"Of all comforts I miscarried,
When I played the sot and married:
'Tis a trap, there's none need doubt on't;
Those that are in would fain get out on't."--_Tea-Table Miscellany._
Marry abune your match, and get a maister.
Marry for love, and work for siller.
Marry in haste, and repent at leisure.
Marry your son when you will, but your dochter when you can.
Maun-do is a fell fallow.
"Necessity is a hard master."--_German._
May-be's are no aye honey bees.
"An answer to them that say, 'Maybe it will fall out so or
so.'"--_Kelly._
May-be's flee na at this time o' the year.
Maybe's a big book.
Maybe your pat may need my clips.
Perhaps some day you will be glad of my assistance, although you
despise it just now.
May birds are aye cheeping.
This refers to the popular superstition against marrying in the
month of May, the children of which marriages are said to "die of
decay."
May he that turns the clod ne'er want a bannock.
Mealy mou'd maidens stand lang at the mill.
Measure twice, cut but ance.
Meat and mass ne'er hindered wark.
"'Happy will I be to serve you, my gude auld acquaintance,' said the
clerk; 'but sit you down--sit you down--sit you down, Mrs
Dods,--meat and mass never hindered wark. Ye are something overcome
wi' your travel--the spirit canna aye bear through the flesh, Mrs
Dods.'"--_St Ronan's Well._
Meat and measure mak a' men wise.
Meat feeds, claith cleeds, but breeding maks the man.
Meat is gude, but mense is better.
Men are no to be mete by inches.
Men speak o' the fair as things went there.
Mettle's kittle in a blind mare.
Michaelmas mune rises nine nights alike sune.
Mills and wives are aye wanting.
Mind me to a' that ask for me, but blad me in naebody's teeth.
Mind thysel, the warld will mind the lave.
Mint before you strike.
Minting gets nae bairns.
Mischief's mother's but like midge's wing.
Mister makes a man o' craft.
Misterfu' folk maunna be mensefu'.
"Beggars should not be choosers."--_English._
Mist in May and heat in June mak the harvest right soon.
Mistress before folk, gudewife behint backs; whaur lies the dishclout?
A jocular manner of addressing those who are very particular in
their manner of speaking.
Mocking's catching.
Money's aye welcome, were it even in a dirty clout.
Money's better than my lord's letter.
Money's like the muck midden, it does nae gude till it be spread.
Money makes and money mars.
"He who hath gold hath fear, and he who hath none has sorrow."
Money maks a man free ilka where.
Money maks the mare to go whether she has legs or no.
Mony a dog has dee'd sin' ye were whelped.
Mony a dog will dee ere you fa' heir.
Mony a frost and mony a thowe, sune makes mony a rotten yowe.
Mony a gude tale is spoilt in the telling.
"Applied often when a good sermon is ill delivered, to my certain
knowledge."--_Kelly._
Mony ane for land taks a fool by the hand.
That is, many marry only for the sake of money and possessions.
Mony ane kens the gude fellow that disna ken the gude fellow's wife.
The reason being that he is a "gude fellow" only when abroad or in
the taproom, and not when he is at home.
Mony ane kisses the bairn for love o' the nurse.
"That is, show their kindness to the companions, friends, or
relations of those upon whom they have a design, which they hope by
their influence to effect."--_Kelly._
Mony ane lacks what they would fain hae in their pack.
Mony ane maks an errand to the ha' to bid my leddy good day.
Or, many occupy themselves with trifles.
Mony ane opens his pack and sells nae wares.
Mony ane's coat saves their doublet.
"Spoken when clergymen use you saucily, whom, in deference to their
profession, you will not beat."--_Kelly._
Mony ane ser's a thankless maister.
Mony ane's gear is mony ane's death.
Mony ane speaks o' Robin Hood that ne'er shot wi' his bow.
"Doctor Luther's shoes do not fit every parish priest."--_German._
Mony ane tines the half-merk whinger for the ha'-penny whang.
This nearly obsolete saying means, literally, loses a sixpenny
dagger for the sake of a halfpenny thong. "Spoken," says Kelly,
"when people lose a considerable thing for not being at an
inconsiderable expense."
Mony ane wad blush to hear what he wadna blush to dae.
Mony ane wad hae been waur had their estates been better.
Mony an honest man needs help that hasna the face to seek it.
"Mony a thing's made for the penny," as the wifie said when she saw the
black man.
Mony a true tale's tauld in jest.
Mony aunts, mony emes, mony kin, but few friends.
