He gangs far aboot seeking the nearest.
He gangs frae the jilt to the gellock.
To "jilt," to throw or dash water on a person; "gellock" (gavelock),
an iron lever or crowbar. Meaning, perhaps, that a man's temper is
such that he passes from the extreme of playfulness to that of
passion very quickly.
He gangs lang barefoot that waits for dead men's shune.
He gaes nae whitings without banes.
Or, if he confers an obligation, it is sure to have some condition
attached to it.
He girns like a sheep's head in a pair o' tangs.
"Little Andrew, the wratch, has been makin' a totum wi' his
faither's ae razor; an' the pair man's trying to shave himsel
yonder, an' girnan like a sheep's head on the tangs."--_Hugh
Miller._
He got his mother's malison the day he was married.
Spoken of a man who has a bad wife.
He had gude skill o' horse flesh wha bought a goose to ride on.
He harps aye on ae string.
He has a bee in his bonnet-lug.
Applied when a person is very much occupied with a project of his
own.
He has a cauld coal to blaw at.
"A' things o' religion hae settled into a method that gies the
patronless preacher but little chance o' a kirk. Wi' your oye's
ordinar looks, I fear, though he were to grow as learned as Matthew
Henry himsel, he would hae but a cauld coal to blaw at."--_Sir
Andrew Wylie._
He has a crap for a' corn.
He has a gude judgment that doesna lippen to his ain.
He has a hearty hand for a hungry meltith.
He bestows charity liberally.
He has a hole beneath his nose that winna let his back be rough.
Meaning that his extravagance in the matter of food is such that it
prevents his back being "rough" or well clothed.
He has a lang clue to wind.
"I might hae been in a state and condition to look at Miss Girzy;
but, ye ken, I hae a lang clue to wind before I maun think o'
playing the ba' wi' Fortune, in ettling so far aboun my
reach."--_The Entail._
He has an ill look among lambs.
He has a saw for a' sairs.
That is, a salve or "balm for every wound."
He has a slid grip that has an eel by the tail.
"Spoken to those who have to do with cunning fellows whom you can
hardly bind sure enough."--_Kelly._
He has been rowed in his mother's sark tail.
Synonymous with being "tied to his mother's apron-string," _i.e._,
kept too strictly under parental authority.
He has brought his pack to a braw market.
He has come to gude by misguiding.
He has coosten his cloak on the ither shouther.
He has coup'd the muckle pat into the little.
Sarcastically applied to those who claim to have executed
extraordinary deeds.
He has drowned the miller.
Meaning that in mixing liquids, as in mixing toddy, too much water
has been added. The English say, "He has put the miller's eye out."
He has faut o' a wife that marries mam's pet.
He has feathered his nest, he may flee when he likes.
He has gane without taking his leave.
He has gi'en up a trade and ta'en to stravaigin'.
A humorous way of expressing that a man has retired from business to
live comfortably. To "stravaig" is to walk about idly.
He has got a bite o' his ain bridle.
He has gotten his kail through the reek.
"To meet with severe reprehension. To meet with what causes
bitterness or thorough repentance as to any course that one has
taken."--_Jamieson._
He has gotten the boot and the better beast.
This saying has evidently emanated from the stable. When persons
wish to exchange horses, he who has the poorest animal gives a
"boot" or compensation in addition to the horse, to make the
exchange equal. The proverb is applied to a person who has
over-reached his neighbour.
He has gotten the whip hand o' him.
He has got the heavy end of him.
Meaning that in an argument or struggle he has the best of it.
He has help'd me out o' a deadlift.
Or rendered very great assistance in an emergency.
He has hit the nail on the head.
He has it o' kind, he coft it not.
Meaning that a person's bad qualities are inherited from his
parents; equivalent to the saying, "What's bred in the bone won't
out of the flesh."
He has left the key in the cat-hole.
He has licket the butter aff my bread.
To "lick the butter," in proverbial phraseology, is to supplant a
person in business, or so interfere with his arrangements as to
injure them.
He has made a moonlight flitting.
To "shoot the moon," as the English say, is to decamp from a house
without paying the rent.
