Part 13
"Widdy," rope or gallows. Meaning that those who occupy political or subservient positions do so only during the pleasure of their superiors.
Near's my kirtle, but nearer's my sark.
Near's my sark, but nearer's my skin.
The two last sayings are common to many nations. "Some friends are nearer to me than others--my parents and children than my other relations, those than my neighbours, my neighbours than strangers; but, above all, I am next to myself."--_Ray._
Near the kirk, but far frae grace.
This fact is so well ascertained that there is another to the same effect. "Farthest frae the kirk aye soonest at it;" and the English are of a similar opinion, for Spenser writes:
"At kirke the narre from God more farre, Has been an old sayed sawe."
Necessity has nae law.
Necessity's the mither o' invention.
Neck or naething, the king lo'es nae cripples.
"A prophane jest upon those who are like to fall, wishing that they may either break their neck or come off safe; for breaking a limb will make them useless subjects."--_Kelly._
Need gars naked men run, and sorrow gars wabsters spin.
"Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood."--_Italian._ In the second clause we have another discreditable imputation on the weaving fraternity, implying that they only work when compelled by hunger, and are not naturally industrious.
Need gars the auld wife trot.
"'This is your mother, is it not?' (Cuddie nodded.) 'What can have brought your mother and you down the water so late?' 'Troth, stir, just what gars the auld wives trot--neshessity, stir. I'm seeking for service, stir.'"--_Old Mortality._
Need maks a man o' craft.
Need maks greed.
Need maks the naked quean spin.
Ne'er break out o' kind to gar your friends ferlie at you.
Do not do strange acts merely for the sake of astonishing your friends.
Ne'er count the lawin' wi' a toom quaich.
"Quaich," a small and shallow drinking-cup with two ears. The proverb has a similar meaning to "Fair fa' the wife," &c., _q. v._
Ne'er do ill that gude may come o't.
Ne'er draw your dirk when a dunt will do.
That is, do not resort to extreme measures when mild means will suffice.
Ne'er fash your beard.
"'Tell them all this, and hear what they say till't.'
"'Indeed, mistress, I can tell ye that already, without stirring my shanks for the matter,' answered Nelly Trotter; 'they will e'en say that ye are ae auld fule, and me anither, that may hae some judgment in cock-bree or in scate-rumples, but maunna fash our beards about onything else.'"--_St Ronan's Well._
Ne'er fash your thoom.
"Ne'er mind her flytes, but set your heart at ease: Sit down and blaw your pipe, nor fash your thoom, An' there's my hand, she'll tire, and soon sing dumb."--_Fergusson._
Ne'er find faut wi' my shoon, unless you pay my souter.
Addressed to impertinent persons who find fault with the personal appearance or dress of others.
Ne'er gang to the deil wi' the dishclout on your head.
"If you will be a knave, be not in a trifle, but in something of value. A Presbyterian minister had a son who was made Archdeacon of Ossery; when this was told to his father, he said, 'If my son will be a knave, I am glad that he will be an archknave.' This has the same sense, 'As good be hanged for an old sheep as a young lamb.'"--_Kelly._
Ne'er gie me my death in a toom dish.
This means, jocularly, if you wish to kill me, do it not by starvation; in other words, give me something to eat.
Ne'er gude, egg nor bird.
Ne'er kiss a man's wife, or dight his knife, for he'll do baith after you.
Ne'er let on, but laugh in your sleeve.
Ne'er let the nose blush for the sins o' the mouth.
Ne'er let your feet rin faster than your shoon.
"'But you must recollect, that before taking such a step you ought to be pretty well provided with means.'
"'Ou', fegs! I hae nae trick o' letting my feet rin faster than my shoon. I'll no forget the means, ye may be sure; and as for Jean hersel, I hae nae skill o' women folk, if she's no just as willing as me.'"--_The Disruption._
Ne'er lippen ower muckle to a new friend or an auld enemy.
Ne'er marry a penniless maiden that's proud o' her pedigree.
