Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a rest taken as one walks along.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: scotch bait a halt and a resting on a stick, as practised by pedlars.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

a form of dress-bustle.

1607

Dekker & Webster Westward Hoe II.ii: That French gowne, Scotch fals, Scotch bum, and Italian head-tire you sent her.

the pillory.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

brimstone (sulphur) and milk.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: scotch chocolate brimstone and milk.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

hot water flavoured with burned biscuit.

1835		Pubic Ledger 29 Aug. 1/6: For breakfast a pint of Scotch coffee and fourteen ounces of bread.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(Ulster) a walk home with a visitor, who then comes back with you.

[c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Scotch convoy: Bum’s rush].
1997		Share Slanguage.

1. venereal disease.

1674		Rochester ‘Tunbridge Wells’ in Works (1999) 52: And then more smartly to expound the Riddle / Of all this Prattle, gives her a Scotch Fiddle.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Welsh-fiddle, the Itch.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Welsh-fiddle or Scotch-Fiddle, the Itch.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1762		London Register in N&Q Ser. 3 V 14: ‘The Scotch Fiddle,’ by M’Pherson. Done from himself. The figure of a Highlander sitting under a tree, enjoying the greatest of pleasures, scratching where it itches [F&H].
1775		Caledonian Mercury 4 Feb. 2/3: The celebreated Dr J[ohnson] is now under a course of Mercury, having caught the Scotch fiddle in the embrace of a female mountaineer.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Scotch fiddle, the itch. [Ibid.] n.p.: Welch fiddle, the itch.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1833		Bell’s Life in London 13 Oct. 2/5: Scotchmen are seldom averse to the scratch [...] ne’er mean to play the Scotch fiddle again.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 190: Well, these blue-noses have caught this disease, as folks do the Scotch fiddle, by shakin hands along with the British.
1845		R.S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall III 170: Remember a drunken fish-fag taking me in her arms, and hugging and kissing me before the crowd [...] Might do the same by Jeems [...] give him the Scotch-fiddle perhaps, or some such nasty complaint.
1846		D. Corcoran Picking from the Picayune 21: The Scotch fiddle is the only instrument, that I know of, ye can lay any claim to!
1847		Worcester Chron. (UK) 5 May 5/4: Vagrancy — A deplorable looking person, suffering severely from a certain disease commonly called the Scotch fiddle.
1853		Kendal Mercury 23 July 6/1: From fiddle and cross, and a great Scotch louse [...] Libera nos domine!
1858		Stirling Obs. (Scot.) 15 July 4/7: For a scald, or burn, or bruise, / Holloway’s matchless Ointment use / [...] / If sores [...] riddle / The sleek skin — or Scotch Fiddle.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 74/2: I dared not approach [the bed] any nearer ‘takin’ notes,’ fearful of the Egyptian plague, or it might be the Scotch Fiddle, alias the Yook.
1873		Sl. Dict.

2. an infestation of body lice, thus play the Scotch fiddle, to suffer the such an infestation.

1861		Wexford Indep. 2 Jan. 1/1: The musician who plays the Scotch fiddle has gone into partnership with the dancing master who teaches the St Vitus’s dance.
1887		S. Wales Echo 12 July 2/5: We were ordered to bundle up our clothes [...] so they could be [...] fumigated. Some of us protested [against] the dirty, lousy-looking rapscallions that the Spanish Government had told off for this duty [...] Our surmises were not far out for we all learned to play the Scotch fiddle after our clothes were returned.

1. lice.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Scotch Greys. Lice. […].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 207: scotch grays lice. Our northern neighbours are calumniously reported, from their living on oatmeal, to be peculiarly liable to cutaneous eruptions and parasites.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1902		J.H.M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 88: When a column halts in the afternoon in order to bivouac for the night, one of the first things infested men do is to squat down on the ground, pull off their shirts, and seek what they may find. [...] ‘Scots Greys,’ or ‘Roberts’ Horse,’ as they have been almost universally termed, like the poor, are always with you. [...] The ‘Greys’ of the veldt are certainly ‘second to none’.
c.1905		J. Furphy Rigby’s Romance (1921) Ch. viii: 🌐 But the Lord He backed up Moses, an’ sent locusts, an’ pleuro, an’ Scotch greys, an’ all manner o’ curses on the country.

2. (Aus.) large mosquitoes.

1871		Brisbane Courier (Qld) 11 Mar. 3/6: ‘Yes, but Lottie,’ said Julia, ‘[...] the mosquitoes, oh! dear me, I was tormented.’ Sam Brown smiled as he asked if they were Scotch greys? ‘Scotch greys, Mr. Brown? I am sure I do not know what their color was’.
1881		Goulburn Herald (NSW) 7 June 2/6: Goulburn is entirely free from rats, and almost so from mosquitoes, or at least of that species known as the Scotch Greys.
1892		N. Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld) 9 Nov. 7/4: Unfortunately too, the large Scotch-grey mosquito has commenced his blood-thirsty peregrinations.
1897		Aus. Town & Country Gaz. (Sydney) 2 Oct. 30/3: Then the guerrilla troops of the place got in their fine work. [...] They were lanky Scotch greys, and they had a bite which penetrated my trousers to the raw hide, and gave me vigorous exercise scratching the lumps they left.
c.1905		J. Furphy Rigby’s Romance Ch. 8 🌐 The Lord He backed up Moses, and sent locusts, an’ pleuro, an’ Scotch greys, an’ all manner o’ curses on the country.
1914		H.M. Vaughan Australasian Wander-Year 270: The horrible Bush Mosquitoes, grey insects of exceptional size and ferocity known as ‘Scots Greys’ [AND].
1934		Warburton & Robertson Buffaloes 29: The mosquitoes acquainted us of their presence. They were mostly the famous Scots Greys; they literally stood on their heads and bored in [AND].
1959		M. Raymond Smiley Roams Road 165: Scotch Greys—that’s what they are. . . This is goin’ to be a terrageous night for mozzies [AND].

