office, for your lordship's sake and for mine, and specially for his
ain sake, being a friendly lad; yet your lordship must consider that
a scullion--if a yeoman of the king's most royal kitchen may be
called a scullion--may weel rank with a master-cook elsewhere; being
that king's cauff, as I said before, is better than ----.'"--_Fortunes
of Nigel._
Kings hae lang hands.
Kiss and be kind, the fiddler is blind.
Kiss a sklate stane, and that winna slaver you.
"'Ah! bonny lass,' says he, 'ye'll gies a kiss,
An' I sall set ye richt on, hit or miss.'
'A hit or miss I'll get, but help o' you,
Kiss ye sklate-stanes, they winna weet your mou'.'
An' aff she gaes, the fallow loot a rin,
As gin he ween'd wi' speed to tak her in,
But as luck was, a knibblich took his tae,
An' o'er fa's he, an' tumbled doun the brae."--_Ross's Helenore._
Kissing gaes by favour.
Kissing is cried down since the shaking o' hands.
Kelly says (1721), "There is a proclamation that nobody should kiss
hereafter, but only shake hands." Spoken by a woman who is asked for
a kiss, but who is unwilling to allow it.
Kiss my foot, there's mair flesh on't.
A sharp reply to those who obsequiously ask permission to kiss the
hand.
Kiss ye me till I be white, an' that will be an ill web to bleach.
Knock a carle, and ding a carle, and that's the way to win a carle; kiss
a carle, and clap a carle, and that's the way to tine a carle.
"Both these are joined together, and signify that people of mean
breeding are rather to be won by harsh treatment than
civil."--_Kelly._
Kythe in your ain colours, that folk may ken ye.
[Illustration]
Lacking breeds laziness, but praise breeds pith.
"Discommend a boy, and you discourage him; but commend him, and it
will spur him on."--_Kelly._
Lads will be men.
Laith to bed, laith oot o't.
Laith to drink, laith frae't.
Meaning that although some people are slow or "laith" to begin a
thing, still, when they do commence, it is difficult to get them to
leave off.
Lang and sma', gude for naething ava.
Jocularly applied to those who are tall and of "genteel" build.
Langest at the fire soonest finds cauld.
Lang fasting gathers wind.
Lang fasting hains nae meat.
Lang leal, lang poor.
Lang lean maks hamald cattle.
That is, poorly kept cattle makes homely, domestic, or common meat.
Lang look'd for come at last.
Lang mint, little dint.
"Much ado about nothing."
Lang noses are aye taking till them.
Lang or ye saddle a foal.
Lang or you cut Falkland wood wi' a pen-knife.
Spoken when people enter into extensive undertakings without
sufficient preparations or means.
Lang sick, soon weel.
Lang sport turns aft to earnest.
Lang standing and little offering maks a poor priest.
"Lang straes are nae motes," quo' the wife when she haul'd the cat out
o' the kirn.
Lang tarrowing taks a' the thanks awa.
"He loses his thanks that promises, but delays."--_English._
Lang-tongued wives gang lang wi' bairn.
"Applied to those who discover their projects, designs, and
intentions long before they are put in execution."--_Kelly._
Lasses and glasses are bruckle ware.
Lassies are like lamb-legs: they'll neither saut nor keep.
Lassies now-a-days ort nae God's creatures.
"The proverbial reflection of an old woman, as signifying that in
our times young women are by no means nice in their choice of
husbands."--_Jamieson._
Last to bed, best heard.
Laugh and lay't down again.
Laugh at leisure, ye may greet ere night.
Laugh at your ain toom pouches.
"'The japanned tea-caddie, Hannah--the best bohea--bid Tib kindle a
spark of fire--the morning's damp--draw in the giggling faces of ye,
ye d--d idle scoundrels, or laugh at your ain toom pouches--it will
be lang or your weel-doing fill them.' This was spoken, as the
honest lawyer himself might have said, _in transitu_."--_St Ronan's
Well._
Law licks up a'.