Ne'er marry a widow unless her first man was hanged.
Ne'er misca' a Gordon in the raws o' Stra'bogie.
The Gordons were the ruling clan in Strathbogie; and the proverb means that we should never speak ill of a man on his own property.
Ne'er put your arm out farther than you can draw it easily back again.
"The deacon used to say to me, 'Nick--young Nick' (his name was Nicol as well as mine, sae folk ca'd us, in their daffin, young Nick and auld Nick)--'Nick,' said he, 'never put out your arm farther than ye can draw it easily back again.'"--_Rob Roy._
Ne'er ower auld to learn.
Ne'er put a sword in a wudman's hand.
Ne'er put the plough before the owsen.
Ne'er quit certainty for hope.
Ne'er rax abune your reach.
That is, do not exert yourself beyond your strength.
Ne'er say gae, but gang.
Ne'er say "Ill fallow" to him you deal wi'.
Ne'er shaw me the meat, but the man.
"If a man be fat, plump, and in good liking, I shall not ask what keeping he has had."--_Kelly._
Ne'er shaw your teeth unless ye can bite.
Ne'er speak ill o' the deil.
Ne'er speak ill o' them whase bread ye eat.
Ne'er spend gude siller looking for bad.
"John had never before taken any debtor to law, his motto being, 'Never spend gude siller looking for bad;' but in this case, he said, he was determined to roup them to the door, although it shouldna put a penny in his pouch."--_Roy's "Generalship."_
Ne'er strive against the stream.
Ne'er tak a forehammer to break an egg.
Ne'er tell your fae when your fit sleeps.
Ne'er throw the bridle o' your horse ower a fool's arm.
Ne'er use the taws when a gloom will do.
Of similar import to "Ne'er draw your dirk," _q. v._
Ne'er was a wife weel pleased coming frae the mill but ane, and she brak her neck bane.
Kelly says this is "commonly said to wives when they come from the mill, but the occasion, sense, or meaning I know not." Is it not because they are always dissatisfied with the "mouter" which the miller takes?
Ne'er waur happen you than your ain prayer.
Neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor gude red herring.
Used to signify that an article is good for nothing.
Neither sae sinfu' as to sink nor sae holy as to soom.
Never's a lang word.
New lairds mak new laws.
"They were decent, considerate men, that didna plague a puir herd callant muckle about a moorfowl or a mawkin, unless he turned common fowler--Sir Robert Ringhorse used to say, the herd lads shot as mony gleds and pyots as they did game. But new lords new laws--naething but fine and imprisonment, and the game no a feather the plentier."--_St Ronan's Well._
Next to nae wife, a gude ane's best.
Nineteen naesays o' a maiden is half a grant.
"Her laugh will lead you to the place, Where lies the happiness ye want; And plainly tell you to your face, Nineteen nae-says are half a grant."--_Tea-Table Miscellany._
Nipping and scarting's Scotch folk's wooing.
"It may be Scotch folk's wooing; but if that's the gait Betty Bodle means to use you, Watty, my dear, I would see her, and a' the Kilmarkeckles that ever were cleckit, doon the water, or strung in a wuddy, before I would hae onything to say to ane come o' their seed or breed. To lift her hands to her bridegroom!"--_The Entail._
Now-a-days truth's news.
Now's now, and Yule's in winter.
[Illustration]
O' ae ill come mony.
O' a' fish i' the sea, herring is king.
O' a' ills, nane's best.
O' a' little tak a little; when there's nought tak a'.
O' a' meat i' the warld the drink gaes best down.
O' a' sorrow, a fu' sorrow's the best.
"Spoken when friends die and leave good legacies."--_Kelly._
O' a' the months o' the year curse a fair Februar.
O' bairns' gifts ne'er be fain; nae sooner they gie than they tak it again.
O' gude advisement comes nae ill.
O' ill debtors men get aiths.
