, soon forgotten.
Self-praise comes aye stinking ben.
Self-praise is nae honour.
Sel, sel, has half-filled hell.
"Sel, sel," that is, the sin of selfishness.
Send a fool to France, and a fool he'll come back.
Send your gentle blude to the market, and see what it will buy.
A reproach upon those who boast of their gentle birth, but who possess nothing of greater value.
Send your son to Ayr: if he do weel here, he'll do weel there.
Send you to the sea, and ye'll no get saut water.
"Spoken when people foolishly come short of their errand."--_Kelly._
Ser' yoursel', and your friends will think the mair o' ye.
An answer of those who are asked to do a favour when they would rather not oblige.
Ser' yoursel' till your bairns come o' age.
Set a beggar on horseback, he'll ride to the deil.
Set a stout heart to a stey brae.
"Delay not, And fray not, And thou sall sie it say; Sic gets ay, That setts ay, Stout stomaks to the brae."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
Set a thief to grip a thief.
Set him up and shute him forward.
"'A lord!' ejaculated the astonished Mrs Dods: 'a lord come down to the Waal!--they will be neither to haud nor to bind now--ance wud and aye waur--a lord!--set them up and shute them forward--a lord!--the Lord have a care o' us!--a lord at the hottle! Maister Touchwood, it's my mind he will only prove to be a Lord o' Session.'"--_St Ronan's Well._
Set that doun on the backside o' your count-book.
That is, I have done you a service, see that you repay it.
Set your foot upon that, an' it winna loup in your face.
Shallow waters mak maist din.
"Shame fa' the couple," as the cow said to her fore feet.
Shame fa' the dog that, when he hunted you, didna gar you rin faster.
Shame fa' them that think shame to do themsels a gude turn.
Shame's past the shed o' your hair.
Sharp sauce gies a gude taste to sweetmeats.
She brak her elbow at the kirk door.
"Spoken of a thrifty maiden when she becomes a lazy wife."--_Kelly._
She frisks about like a cat's tail i' the sun.
She has an ill paut wi' her hind foot.
She has gi'en them green stockings.
Spoken when a young woman marries before her elder sisters.
She hauds up her gab like an aumos dish.
"And aye he gies the touzie drab The tither skelpin' kiss, While she held up her greedy gab Just like an aumos dish."--_Burns._
She hauds up her head like a hen drinking water.
The two last sayings are applied to persons who behave in an impudent or forward manner.
She'll keep her ain side o' the house, and gang up and down yours.
"Spoken to dissuade our friend from marrying a woman whom we suspect to be too bold."--_Kelly._
She'll wear like a horseshoe, aye the langer the clearer.
She lookit at the moon, but lichtit i' the midden.
Applied to young women who have boasted, before marriage, of the "fine match" which they will get, but who afterwards are allied to common every-day people.
She looks as if butter wadna melt in her mou.
She looks like a leddy in a landward kirk.
This means that a person may appear very conspicuous on account of a peculiar dress or manner.
She pined awa like Jenkin's hen.
"To die like _Jenkin's hen_ is to die an old maid."--_Jamieson._
She's a bad sitter that's aye in a flutter.
She's a drap o' my dearest blude.
She's a wise wife that wats her ain weird.
That is, who knows her own destiny.
She's better than she's bonny.
A Highlander, in speaking favourably of his wife, is reported to have misquoted this, and characterized her as being "bonnier than she was better."
She's black, but she has a sweet smack.
That is, she is not very beautiful, but she is rich.
She's dinket out, neb and feather.
"Dressed completely; from top to toe."--_Jamieson._
She's grown gatty that was ance a dautie.
She's no to be made a sang about.
"An abatement of a woman's commendation to beauty."--_Kelly._
She that fa's ower a strae's a tentless taupie.
She that gangs to the well wi' an ill will, either the pig breaks or the water will spill.
She that taks a gift, hersel she sells; and she that gies ane, does naething else.