"The Laird has been a true friend on our unhappy occasions, and I
have paid him back the siller for Effie's misfortune, whereof Mr
Nichil Novit returned him no balance, as the Laird and I did expect
he wad hae done. But law licks up a', as the common folk say. I have
had the siller to borrow out o' sax purses."--_Heart of Midlothian._
Law-makers shouldna be law-breakers.
Law's a deadly distemper amang friends.
Law's costly: tak a pint and gree.
"How easy can the barley bree
Cement the quarrel!
It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee,
To taste the barrel."--_Burns._
Lay a thing by and it'll come o' use.
Lay the head o' the sow to the tail o' the grice.
Or place the profit against the loss.
"An' I am to lose by ye, I'se ne'er deny I hae won by ye mony a fair
pund sterling--sae, an' it come to the warst, I'se e'en lay the head
o' the sow to the tail o' the grice."--_Rob Roy._
Lay the sweet side o' your tongue till't.
"An answer to them that ask what they will get to their hasty
pudding."--_Kelly._
Lay up like a laird, and seek like a lad.
Lay your wame to your winning.
That is, let your housekeeping expenses be in unison with your
income.
Laziness is muckle worth, when it's weel guided.
Lazy youth maks lousy age.
Leal folk ne'er wanted gear.
Leal heart leed never.
"A' was toom, a' heartless-like, an' bare;
Her dowie pain she culdna mair conceal--
The heart, they'll say, will never lie that's leal."
--_Ross's Helenore._
Lean on the brose ye got in the morning.
Spoken facetiously to a person who leans heavily on another.
Leap year was never a gude sheep year.
Learn the cat the road to the kirn, and she'll aye be lickin'.
Learn young, learn fair; learn auld, learn mair.
Learn your gudewife to mak milk kail.
That is, "Teach your grandmother to suck eggs."
Learn you an ill habit and ye'll ca't a custom.
Least said soonest mended.
Leave aff while the play's gude.
Leave a jest when it pleases you best.
Leave the court ere the court leave you.
Leave welcome aye behint you.
Prolong your stay only so long as you find your company approved of,
so that you may not be considered tedious.
Lee for him and he'll swear for you.
Leein' rides on debt's back.
Lend your money and lose your friend.
"It is not the lending of our money that loses our friend; but the
demanding of it again, and that will lose a friend to my certain
knowledge. They have a proverbial rhyme to this purpose:--
"'I had a } {and a } {as many of this land,
I lent my } {to my } {when he did it demand,
I sought my } penny {from my} friend {when he had kept it long,
I lost my } {and my } {and was not that a wrong?
Had I a } {and a } {as I have had before,
I wo'd keep my} {and my } {and play the fool no more.'"
--_Kelly._
Let-a-be for let-a-be.
"Mutual forbearance."--_Jamieson._
Let ae deil dang anither.
An expression of indifference at two bad persons quarrelling.
Let a horse drink what he will, but no when he will.
Let alane maks mony a loon.
"Let a' trades live," quo' the wife when she burnt her besom.
Let aye the bell'd wether break the snaw.
A "bell'd wether" is a ram with a bell round its neck; and the
proverb means that a difficult or dangerous undertaking should be
led by a person of experience.
Let folk bode weel, and do their best.
Let him cool in the skin he het in.
Let him drink as he has brewen.
Let by-ganes be by-ganes.
"'Hout, ay,' said Elliot, 'just let by-ganes be by-ganes, and a'
friends again; deil ane I bear malice at but Westburnflat, and I hae
gi'en him baith a het skin and a cauld ane.'"--_The Black Dwarf._
Let him haud the bairn that's aught the bairn.
Let him ride his ain horse wi' his ain hauding.
Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle.
Let him tak his fling, and he'll find oot his ain weight.
Let him that's cauld blaw the ingle.
Let him that pays the lawin' choose the lodging.
"'I dinna ken, sir,' she replied in a dry _reveche_ tone, which
carried me back twenty years, 'I am nane of thae heartsome
landleddies that can tell country cracks, and make themsells
agreeable; and I was ganging to pit on a fire for you in the red
room; but if it is your will to stay here, he that pays the lawing
maun choose the lodging.'"--_The Highland Widow._
Let his ain wand ding him.
