Collins Dictionaries - Scots Dictionary - The perfect wee guide to the Scots language

blooteredA person who is blooteredis very drunk: He came home absolutely blootered.

bluebellThe bluebellis a plant with narrow leaves and pale blue bell-shaped flowers. It grows on dry grassland and moors, and flowers in the summer. In England, it is known as the harebell. The Scots name for the woodland plant known in England as the bluebell is the wild hyacinth, although it is now often called the bluebellin Scotland as well.

Blue BrazilThe Blue Brazilis the nickname of Cowdenbeath football club. The club is usually to be found in Scotland’s lower leagues so the epithet, comparing the blue-clad team to a rather more successful set of footballers, is ironic but affectionate.

BluenoseA Bluenoseis a supporter of Rangers football team. The term is either derogatory or jocular depending on the speaker and tone.

Blue ToonThe BlueToonis the nickname of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. The town and its football club share this epithet, which is perhaps a reference to the colour of clothes worn formerly by the town’s fishermen.

boak

boakor bokeTo boakis to vomit. Something exceptionally unpleasant can be said to give you the boak, or even worse, the dry boak: Even the look of liver gives me the dry boak, never mind the taste! Boakis vomit: There was boak all down the front of his shirt. [The word probably comes from the sound of someone retching or vomiting]

bocht( bawCHt ) Bochtmeans bought.

bodhrán( bow-rahn ) A bodhránis a shallow one-sided drum, looking rather like a large tambourine, which is held in an upright position and played with a short two-headed stick. Originally Irish, it is now also used by Scottish folk musicians. [The name comes from Irish Gaelic]

body( bud-dee ) A bodyis a person: a cheery wee body. A bodyis a way of referring to oneself: Can ye no leave a body alane?

body swerveTo give something a body swerve, or to body-swerveit, is to avoid it because you think it will be unpleasant or unenjoyable. It is sometimes shortened to swerve. [The phrase comes from the image of a footballer dodging round an opponent]

bogginSomething which is bogginis very dirty.

bogieor bogey(rhymes with fogey ) 1A bogieis the name given in some areas to a child’s homemade vehicle constructed from pram wheels, wooden boxes, etc. Elsewhere this is known as a cairtie, geggie, hurlie’, or piler. [This sense is from the same root as the English bogie , a wheel unit on a railway carriage] 2The phrase the game’s a bogieis used when something, originally but not always a children’s game, has to be abandoned, because a situation has been reached where it is impossible to have a fair or valid outcome. [This sense may be connected with bogey , an evil or mischievous spirit (as in bogeyman )]

bogle(rhymes with ogle ) A bogleis an old-fashioned name for a ghost. Bogleis also short for tattie-bogle, a scarecrow.

boilingA boilingis a hard sweet made from boiled sugar which has been flavoured and coloured.

bokeA variant spelling of boak.

bonnetA less common variant of bunnet.

bonnieor bonnySomeone or something which is bonnieis attractive and pleasant to look at: I like your hair. It’s bonnie ; the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. A bonnieamount is a large amount; now a rather old-fashioned use: That must have cost a bonnie penny. See also fechter.

bonspiel( bon-speel ) A bonspielis a curling tournament. Originally they were held outdoors on frozen lochs. [The origin of the term is uncertain, but it seems to be of Dutch or Flemish derivation: the second part is related to Dutch spel and German Spiel meaning game]

bonxie( bonk-si ) The bonxieis the Shetland name for the great skua: The Arctic skua is smaller than the great skua, or “bonxie”, but even more aggressive. [The word is probably of Scandinavian origin]

boolA boolis one of the large black balls used in the game of bowling, or among children, a marble. The games of bowling and marbles are both known as bools. If someone is described as speaking with a bool in their mouor mooththey are regarded as having an affectedly posh accent.

boorachor bourach( boo-raCH ) A boorachis a word used in Northeastern Scotland to mean a group of assorted people or things. In the Highlands, boorachhas the slightly different meaning of a mess or a disorderly state or heap. [Both senses are from the Gaelic bùrach a digging]

BordererA Bordereris someone who lives in, or comes from, the area along the border between Scotland and England, in Scottish use particularly someone who lives on the Scottish side of the border.

Borders

Borders The Bordersis the area of Southern Scotland near the border with England, extending from the Solway Firth just south of Gretna in the west to a few miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the east. The Scottish Bordersis the name of a council area that extends inland from the East Coast to where it meets Dumfries and Galloway, about twenty kilometres inland from the eastern end of the Solway Firth.

bosie(rhymes with cosy ) Bosieis a Northeastern word meaning an embrace or cuddle: Gie’s a bosie. The bosieis the bosom: Stick that flooer in yer bosie.

bothan( both-an ) In the Western Isles, a bothanis a building where alcohol is illegally sold and drunk. [The name comes from the Gaelic word for a hut]

bothy(rhymes with frothy ) The word bothyhas a variety of meanings, all of which ultimately have to do with it being a hut used for shelter. Historically, a bothywas a building on a farm providing eating and dormitory facilities for unmarried farm workers, most common in the Northeast. Nowadays, the term has come to mean a hut or cabin where workers, for instance those on a building site, can go to shelter from bad weather, for a tea break, or to eat. A bothyis also a sparsely furnished hut or cottage which hillwalkers or climbers can use for shelter or overnight accommodation. The plural is bothies.

bothy balladA bothy balladis a type of folk song which originated among farmworkers in Northeast Scotland. It usually deals with everyday rural life, often in a bawdy manner.

bottlingA bottlingis the Glasgow name for a pre-wedding ritual in which the bride-to-be is dressed up in outlandish clothes and paraded through the streets by her female friends and relatives to the accompaniment of banging potlids. Any man such a group stumbles across is expected to give them money in return for the privilege of kissing the bride. In some other parts of Scotland where this is carried out, for instance parts of Lanarkshire, it is known as a creeling.