She wadna hae the walkers, and the riders gaed by.
"It is recorded of a celebrated beauty, Becky Monteith, that being asked how she had not made a good marriage, having replied, 'Ye see, I wadna hae the walkers, and the riders gaed by.'"--_Ramsay's Reminiscences._
Shod i' the cradle, and barefit i' the stubble.
Applied to people who dress out of keeping with their work.
Shored folk live lang, an' so may him ye ken o'.
"'Force our way with the king's keys, and break the neck of every living soul we find in the house, if ye dinna gie it ower forthwith!' menaced the incensed Hobbie. 'Threatened folks live lang,' said the hag, in the same tone of irony; 'there's the iron gate--try your skeel on't, lads--it has kept out as good men as you or now.'"--_The Black Dwarf._
Short accounts mak lang friends.
Short rents mak careless tenants.
Shouther to shouther stands steel and pouther.
Show me the man and I'll show you the law.
Sic a man as thou wad be, draw thee to sic companie.
Sic as ye gie, sic will you get.
Sic faither, sic son.
Sic reek as is therein comes out o' the lum.
Sic things maun be if we sell ale.
"This was the good woman's reply to her husband when he complained of the exciseman's too demonstrative gallantry."--_W. K. Kelly._
Silence and thought hurt nae man.
Silence grips the mouse.
Silly bairns are eith to lear.
Sins and debts are aye mair than we think them.
Sit down and rest you, and tell us how they drest you, and how you wan awa.
A jocular way of asking a person about people whom he has been to see.
Sit on your seat, and nane will rise you.
"Sit in your place, and none can make you rise."--_English._
Skill is nae burden.
Slander leaves a sair behint.
Slighted love is sair to bide.
Slipshod's no for a frozen road.
Slow at meat, slow at wark.
A reverse of this saying is common to many countries--"Quick at meat, quick at work."
Sma' fish are better than nane.
Sma' winnings mak a heavy purse.
Smooth water rins deep.
"Tweed said to Till, 'What gars ye rin sae still?' Till said to Tweed, 'Though ye rin sae wi' speed, And I rin slaw, Where ye drown ae man, I drown twa.'"--_Berwickshire Rhyme._
Sober, neighbour! The night's but young yet.
A remonstrance with a person who is doing a thing too hurriedly, signifying that there is plenty of time to spare for the purpose.
Sodgers, fire, and water soon mak room for themsels.
Some ane has tauld her she was bonny.
Some are gey drouthy, but ye're aye moistified.
An insinuation that a person is very much addicted to tippling. "'Moistify,' a low word, generally used in a ludicrous sense in regard to topers."--_Jamieson._
Some are only daft, but ye're red-wud raving.
Somebody may come to kame your hair wi' a cutty stool.
"Spoken by mothers to stubborn daughters, intimating they will come under the hands of a stepmother, who, it is likely, will not deal too tenderly with them."--_Kelly._
Some can stand the sword better than the pintstoup.
Some folk look up, and ithers look down.
And, we presume, the proverb would have the reader to understand they prosper or fail accordingly.
Some fork low, but ye fork ower the mow.
That is, some people do not do their work sufficiently, but you overdo it.
Some hae a hantel o' fauts, ye're only a ne'er-do-weel.
Some, though very bad, still have some redeeming qualities; the party addressed has none.
Some hae hap, and some stick i' the gap.
Meaning that some have and some have not good fortune.
Some hae little sense, but ye're aye haverin'.
Some show a gliff o' the gowk, but ye're aye goavin.
To "show a gliff of the gowk" is to behave foolishly.
Some strake the measure o' justice, but ye gie't heapit.
Some tak a', but ye leave naething.
Some that hae least to dree are loudest wi' "waes me."
"Those who are least hurt cry loudest."--_English._
"So on and accordingly," quo' Willie Baird's doggie.
Soon enough if well enough.
Soon enough to cry "Chuck" when it's out o' the shell.