Let ilka ane roose the ford as they find it.
That is, let every one speak of a thing as he finds it.
Let ilka ane soop before their ain door.
Let ilka cock fight his ain battle.
Let ilka herring hing by its ain head.
Let ilka man soop the ice wi' his ain besom.
Let ilka sheep hang by its ain shank.
Let ilka tub stand on its ain bottom.
Let na the plough stand to kill a mouse.
Do not quit or neglect an important matter to look after trifles.
Let ne'er your gear owergang ye.
Never let your wealth make you give way to pride, or forget your old
friends.
Let never sorrow come sae near your heart.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Let that flee stick to the wa'.
"'Hout tout, man! let that flee stick in the wa',' answered his
kinsman; 'when the dirt's dry it will rub out.'"--_Rob Roy._
Let the eird bear the dike.
"Eird and dike" are earth and stone wall. The proverb means that
heavy or important undertakings should have a solid basis.
Let the horns gang wi' the hide.
The horns bearing but insignificant value in comparison with the
hide, they should be thrown into the purchase of the latter free of
charge.
Let the kirk stand i' the kirkyaird.
That is, let everything be in its proper place.
Let them care that come behint.
Let the morn come and the meat wi't.
Let the muckle horse get the muckle windlin.
Let the tail follow the skin.
Let the tow gang wi' the bucket.
Let your meat dit your mouth.
Liars should hae gude memories.
Lick and lay down.
A proverbial form of expression of a man's being able to pay his
way.
"And what for suld I no have a _corpus delicti_, or a _habeas
corpus_, or ony other _corpus_ that I like, sae lang as I am willing
to lick and lay down the ready siller?"--_St Ronan's Well._
Lick your loof and lay't in mine, dry leather jigs aye.
"This signifies no more but kiss your hand and give it. Spoken
facetiously upon some good fortune unexpected."--_Kelly._
Lie in your bed and lippen to that.
Life's life ony gate.
"'And now we're settled ance mair,' said Cuddie to his mother, 'and
if we're no sae bein and comfortable as we were up yonder, yet
life's life ony gate, and we're wi' decent kirk-ganging folk o' your
ain persuasion, mither; there will be nae quarrelling about
that.'"--_Old Mortality._
Light burdens break nae banes.
Light lades mak willing horses.
Lightly come, lightly gang.
Light maidens mak langing lads.
"Light's heartsome," quo' the thief to the Lammas mune.
Lightsome sangs mak merry gate.
"Ratcliffe, speaking apart to Madge, asked her 'whether she did not
remember ony o' her auld sangs?' 'Mony a dainty ane,' said Madge;
'and blithely can I sing them, for lightsome sangs make merry
gate.'"--_Heart of Midlothian._
Light suppers mak lang days.
Like a sow playing on a trump.
"Trump," a Jew's harp. Typical of extreme awkwardness.
Like Bauldy's wedding, there's nae meat but muckle mirth.
Like blood, like gude, like age, mak the happy marriage.
Like butter in the black dog's hause.
That is, a dangerous position, as butter in the embrace of a dog
certainly is.
Like Cranshaws kirk--there's as mony dogs as folk, and neither room for
reel nor rock.
"In a remote pastoral region, like that of Cranshaws, lying in the
midst of the Lammermoor hills, it is or was usual for shepherds'
dogs to accompany their masters to the church; and in times of
severe stormy weather, few people except the shepherds, who are
accustomed to be out in all weathers, could attend divine service;
and in such circumstances, it may have occurred that the dogs may
have equalled in number the rational hearers of the Word. We have
heard the saying applied by bustling servant girls to a scene where
three or four dogs were lounging about a kitchen hearth, and
impeding the work."--_G. Henderson._
Liked gear is half-bought.
"When wares please, a bargain is soon made."--_English._
Like draws aye to like, like an auld horse to a fell dike.