He has mair floor than he has flail for.
Or more work than he can overtake.
He has mair jaw than judgment.
He has mair wit in his wee finger than ye hae in your hale bouk.
He has muckle prayer, but little devotion.
He hasna a bauchle to swear by.
He hasna a hail nail to claw him wi'.
He hasna as muckle sense as a cow could haud in her faulded nieve.
He has nae clag till his tail.
"A vulgar phrase, signifying that there is no stain on one's
character, or that no one can justly exhibit a charge against
him."--_Jamieson._
He has nae mair mense than a miller's horse.
_Vide_, "As menseless as a tinkler's messan."
He has naething to crave at my hand.
He has need o' a clean pow that ca's his neighbour nitty now.
"A man ought to be free of those faults that he throws up to
others."--_Kelly._
He has neither stock nor brock.
He has neither money nor meat.
He has ower many greedy gleds o' his ain.
Meaning that a man has too many family claims upon his generosity to
meet, to be able to attend to those of strangers.
He has skill o' roasted woo--when it stinks it's ready.
He has some sma' wit, but a fool has the guiding o't.
He has soon done that never dought.
He has spur metal in him.
He has swallowed a flee.
He has ta'en the country on his back.
A proverbial expression of the fact that a man has run away.
He hastit to his end like a moth to a candle.
He has the best end o' the string.
He has the gift o' the gab.
"'I wish,' said Dumbiedikes, 'I were as young and as supple as you,
and had the gift o' the gab as weel.'"--_Heart of Midlothian._
He has wit at will that wi' an angry heart can sit still.
He hauds baith heft and blade.
That is, he has a thing entirely at his own option.
He hearsna at that ear.
He hears wi' his heels, as the geese do in hairst.
"That is, he heard, had he been pleased to answer."--_Kelly._
He hid a bodle and thought it a hoard.
He hides his meat and seeks for mair.
"Spoken when covetous people pretend poverty, and conceal their
wealth to plead pity."--_Kelly._
He is not a merchant bare, that hath either money, worth, or ware.
"A good merchant may want ready money."--_Kelly._
He jump'd at it, like a cock at a grossart.
"'I had quite forgotten,' said Tyrrel, 'that the inn was your own;
though I remember you were a considerable landed proprietor.' 'Maybe
I am,' replied Meg, 'maybe I am not; and if I be, what for no? But
as to what the laird, whose grandfather was my father's landlord,
said to the new doings yonder--he just jumped at the ready penny,
like a cock at a grossart.'"--_St Ronan's Well._
He keeps his road weel enough wha gets rid o' ill company.
He kens a'thing that opens and steeks.
He kens his ain groats amang other folk's kail.
He kens how many beans mak five.
He kens how to butter a whiting.
The import of the two preceding sayings is, that a man is very sharp
in looking after his own interests.
He kens how to turn his ain cake.
"'Never fash your beard, Mr Bide-the-Bent,' replied Girder; 'ane
canna get their breath out between wives and ministers. I ken best
how to turn my own cake. Jean, serve up the dinner, and nae mair
about it.'"--_Bride of Lammermoor._
He kens muckle wha kens when to speak, but far mair wha kens when to
haud his tongue.
He kens nae a mavis frae a madge-howlet.
He kens nae a selgh frae a salmon.
He kens nae the pleasures of plenty wha ne'er felt the pains o' poverty.
He kens whilk side his bannock's buttered on.
"There was a set of ancient brethren of the angle from Edinburgh,
who visited St Ronan's frequently in the spring and summer, a class
of guests peculiarly acceptable to Meg, who permitted them more
latitude in her premises than she was known to allow to any other
body. 'They were,' said she, 'pawky auld carles, that kend whilk
side their bread was buttered upon.'"--_St Ronan's Well._
He kicks at the benweed.
_Benweed_, ragwort. That is, he is headstrong, or unreasonable.
He lay in his scabbard, as mony a gude sword's done.
Meaning that he prudently allowed an insult or slight to pass
without notice.
He left his siller in his ither pocket.