Soon gotten, soon spent.
Soon ripe, soon rotten.
"Soor plooms," quo' the tod when he couldna climb the tree.
Sorrow an' ill weather come unca'd.
Sorrow be on your hands that held sae well to your head.
An imprecation on a person who has surpassed another in an undertaking.
Sorrow is soon enough when it comes.
Sorrow shake you out o' the wabster's handiwark.
Literally, sorrow shake you out of your clothes.
Sorrow's sib to a' body.
Souters and tailors count hours.
That is, tradesmen and commercial persons are aware of the value of time.
Souters shouldna gae ayont their last.
Spare at the spigot, and let out at the bunghole.
"Spoken to them who are careful and penurious in some trifling things, but neglective in the main chance."--_Kelly._
Spare to speak, spare to speed.
Spare weel and hae weel.
Spare when ye're young, and spend when ye're auld.
Speak gude of pipers, your faither was a fiddler.
Speak o' the deil and he'll appear.
Jocularly applied to a person who approaches those who have just been inquiring for him.
Speak when ye're spoken to, and drink when ye're drucken to.
Speak when ye're spoken to, do what ye're bidden, come when ye're ca'd, an' ye'll no be chidden.
A sharp remark to those who join in the conversation of others unsolicited or impertinently.
Speir at Jock Thief if I be a leal man.
Spoken by rogues, who, when their respectability is questioned, refer to persons equally bad.
"Ask my comrade, who is as great a liar as myself."--_French._
Spend, and God will send; spare, and be bare.
Spilt ale is waur than water.
Spit in your loof and haud fast.
This means, simply, take a firm hold of a thing.
Spit on a stane and it will be wat at last.
Stable the steed, and put your wife to bed when there's night wark to do.
"'Am I no gaun to the ploy, then?' said Maggie, in a disappointed tone. 'And what for should ye?' said her lord and master; 'to dance a' night, I'se warrant, and no to be fit to walk your tae's-length the morn, and we have ten Scots miles afore us? Na, na. Stable the steed, and pit your wife to bed when there's night wark to do.'"--_Redgauntlet._
Standers-by see mair than gamesters.
Staunin' dubs gather dirt.
"Standing pools gather filth."--_English._
Stay and drink o' your ain browst.
"Take a share of the mischief that you have occasioned."--_Kelly._
"But gae your wa's, Bessie, tak on ye, And see wha'll tak care o' ye now; E'en gae wi' the Bogle, my bonnie-- It's a browst your ain daffery did brew."--_Old Ballad._
Stay nae langer in a friend's house than ye're welcome.
Step by step climbs the hill.
Stickin' gangsna by strength, but by the right use o' the gully.
Stretching and gaunting bodes sleep to be wanting.
Strike as ye feed, and that's but soberly.
Strike the iron while it's hot.
Stuffing hauds out storms.
"Advising men to take some good thing before they travel in a bad day."--_Kelly._
Sturt pays nae debt.
"Spoken with resentment to them who storm when we crave of them our just debts."--_Kelly._
Sudden friendship's sure repentance.
Sue a beggar and gain a louse.
Sunday wooin' draws to ruin.
Supp'd out wort ne'er made gude ale.
"Spoken when one asks us for a drink of our wort, for what is drunk in wort will never be ale, good or bad."--_Kelly._
Suppers kill mair than doctors cure.
Surfeits slay mair than swords.
Swear by your burnt shins.
Sweet at the on-taking, but soor in the aff-putting.
In allusion to the contraction of debt and other liabilities.
Sweet i' the bed and sweer up i' the morning was ne'er a gude housewife.
"A jocose reproof to young maids when they lie long a-bed."--_Kelly._
Tak a hair o' the dog that bit you.
This is a familiar rendering of the great law of Hom[oe]opathy, _Similia similibus curantur_; but is usually interpreted thus: Sober yourself by taking another glass.
Tak a piece; your teeth's langer than your beard.