Persons of similar tastes draw towards and sympathize with each
other. "Like will to like--a scabbed horse and a sandy
dike."--_Danish._ "Like will to like, as the devil said to the
coal-burner."--_German._
Like hens, ye rin aye to the heap.
Spoken jocularly to those who help themselves to what there is most
of on the table.
Like Hilton kirk, baith narrow and mirk, and can only haud its ain
parish folk.
"Hilton kirk was a very small edifice in Berwickshire, and it would
seem from the saying not very well lighted. When any number of
strangers came as hearers, the accommodation was deficient; the
saying is used when many persons assemble in a small house, and
there is little room to stir about."--_G. Henderson._
Like Lamington's mare, ye break brawly aff, but sune set up.
Likely lies i' the mire, and unlikely gets ower.
Meaning that many undertakings which promise favourably at first
often fail; while those of which no great hopes are entertained are
successfully carried through.
Like maister, like man; like priest, like offering.
Like Moses' breeks, neither shape, form, nor fashion.
Like Orkney butter, neither gude to eat nor creesh woo.
"A minister having in these words compared the covenant, made it a
proverb. Applied to a thing that is useful no way."--_Kelly._
Like paddy's ghost, twa steps ahint.
Like's an ill mark amang ither folk's sheep.
Like the bairns o' Falkirk, they'll end ere they mend.
"This is a proverbial saying of ill-doing persons, as expressive of
there being no hope of them. How the children of Falkirk came to be
so characterized, it would be difficult now to ascertain. The adage
has had the effect of causing the men of Falkirk jocularly to style
themselves 'the bairns;' and when one of them speaks of another as
'a bairn,' he only means that that other person is a native of
Falkirk."--_Robert Chambers._
Like the cat, fain fish wad ye eat, but ye are laith to weet your feet.
"The cat is fain the fish to eat, but hath no will to wet her
feet."--_English._
"Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' like the poor cat i' the
adage."--_Macbeth._
Like the cowts o' Bearbughty, ye're cowts till ye're best's by.
Like the cur in the crub, he'll neither do nor let do.
A Scottish version of the dog in the manger.
Like the dam o' Devon, lang gathered and soon gane.
Like the fiddler o' Chirnside's breakfast, it's a' pennyworth's
thegither.
"This is said of people who buy very small quantities of any
article. Fiddlers are proverbially poor, and the one of Chirnside
was no exception to the rule. One morning he sent his boy for
materials for breakfast, and the order was delivered to the
shopkeeper in the following measured terms:--
"'A pennyworth o' tea,
A pennyworth o' sugar,
Three penny loaves,
And a pennyworth o' butter;
And a pennyworth o' he herring,
For my faither likes melts!'"--_G. Henderson._
Like the gudeman o' Kilpalet, ye're ower simple for this warld, and hae
nae broo o' the next.
Like the laird o' Castlemilk's foals--born beauties.
Like the lassies o' Bayordie, ye learn by the lug.
Like the man o' Amperly's coo, she's come hame routin', but no very fu',
wi' the tow about her horns.
"The cow came home unsold; and the rhyme is applied to a young woman
who comes home from a fair or market without a 'jo' or
sweetheart."--_G. Henderson._
Like the man wi' the sair guts--nae getting quat o't.
Like the smith's dog, sleep at the sound o' the hammer, and wauk at the
crunching o' teeth.
Like the tod's whalps, aye the aulder the waur.
Like the wabster, stealing through the warld.
Another insult to the weaving profession. The reply of a person who
is asked how he is getting on.
Like the wife that ne'er cries for the ladle till the pat rins o'er.
That is, never asks for an article until it is too late.
Like the wife wi' the mony dochters, the best's aye hindmost.
Or, at least, she would have the lover of the last believe so.
Like the wife's tongue, aften better meant than timed.
Like the witches o' Auchencrow, ye get mair for your ill than your gude.
"That is, people sometimes grant an individual a favour through fear
of malevolence, or to get rid of his importunity."--_G. Henderson._
Like to like.