A sarcastic allusion to those who seek to evade paying their share
of the reckoning. It was remarked of a friend of ours, that on such
occasions he "was the first to put his hand in his pocket, but the
last to draw it out."
He likes nae beef that grows on my banes.
He'll claw up their mittans.
Metaphorically, "He will kill them, or give the finishing
stroke."--_Jamieson._
He'll either win the horse or tine the saddle.
He'll gang mad on a horse wha's proud on a pownie.
Spoken of those who take undue advantage of the slight authority
they possess.
He'll gang nae farther than his tether's length.
He'll gang to hell for house profit.
He'll get the poor man's answer, "No."
He'll gie his bane to nae dog.
He'll gie you the whistle o' your groat.
He'll hae enough some day, when his mouth's fu' o' mools.
"Spoken of covetous people, who will never be satisfied while they
are alive."--_Kelly._
He'll hing by the lug o't.
"Keep a firm hold of it, as a bull-dog does of his
prey."--_Jamieson._
He'll hing that ower my head.
"'She would haud me nae better than the dirt below her feet,' said
Effie to herself, 'were I to confess I hae danced wi' him four times
on the green down by, and ance at Maggie Macqueen's; and she'll
maybe hing it ower my head that she'll tell my father, and then she
wad be mistress and mair.'"--_Heart of Midlothian._
He'll kythe in his ain colours yet.
"He'll appear without disguise; he'll be known for the man he
is."--_Jamieson._
He'll lick the white frae your e'en.
"This phrase is always applied when people, with pretence of
friendship, do you an ill turn, as one licking a mote out of your
eye makes it blood shot."--_Allan Ramsay._
He'll mak a spune or spoil a horn.
"Ay, ay, we're a' subject to a downcome. Mr Osbaldistone is a gude
honest gentleman; but I aye said he was ane o' them wad mak a spune
or spoil a horn, as my father, the worthy deacon, used to
say."--_Rob Roy._
He'll mend when he grows better, like sour ale in summer.
"The young laird of Balmawhapple, ... he had no imperfection but
that of keeping light company at a time; such as Jinker the
horse-couper, and Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the piper o' Cupar; 'O'
whilk follies, Mr Saunderson, he'll mend, he'll mend,' pronounced
the bailie. 'Like sour ale in summer,' added Davie Gellatley, who
happened to be nearer the conclave than they were aware
of."--_Waverley._
He'll need to dree the dronach o't.
He'll ne'er send you awa wi' a sair heart.
He'll neither dance nor haud the candle.
Like the dog in the manger, he will neither enjoy himself, nor allow
others to do so.
He'll neither dee nor do weel.
Sarcastically applied to people who may be peevish or fretful
through ill health.
He'll neither haud nor bind.
"'Then, if ye maun hae't, the folk in Lunnun are a' clean wud about
this bit job in the north here.' 'Clean wood! what's that?' 'Ou,
just real daft--neither to haud nor to bind--a' hirdy girdy--clean
through ither--the deil's ower Jock Wabster.'"--_Rob Roy._
"A proverbial phrase expressive of violent excitement, whether in
respect of rage, or of folly, or of pride; borrowed, perhaps, from
the fury of an untamed beast, which cannot be so long _held_ that it
may be _bound_ with a rope."--_Jamieson._
He'll neither hup nor wine.
Of similar import to the preceding. _Hup_ and _wine_ are two words
used in guiding plough and cart horses.
He'll never rue but ance, and that'll be a' his life.
"Ride down to Portanferry, and let nae grass grow at the nag's
heels; and if ye find him in confinement, ye maun stay beside him
night and day for a day or twa, for he'll want friends that hae
baith heart and hand; and if ye neglect this, ye'll never rue but
ance, for it will be for a' your life."--_Guy Mannering._
He'll no gie an inch o' his will for a span o' his thrift.
That is, regardless of expense, his wishes must be gratified.
He'll no gie the head for the washing.
To "keep the head for the washing" is to retain possession of an
article which has been made to order or repaired until all charges
upon it are paid.
He'll no let the grass grow at his heels.