"Aith," or oath, is here used in the sense of promise, signifying that from "ill debtors" men get not money but promises, which, of course, are never performed.
Oh for a drap o' gentle blude, that I may wear black abune my brow.
"In Scotland no woman is suffered to wear a silk hood unless she be a gentlewoman; that is, a gentleman's daughter, or married to a gentleman. A rich maid having the offer of a wealthy yeoman, or a bare gentleman, wished for the last, to qualify her to wear a black hood. It is since spoken to such wealthy maidens upon the like occasion."--_Kelly._
O' little meddling comes muckle care.
On painting and fighting look abeigh.
On the sea sail, on the land settle.
Onything for ye about an honest man's house but a day's wark.
"Onything sets a gude face," quo' the monkey wi' the mutch on.
Open confession is gude for the soul.
Oppression will mak a wise man wud.
O' the marriages in May, the bairns die o' decay.
O' twa ills choose the least.
Our ain reek's better than ither folk's fire.
Our sins and debts are aften mair than we think.
Our sowens are ill sour'd, ill seil'd, ill sauted, ill sodden, thin, an' little o' them. Ye may stay a' night, but ye may gang hame if ye like. It's weel kenn'd your faither's son was ne'er a scambler.
This proverb is, we think, fairly entitled to rank as the second longest on record, the first being, as recorded by Trench, the German one, "Folk say there is a lack of four people on earth," &c. Kelly says that "this was a speech of a countrywoman of mine to a guest that she would gladly have shaken off, and being so oddly expressed it became a proverb, which we repeat when we think our friend does not entertain us heartily."
Out o' debt, out o' danger.
Out o' God's blessing into the warm sun.
Out o' Davy Lindsay into Wallace.
"Davy Lindsay and Wallace" were two books formerly used in schools; and the proverb is used when a person changes, or, more properly, advances from one thing to another.
Out on the highgate is aye fair play.
Out o' sight, out o' languor.
"Long absent, soon forgotten."--_English._
Out o' the peat pot into the gutter.
"Out of the frying pan into the fire."--_English._
"Out of the mire into the brook."--_Spanish._
Out o' the warld and into Kippen.
Kippen, in Stirlingshire, was formerly so very remote and little frequented by strangers, that a visit to it was jocularly deemed equivalent to going out of the world altogether; and the remark passed into a proverb, used when a person is going to a strange place. The feudal lord of this district was formerly styled King of Kippen.
Own debt and crave days.
Ower braw a purse to put a plack in.
That is, externally grander or more showy than internal means justify. "Spoken when one builds a magnificent house upon a small income."--_Kelly._
Ower high, ower laigh, ower het, ower cauld.
That is, from one extreme to the other.
Ower holy was hanged, but rough and sonsy wan awa'.
Ower mony cooks spoil the broth.
Ower mony grieves hinder the wark.
Ower mony irons in the fire, some maun cool.
Spoken when a person has too many projects in hand; meaning that some must fail.
"Ower mony maisters," quo' the puddock to the harrow, when ilka tooth gied her a tug.
Ower muckle hameliness spoils gude courtesy.
"Too much familiarity breeds contempt."--_English._
Ower muckle loose leather about your chafts.
A rude but expressive way of saying that a person is not looking well, or is, _Scotice_, "thin."
Ower muckle cookery spoils the brochan.
Ower muckle o' ae thing is gude for naething.
Ower narrow counting culyes nae kindness.
To "culye" is to gain, to draw forth. "When people deal in rigour with us we think ourselves but little obliged to them."--_Kelly._
Ower reckless may repent.
Ower sicker, ower loose.
Or, you are either too harsh and stringent, or the very reverse.
Ower strong meat for your weak stamack.
Ower sune is easy mended.
[Illustration]
Patch and lang sit, build and soon flit.
A slow and gradual rise is likely to prove a permanent one; but a rapid or sudden one merely temporary; or, as the Irishman said, "Up like a rocket, and down like its stick."
Paterson's mare aye goes foremost.