"I'll tell ye, Ratton, blithe will Nicol Muschat be to see ye, for
he says he kens weel there isna sic a villain out o' hell as ye are,
and he wad be ravished to hae a crack wi' ye--like to like, ye
ken--it's a proverb never fails; and ye are baith a pair o' the
deevil's peats, I trow--hard to ken whilk deserves the hettest
corner o' his ingleside."--_Heart of Midlothian._
Like water to leather--the langer the tougher.
"Although my mither has been, past the memory o' man, in a
complaining condition, I ken nae odds o' her this many a year; her
ail's like water to leather, it makes her life the tougher."--_The
Entail._
Lippen to me, but look to yoursel.
Lips gae, laps gae, drink and pay.
"If you put your lips to the cup to drink, put your hand to your lap
to take out your purse."--_Kelly._
Listen at a hole, and ye'll hear news o' yoursel.
List to meat's gude kitchen.
Little and aften fills the purse.
Little can a lang tongue layne.
Little does the puir gude, and as little get they.
Little dogs hae lang tails.
Little folk are soon angry.
A frequent addition gives the reason--for their heart gets soon to
their mouth.
Little gear, little care.
Little Jock gets the little dish, and that hauds him lang little.
"Poor people are poorly served, which prolongs their
poverty."--_Kelly._
Little kens the auld wife, as she sits by the fire, what the wind is
doing on Hurley-Burley-Swire.
"Hurle-Burle-Swire is a passage through a ridge of mountains that
separate Nithsdale from Twadale and Clydsdale: where the mountains
are so indented one with another that there is a perpetual blowing.
The meaning is that they who are at ease know little of the trouble
that others are exposed to."--_Kelly._
Little kent, the less cared for.
Little may an auld horse do if he maunna nicher.
Little meddling maks fair pairting.
Little mense o' the cheeks to bite aff the nose.
It is bad policy for a person to injure another with whom he is
intimately connected, or upon whom he is depending.
Little odds between a feast and a fu' wame.
Little said is soon mended, little gear is soon spended.
Little's the light will be seen far in a mirk night.
"'But the flame!' demanded Ravenswood; 'the broad blaze which might
have been seen ten miles off--what occasioned that?' 'Hout, awa!
it's an auld saying and a true, "Little's the light will be seen far
in a mirk night"--a wheen fern and horse litter that I fired in the
courtyard, after sending back the loon of a footman.'"--_Bride of
Lammermoor._
Little to fear when traitors are true.
Little troubles the ee, but less the soul.
Little wats the ill-willy wife what a dinner may haud in.
Although a wife be very angry and "ill-willy" with her husband in
private, still in public she should be cautious for obvious reasons,
one of which is, Kelly says, "That a handsome treat may secure good
friends and great interest."
Little winning maks a light purse.
Little wit in the head maks muckle travel to the feet.
People of few resources, or poor imagination, are apt to be put
about by trifles.
Little wit in the pow that lights the candle at the lowe.
Live in measure, and laugh at the mediciners.
Live upon love, as laverocks do on leeks.
Living at heck and manger.
To live at "heck and manger" is to fare sumptuously every day, even
beyond our income.
Lock your door, that you may keep your neighbours honest.
Lo'e me little an' lo'e me lang.
Look before ye loup, ye'll ken better how to light.
"Luke quhair thou licht befoir thou lowp,
And slip na certainty for howp,
Quha gyds thee but begess."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
Loud coos the doo when the hawk's no whistling; loud cheeps the mouse
when the cat's no rustling.
That is, subordinates take advantage when superiors are out of the
way. "When the cat's away, the mice will play."--_English._
Loud i' the loan was ne'er a gude milk cow.
Noisy people, or those who are always boasting of what they can do,
are seldom so clever even as their neighbours. Kelly says this is "a
reprimand to noisy girls."
Love and jealousy are sindle sindry.
Love and lairdship's like nae marrows.
"Marrow," that is, an equal, match, or antagonist.
Love and light winna hide.
Love has nae lack, be the dame e'er sae black.
Love has nae law.