He'll no sell his hen on a rainy day.
He will not sell his wares at an unpropitious time.
He'll rather turn than burn.
He'll shoot higher that shoots at the moon, than he that shoots at the
midden, e'en though he may miss his mark.
He'll soon be a beggar that canna say "No."
He'll tell it to nae mair than he meets.
He'll wag as the bush wags.
That is, he will do as circumstances compel him.
He loes me for little that hates me for nought.
His love has never been very strong if it turns for a trifle.
He'll wind you a pirn.
"An my auld acquaintance be hersel, or onything like hersel, she may
come to wind us a pirn. It's fearsome baith to see and hear her when
she wampishes about her arms, and gets to her English, and speaks as
if she were a prent book--let a-be an auld fisher's wife."--_The
Antiquary._
He lo'ed mutton weel that lick'd where the ewie lay.
"Spoken to them who will sip the bottom of a glass where good liquor
was, or scrape a plate after good meat."--_Kelly._
"He loved mutton well that dipped his bread in wool."--_English._
He looks as if he could swallow a cow.
This saying and the four which follow are expressive of
peculiarities in the appearance of persons.
He looks as if the wood were fu' o' thieves.
He looks like a Lochaber axe fresh frae the grundstane.
He looks like the far end of a French fiddle.
"Gin ye wad thole to hear a friend,
Tak tent, and nae wi' strunts offend,
I've seen queans dink, and neatly prim'd
Frae tap to middle,
Looking just like the far-aff end
O' an auld fiddle."--_The Farmer's Ha'._
He looks like the laird o' fear.
He loses his time that comes sune to a bad bargain.
Help for help in hairst.
Farmers in time of harvest occasionally give each other a "day's
shearing," or the use of the whole reaping staff for a day. Of
course, the favour is returned, and the benefit rendered mutual.
Help is gude at a'thing, except at the cog.
"At the cog," signifies in taking our food.
He maks nae bairn's bargains.
He maun be a gude friend when you dinna ken his value.
He maun be soon up that cheats the tod.
He maun hae leave to speak that canna haud his tongue.
Addressed to people who talk foolishly or without purpose.
He maun lout that has a laigh door.
He maun rise soon that pleases a'body.
He may be trusted wi' a house fu' o' unbored millstanes.
Meaning that such a person cannot be trusted at all.
He may find fault that canna mend.
He may laugh that wins.
He may tine a stot that canna count his kine.
"The man may ablens tyne a stot
That cannot count his kinsch,
In zour awin bow ze are owre-schot
Be mair than half-an-inch."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
He may weel soom wha has his head hauden up.
Meaning that a task is easy when assistance is given.
He needs a lang-shanket spoon that sups kail wi' the deil.
"He that has to do with wicked and false men had need to be cautious
and on his guard."--_Kelly._
He needs maun rin that the deil drives.
He ne'er did a gude darg that gaed grumbling about it.
"A gude darg" means here a good day's work.
He ne'er tint a cow that grat for a groat.
Literally, he never lost a cow who cried for the loss of a groat.
He never lies but when the holly's green.
The holly being an evergreen, that is to say, a person never speaks
truth at all.
He picked it up at his ain hand, as the cow learned flinging.
He puts his meat in an ill skin.
Meaning that although a person takes plenty of food and nourishment,
his appearance belies it.
He puts in a bad purse that puts in his pechan.
He reads his sin in his punishment.
Henry Clark never slew a man till he come at him.
"A ridicule upon them that threaten hard and dare not
execute."--_Kelly._
Hen's are aye free o' horse corn.
Hen scarts and filly tails, make lofty ships wear lowly sails.
"Certain light kinds of clouds are thus denominated, from their
supposed resemblance to the scratches of hens on the ground and the
tails of young mares. They are held as prognosticative of stormy
weather."--_Robert Chambers._
Here-awa, there-awa, like the Laird o' Hotch Potch's lands.
"Castle fa'an?--na', but the sute's fa'an, and the thunners come
right down the kitchen-lumm, and the things are a' lying here-awa,
there-awa, like the Laird o' Hotch Potch's lands."--_Bride of
Lammermoor._
Here's the wine, but where's the wa-nuts?