Pay-before-hand's never weel ser'd.
The tradesman is said to be troubled with two kinds of bad customers, viz., those who pay in advance, or "before-hand," and those who do not pay at all.
Pay him in his ain coin.
Pennyless souls maun pine in purgatory.
Penny-wheep's gude enough for muslin-kail.
"Penny-wheep," says Jamieson, "is the weakest kind of small beer, sold at a _penny_ per bottle;" and muslin-kail is a common kind of broth. The proverb expresses that poor service merits poor reward.
Peter's in, Paul's out.
"Spoken when, after we had wanted a necessary person a long time, upon his arrival, another equally necessary is gone."--_Kelly._
Pigs may whistle, but they hae an ill mouth for't.
Applied when an awkward person is attempting to perform some work of which he is incapable.
Penny wise and pound foolish.
Pint stoups hae lang lugs.
For a great deal is said over them, which, but for their influence, would not be heard.
Pith's gude at a' play but threading o' needles.
Plack aboot's fair play.
Placks and bawbees grow pounds.
Plaister thick and some will stick.
Play carle wi' me again if you daur.
"Do not dare to offer to contest with me. Spoke by parents to stubborn children."--_Kelly._
Play's gude while it's play.
Pleading at the law is like fighting through a whin bush--the harder the blows the sairer the scarts.
The knowledge that "whin bush" is the furze renders this saying easily intelligible.
Please your kimmer, and ye'll easy guide your gossip.
Please yoursel and ye'll no dee o' the pet.
Plenty is nae plague.
Plenty maks dainty.
Poets and painters are aye poor.
This appears in no collection preceding Henderson's, and is probably a record of his own experience and that of his friends, he being a painter himself by profession, and on intimate terms with Motherwell and others.
Poets and painters hae liberty to lo'e.
Poor folk are fain o' little.
Poor folk maun fit their wame to their winning.
Poor folk seek meat for their stamacks, and rich folk stamacks for their meat.
Poor folk's friends soon misken them.
Poortith pairts gude company.
Poortith's better than pride.
Poortith's pain, but nae disgrace.
Poortith taks awa pith.
"'I tell you, Master Moniplies,' said Jenkin, 'I am as poor as any Scot among you. I have broken my indenture, and I think of running the country.' 'A-well-a-day!' said Ritchie. 'But that maunna be, man. I ken weel, by sad experience, that poortith takes away pith, and the man sits full still that has a rent in his breeks.'"--_Fortunes of Nigel._
Poortith wi' patience is less painfu'.
Possession's worth an ill charter.
Poverty's a bad back friend.
Praise without profit puts little i' the pat.
Prayer and practice is gude rhyme.
Pretty man, I maun say; tak a peat and sit down.
We are unable to make much either of this proverb or of Kelly's note to it--"An ironical expression to a mean boy who would gladly be esteemed."
Pride and grace ne'er dwell in ae place.
Pride an' sweer'dness need muckle uphaudin.
"Sweer'd," lazy or unwilling. Pride and laziness require much to support them.
Pride finds nae cauld.
"Spoken heretofore to young women when, in compliance with the fashion, they went with their breasts and shoulders bare; and may now (1721) be applied to ladies with their extravagant hoops."--_Kelly._
Pride ne'er leaves its maister till he get a fa'.
Pride prinks her brow for the deil to pouse.
That is, pride bedecks herself, and the devil despoils.
Pride's an ill horse to ride.
Pride that dines wi' vanity sups wi' contempt.
Pride will hae a fa'.
Provision in season maks a bien house.
Prudence should be winning when thrift is spinning.
Puddins and paramours should be hetly handled.
"Puddings when cold are uneatable; and love when coldrife is near the breaking off."--_Kelly._
Put a coward to his mettle, and he'll fight the deil.
"A baited cat is as fierce as a lion."--_English._
Put anither man's bairn in your bosom, and he'll creep oot at your sleeve.
"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._
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.