Love is as warm amang cottars as courtiers.
"The rose blooms gay on shairney brae,
As weel's in birken shaw;
And love will lowe in cottage low,
As weel's in lofty ha'."--_Tannahill._
Love ower het soon cools.
Love your friend and look to yoursel.
[Illustration]
Maidens should be mild and meek, quick to hear, and slow to speak.
Maidens should be mim till they're married, and then they may burn
kirks.
"Spoken often, by way of reflection, when we say that such a one is
a good-humoured girl, as if you would say, 'Observe how she'll prove
when she is married.'"--_Kelly._
Maidens' tochers and ministers' stipends are aye less than ca'd.
Maidens want naething but a man, and then they want a'thing.
Mair by luck than gude guiding.
That is, a person has been successful by mere force of
circumstances, and by no particular merit of his own.
Mair hamely than welcome.
"Mair haste the waur speed," quo' the tailor to the lang thread.
Mair nice than wise.
Mair pride than pith.
Mair than enough is ower muckle.
Mair than the deil wear a black manteel.
"Mair whistle than woo," quo' the souter when he sheared the sow.
The saying, "Great cry and little wool," is common to all nations;
the Scottish version, however, is the most expressive and humorous
we have met with.
Maister's will is gude wark.
For the master himself is sure to be pleased with it.
Maistry maws the meadows doun.
"The captain's a queer hand ... he keeps a high hand ower the
country, and we couldna deal with the Hielandmen without his
protection, sin' a' the keys o' the kintray hings at his belt; and
he's no an ill body in the main; and maistry, ye ken, maws the
meadows doun."--_Heart of Midlothian._
Mak ae wrang step and down ye gae.
Mak ae pair o' legs worth twa pair o' hands.
"He freed Rashleigh from my hold, and securing me, notwithstanding
my struggles, in his own Herculean gripe, he called out, 'Take the
bent, Mr Rashleigh--make ae pair o' legs worth twa pair o' hands; ye
hae done that before now.'"--_Rob Roy._
Mak a kiln o't, and creep in at the logie.
We surmise that this is intended as an advice to a person who has
become possessed of an article, and does not know what to do with
it, like the old lady who won the principal prize in the lottery,
said prize consisting of a live elephant! A "killogie" is, says
Jamieson, "a vacuity before the fireplace in a kiln for drawing
air."
Mak a kirk or a mill o't.
Similar to the preceding proverb. Equivalent to saying such a thing
is entirely in your own control; you may do what you please with it.
Mak friends o' fremit folk.
Mak hay while the sun shines.
Mak nae bauks in gude bear-land.
To "bauk" is to leave small strips of land unturned in ploughing.
Kelly says of this proverb that it is "spoken when it is proposed to
marry the youngest daughter before the eldest."
Mak nae orts o' gude hay.
Literally, do not throw aside good hay.
Mak nae toom ruse.
"Toom ruse" means empty praise, and the proverb signifies that we
should not praise indiscriminately, or without knowledge of the
subject.
Mak the best o' a bad bargain.
Mak your wife a gowdspink, and she'll turn a water-wagtail.
That is, if you indulge a person freely to a certain extent, the
probability is he will exceed the limits.
Malice is aye mindfu'.
Man proposes, God disposes.
Man's twal is no sae gude as the deil's dizzen.
No, because "man's twal" is twelve, while the "deil's dizzen" is
thirteen.
March comes like a lion and gangs like a lamb.
March comes wi' adders' heads and gangs wi' peacocks' tails.
March dust and March win', bleaches as weel as simmer's sun.
March dust and May sun mak corn white and maidens dun.
March water and May sun makes claes clear and maidens dun.
The explanation of this saying, which belongs to the Mearns, is,
that water in the month of March is supposed to be of a more
cleansing quality than in any other month. The same idea is also
expressed in the following saying:
March water's worth May soap.
March whisquer was ne'er a gude fisher.
Marriage and hanging gae by destiny.
Married folk are like rats in a trap--fain to get ithers in, but fain to
be out themsels.