He reives the kirk to theek the quire.
To "steal from the church to roof the choir," is "to rob Peter to
pay Paul."
He rides on the riggin' o't.
That is, he goes to a very great extreme.
He rides sicker that never fa's.
He rides well that never falls: he is a perfect man who never errs.
He rules easier wi' a saugh wand than wi' a sharp brand.
He's aftener there than in the parish kirk.
He's a bodie o' the nick-stick kind.
"One who proceeds exactly according to rule; who will not dine a
second time with any person till he has made a return in
kind."--_Jamieson._
He's a cake and pudding courtier.
He's a causey saint and a house deil.
One whose outward deportment towards strangers is not in unison with
the harshness which he exercises at home.
He's a' fair gude e'en, and fair gude-day.
He's a fool that asks ower muckle, but he's a greater fool that gies it.
He's a fool that forgets himsel.
He's a fool that marries at Yule; for when the bairn's to bear the
corn's to shear.
He's a gude horse that never stumbled, and a better wife that never
grumbled.
"Both so rare, that I never met with either."--_Kelly._
He is a gude piper's bitch; he's aye in at meal-times.
He's a gude shot that hits aye the mark.
He's a hardy man to draw a sword at a haggis.
He's a hawk o' a right nest.
He's a man o' wise mind that o' a foe can mak a friend.
He's an auld horse that winna nicher at corn.
He's ane o' snaw-ba's bairntime.
"That is, such as wealth and prosperity make worse, or who
insensibly go behind in the world."--_Kelly._
He's a poor beggar that canna gang by ae door.
He's a poor man that's never missed.
He's a proud beggar that maks his ain awmous.
That is, he is proud or well pleased who succeeds in realising his
own expectations or wishes.
He's a proud horse that winna carry his ain corn.
He's a sairy cook that canna lick his ain fingers.
He's as bare as the birk at Yule.
He's as bauld as a Lammermuir lion.
"A sheep is called a Lammermuir lion; and the proverb is applied, in
a sarcastic way, to a boasting or assuming person, or to a
braggadocio fellow, who is a coward at bottom."--_G. Henderson._
"As fierce as a lion on Cotswold."--_English._
He's as gleg as a gled.
He's as happy as a dead bird.
He's a selfish skyte that cares but for his ain kyte.
He's as fu' as a fiddler.
Equivalent to being as "drunk as a lord."
He's as gleg as M'Keachen's elshin, that ran through sax plies o'
bend-leather into the king's heel.
Quoted in the _Heart of Midlothian_ when Sharpitlaw, accompanied by
Ratcliffe and Madge Wildfire, go to Muschat's Cairn in search of
Robertson.
He's as hard wi' me as if I had been the wild Scot o' Galloway.
He's a silly chield that can neither dae nor say.
He's as stiff as if he had swallowed the poker.
He's as welcome as snaw in hairst.
He's as welcome as water in a riven ship.
He's auld and cauld, and ill to lie beside.
He's awfu' big ahint the door.
To be "big ahint the door," is to be very courageous when there is
no occasion for it.
He's a wise man that can tak care o' himsel.
He's aye for out o' the cheese-fat he was moulded in.
"'Keep back, sir, as best sets ye,' said the bailie, as Andrew
pressed forward to catch the answer to some question I had asked
about Campbell; 'ye wad fain ride the forehorse an ye wist how. That
chield's aye for being out o' the cheese-fat he was moulded
in.'"--_Rob Roy._
He's aye wise ahint the hand.
"Ye noo hae hit the nail upo' the head,
I better wi' less travel micht hae deen,
Had I been tenty as I sud hae been;
But fouks, they say, are wise ahint the han',
Whilk to be true unto my cost I fan."--_Ross's Helenore._
He's as wise as Wudsie's calf, that kent milk frae water.
He's been at the kirk o' Crackabout, whaur the kail pat was the
minister.
He's better fed than bred.
He's blind that eats marrow, but far blinder that lets him.