a small, stunted Scottish horse.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: scotch hobby a little sorry, scrubbed, low Horse of that Country.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1778		Ipswich Jrnl 26 Sept. 3/1: To be Sold [...] a Scotch hobby.
1787		Norfolk Chron. 28 Apr. 2/4: Lost, supposed to be Stolen [...] a dark-brown Scotch Hobby, six Years old.
1794		Norfolk Chron. 20 Sept. 4/2: To be Sold by Auction [...] a Scotch hobby.
1807		Norfolk Chron. 24 Jan. 3/4: To be Sold by Auction [...] small Scotch hobby.

a poorly done job, e.g. an ill-prepared speech, a half-done piece of cleaning.

1835		Dublin Wkly Register 11 July 6/5: ‘Tell me, did you ever see a Scotchman a fool?’ ‘No matter, this was a Scotch lick’ (loud laughter).
1855		Cheltenham Chron. (Gloucs.) 13 Feb. 3/4: It is no compliment to Bristol that he should have thought ‘a Scotch lick’ was enough for an inaugural speech.
1872		Irishman 11 May 10/2: I tried to get off with giving them a ‘Scotch lick,’ for cleaning shoes [...] became odious to me.
1893		Cork Constitution 5 Dec. 3/7: Sir — What would you think is these Grand Jurymen should meet every quarter in order that our roads may have the chance of a ‘Scotch lick’ four times a year? — Yours etc.
1908		Cork Examiner 11 Dec. 8/8: I weould prefer to pay half to put it in good repair [...] because it will only get a ‘Scotch lick’ [otherwise].
1997		Share Slanguage.

see louse trap under louse n.

anything insubstantial, mythical, esp. used sarcastically when one wants to imply that the other speaker has failed to grasp the point or, lit., perceive something that is clear and obvious.

1963

N. Dunn Up the Junction 2: ‘What do yer think that is? Scotch mist?’ Rube points to my wedding ring.

a lavatory.

1678

J. Ray Proverbs (2nd edn) 81: The Scotch ordinary. i.e. The house of office.

a bottle holding two quarts (four pints/three litres).

1751		Aberdeen Press & Jrnl 28 May 4/1: Superfine Jamaica Rum [...] 5s. the Scotch Pint.
1759		Scots Mag. 2 July 26/1: To make Hasty Soup. Take a Scotch pint of spring water, two ounces of butter [etc].
1780		Aberdeen Press & Jrnl 7 Aug. 3/2: Boil all these in a Scotch pint of the best ale.
1795		Caledonian Mercury 27 July 3/1: The price only sixpence per Scotch pint.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1858		Edinburgh Eve. Courant 17 Aug. 4/7: Sweet Milk — Scotch pint.
1860		Scotsman 29 Nov. 3/5: Heather Honey, 7s. 6d. per Scotch Pint.
1879		Green Teleg. 12 Aug. 1/2: Gooseberries [...] 4d per Scotch pint.
1882		John o’Groats Jrnl 14 Dec. 4/3: A Scotch pint has been judicially defined as 11¾ imperial gills [...] or to put it popularly, a Scotch pint fills two ordinary black bottles [...] in Caithness [...] a Scotch pint is the contents of three black or reputed quart bottles.
1897		Inverness Courier 18 June 1/6: Milk for Sales: Scotch pint 5½d.
1916		Dundee People’s Jrnl 11 Mar. 10/3: The Scotch pint [...] was suppoed to be standardised by the famous ‘Stirling jug,’ a measure containing slightly more than three modern pints.

(US) golf.

1979

Maledicta III:2 172: Scotch polon Golf.

a nocturnal emission.

1986–7

Maledicta IX 60: Scotch screw n [D] Nocturnal emission.

1. a complaisant young woman.

1676		Wycherley Plain-Dealer II i: Wou’d you have me your Scotch-warming Pan, with a Pox to you?
1678		J. Ray Proverbs (2nd edn) 83: A Scotch Warming-pan. i.e. A wench.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Warming-pan, an old fashion’d large Watch. A Scotch Warming-pan, a she-bed-fellow.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1782		Newcastle Courant ((UK) 6 Apr. 2/1: Mr Welbore Ellis’s comfortable bed [...] was more like to be filled by an Irish than a Scotch warming-pan.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. (also Scots warming-pan) the breaking of wind.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

whisky.

1889		Music Hall & Theatre Rev 6 Apr. 122/2: [A]n overnight’s carouse, in which the wine of Scotland played the star part.
1905		Sporting Times 11 Mar. 2/3: I had approached Anita’s landlady on the subject of Scotch wine—poor enough stuff it was at six-and-sixpence. Scotch there was none on this particular occasion.
1912		Sheffield Eve. Teleg. 24 Feb. 4/6: ‘’Gene [...] liked London, but he could not stand for the way the fellows lapped up the Scotch wine’.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 136: Which [i.e. vomiting] is inclined to happen [...] if you get an overdose of Scotch wine in your guts.

a lousy head.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: […] The headquarters of the Scotch greys: the head of a man full of large lice. […].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

see cit. 1860.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 207: ‘To play the scotch fiddle,’ to work the index finger of the right hand like a fiddlestick between the index and middle finger of the left. This provokes a Scotchman in the highest degree, it implying that he is afflicted with the itch.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.

lice are crawling on one’s head.

1811

Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: […] The Scotch greys are in full march by the crown office; the lice are crawling down his head.