Addressed to children who are diffident in accepting a "piece."
Tak a seat on Maggie Shaw's Crocky.
"_Maggy Shaw's Crocky_ is a broad flat stone, near to the brink of a precipice, overhanging the sea-shore, about a mile to the north of Eyemouth. This stone was placed over the remains of an old woman who had hanged herself, and who is said to be frequently seen at night sitting upon it, in the shape of a white sea-mew--sitting lonely on the
"'glitty stane, Green wi' the dow o' the jauping main.'"--_G. Henderson._
Tak a tune on your ain fiddle; ye'll dance till't afore it's dune.
"'I can hear no remonstrances,' he continued, turning away from the Bailie, whose mouth was open to address him; 'the service I am on gives me no time for idle discussions.' 'Aweel, aweel, sir,' said the Bailie, 'you're welcome to a tune on your ain fiddle; but see if I dinna gar ye dance till't afore a's dune.'"--_Rob Roy._
"But sen ze think it easy thing To mount aboif the mune, Of our awin fidle tak a spring, And daunce quhen ze haif done."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
Tak care o' that man whom God has set his mark upon.
"I went once to a conventicle on a mountain side, in company of a very sage intelligent gentleman, who, seeing the preacher want two joints of each ring finger, having a nail upon the third, he immediately took horse and rode away. I asked him what ailed him? He said, 'God had set a mark upon that man, and he was sure it was not for nothing.' This man proved a great plague to his country, was the death of a great many, and came to a violent end himself."--_Kelly._
Tak a man by his word and a cow by her horn.
Tak him up on his fine eggs, and ane o' them rotten.
Tak nae mair on your back than ye're able to bear.
Tak pairt o' the pelf when the pack's dealing.
Tak the bit and the buffet wi't.
"What tho' sometimes, in angry mood, When she puts on her barlik hood, Her dialect seems rough and rude, Let's ne'er be flee't, But tak our bit, when it is gude, An' buffet wi't."--_Allan Ramsay._
Bear patiently taunts and ill usage, if advantages come with them.
Tak the head for the washing.
Tak the readiest to serve the needfu'ist.
Tak the will for the deed.
Tak time ere time be tint.
"Tak tyme, in tyme, or tyme be tint, For tyme will not remain."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
Tak your ain will and ye'll no dee o' the pet.
Tak your ain will o't, as the cat did o' the haggis--first ate it, and then creepit into the bag.
This and the preceding proverb, Kelly says, "are spoken to them who obstinately persist in an unreasonable design."
Tak your meal wi' ye an' your brose will be thicker.
Used sarcastically by those who take a good meal _before_ they go to partake of one with a friend; signifying that they do not expect to be too well treated.
Tak your thanks to feed your cat.
Tak your venture, as mony a gude ship has done.
Tak your will, you're wise enough.
Tak wit wi' your anger.
Tam-tell-truth's nae courtier.
Tappit hens like cock-crowing.
Tarry breeks pays nae freight.
Persons in the same trade are generally willing to oblige one another. "Pipers don't pay fiddlers."--_English._ "One barber shaves another."--_French._
Tarry lang brings little hame.
Tell nae tales out o' schule.
Tell the truth and shame the deil.
Thank ye for cakes, I have scones in my pocket.
That bolt came ne'er out o' your bag.
That is, such a thing is better done or told than you could do it.
That'll be a sap out o' my bicker.
Or will injure me by reducing my income or prospects.
That's abune your thoom.
Spoken to a person who is about to attempt a thing of which he is considered incapable.
That's a piece a stepmother never gied.
A hearty expression accompanying a substantial "piece" or meal.
That's a sair hair in my neck.
"I canna but think I maun hae made a queer figure without my hat and my periwig, hanging by the middle like bawdrons, or a cloak flung ower a cloakpin. Bailie Grahame wad hae an unco hair in my neck an he got that tale by the end."--_Rob Roy._