He's but Jock the laird's brither.
"The Scottish lairds concern and zeal for the standing and
continuance of their families, makes the provision for their younger
sons very small."--_Kelly._
He's cooling and supping.
"That is, he has nothing but from hand to mouth."--_Kelly._
He's cowpet the crans.
"It's a great misery to me that I hae nae books to let you look ower
to see my losses; but what gude, when I think on't, would the sight
o' losses do to you? It wouldna put a plack in your pouch--aiblins
every twa or three pages ye wad see this ane or that ane cowpet the
crans, and deep in my debt."--_Laird of Logan._
He seeks nae mair than a bit an' a brat.
Meaning that he is content with little.
He's either a' honey or a' dirt.
He is either exceedingly affectionate and kind, or _vice versa_.
He sell't his soul for a cracket saxpence.
He's failed wi' a fu' hand.
When a man "fails wi' a fu' hand," he defrauds his creditors with
the assistance of the Bankruptcy Act.
He's frae the tap o' the wing, but ye're a grey-neck quill.
Meaning, we presume, that a man is not so good as he would like to
be thought, or as some person he may have compared himself with.
He's free o' fruit that wants an orchard.
He's fond o' barter that niffers wi' Auld Nick.
He's gane aff at the nail.
Or "destitute of any regard to propriety of conduct; mad;
wrongheaded; tipsy."--_Jamieson._
He's gane a' to pigs and whistles.
"Hech, sirs, what a kyteful o' pride's yon'er! and yet I would be
nane surprised the morn to hear that the Nechabudnezzar was a' gane
to pigs and whistles, and driven out wi' the divors bill to the
barren pastures of bankruptcy."--_The Entail._
He's gane ower the buss taps.
"To behave extravagantly; to go over the tops of the
bushes."--_Jamieson._
He's gane to seek his faither's sword.
He's gane to the dog-drave.
He's got his leg ower the harrows.
He's got his nose in a gude kail pat.
Meaning that a person has been well provided for. Generally applied
to a poor man who has married a rich wife.
He's gude that never failed.
He's his faither's better, like the cooper o' Fogo.
"Fogo is a small decayed village near Dunse. It appears that each
generation of its coopers improved upon the plans or workmanship of
their ancestors, and the son became better than the father."--_G.
Henderson._
He's horn deaf on that side o' his head.
That is, he has already made up his mind upon that matter.
He should be seldom angry that has few to mease him.
He's idle that might be better employed.
He's ill-faur'd that dogs bark at.
"'I have had that wad sober me or ony ane,' said the matron. 'Aweel,
Tib, a lass like me wasna to lack wooers, for I wasna sae
ill-favoured that the tikes wad bark after me.'"--_The Monastery._
He's in the wrang when praised that glunshes.
He sits fu' close that has riven breeks.
"This elegant speech was made by the Earl of Douglas, called
Tineman, after being wounded and made prisoner at the battle of
Shrewsbury, where
"'His well-labouring sword
Had three times slain the semblance of the king.'"
--_Fortunes of Nigel._
He sits wi' little ease wha sits on his neighbour's coat tail.
He's John Tamson's man.
"'Atweel, Cuddie, ye are gaun nae sic gate,' said Jenny, coolly and
resolutely. 'The deil's in the wife!' said Cuddie, 'd'ye think I am
to be John Tamson's man, and maistered by women a' the days o' my
life?' 'And whase man wad ye be? And wha wad ye hae to maister ye
but me, Cuddie, lad?'"--_Old Mortality._
He's laid down the barrow.
That is, "he's cowpet the crans," _q. v._
He sleeps as dogs do when wives sift meal.
Meaning that a person is very sharp, and that he, figuratively,
sleeps with one eye open.
He's lifeless that's faultless.
Implying that no one is without fault.
He's like a bagpipe, ne'er heard till his wame's fu'.
He's like a chip amang parritch--little gude, little ill.
He's like a cow in a fremit loaning.
That is, strange, or out of place. "Fremit loaning," strange lane.
He's like a flea in a blanket.
He's like a singet cat--better than he's bonny.