The word "eme" signifies uncle, and the saying--its claims as a
proverb are small enough--means that a person may have many
relations but very few friends among them.
Mony care for meal that hae baked bread enough.
"Spoken against whining, complaining people, who have enough, and
yet are always making a moan."--_Kelly._
Mony cooks ne'er made gude kail.
Mony fair promises at the marriage-making, but few at the tocher-paying.
A man may "promise like a merchant and pay like a man-of-war's-man;"
that is, promise anything that may be asked, for the sake of
concluding a bargain, but which, once made, he is in no haste to
perform.
Mony gude-nights is laith away.
"He shakes hands often who is loath to go."--_French._
Mony hands maks light work.
Mony hawes, mony snawes.
"When there is a great exhibition of blossoms on the hedgerows, the
ensuing winter will be a remarkable one for snow storms."--_Robert
Chambers._
Mony hounds may soon worry ae hare.
Mony kinsfolk but few friends.
Mony 'll sup wi' little din, that wadna gree at moolin in.
Mony littles mak a muckle.
Mony purses haud friends lang thegither.
Mony rains, mony rowans; mony rowans, mony yewns.
"Yewns being light grain. The rowans are the fruit of the mountain
ash, which never are ripe till harvest. It is a common observation,
that an abundance of them generally follows a wet season."--_Robert
Chambers._
Mony sae "weel" when it ne'er was waur.
"Spoken to them that say 'well' by way of resentment."--_Kelly._
Mony time I hae got a wipe wi' a towel, but ne'er a daub wi' a dishclout
before.
Or reprimanded by a person who had authority to do so, but never
roughly handled by one who had no right to interfere. Kelly says
this is "spoken by saucy girls when one jeers them with an unworthy
sweetheart."
Mony ways to kill a dog though ye dinna hang him.
Mony words dinna fill the firlot.
A "firlot" is a fourth part of a boll, dry measure. Equivalent to
the proverb, "Many words go to a sackful."--_Dutch._
Mony words, muckle drouth.
Mony wyte their wife for their ain thriftless life.
That is, many persons blame others for what are the consequences of
their own faults. Kelly says, "I never saw a Scottish woman who had
not this at her finger's end."
Mouths are nae measure.
The Irish are not of this opinion, for it is recorded that one of
them said his mouth held exactly a glass of whisky--that is, if he
could have retained it; but there was a hole in the bottom of it
which continually prevented him from proving the fact.
Mows may come to earnest.
"To 'mow,' to speak in mockery."--_Jamieson._
Moyen does muckle, but money does mair.
Influence or interest does much, but money will do more.
Muck and money gae thegither.
Muckle corn, muckle care.
"Muckle din about ane," as the deil said when he stole the collier.
Muckledom is nae virtue.
Muckle fails that fools think.
Muckle gifts mak beggars bauld.
Muckle gude may it do you, and merry go doun, every lump as big as my
thoom.
A bad wish--that every bite may choke you.
Muckle head, little wit.
Muckle maun a gude heart thole.
Muckle meat, mony maladies.
Muckle mou'd folk are happy at their meat.
Muckle musing mars the memory.
Muckleness has nae mair, or else a cow could catch a hare.
Muckleness is no manliness.
Muckle pleasure, some pain.
Muckle power maks mony faes.
Muckle skaith comes to the shae before the heat comes to the tae.
Muckle spoken, part spilt.
So much was said on a subject that a great deal was lost.
Muckle wad aye hae mair.
The more a person has the more he would have.
Muckle water rins by that the miller watsna o'.
Muckle wi' thrift may aye be mair.
"Must" is for the King to say.
My market's made, ye may lick a whup-shaft.
The saucy reply of a maid already betrothed, to a would-be wooer.
My neighbour's skaith's my ain peril.
My son's my son till he's got him a wife; my dochter's my dochter a' the
days o' her life.
My tongue's no under your belt.
[Illustration]
Naebody daur say Straa to him.
Naebody is riving your claes to get you.
Or going out of their wits for your sake.
Nae butter will stick to my bread.
That is, good fortune follows nothing I do.
Nae carrion will kill a craw.
Nae cows, nae care.
Nae curb will tame love.
Nae equal to you but our dog Sorkie, and he's dead, so ye're marrowless.
Applied to boasters, meaning sarcastically that in their own
peculiar faculty they are unequalled.
Nae faut; but she sets her bannet ower weel.
The only fault is, she is too good-looking.
Nae fleeing frae fate.
Nae fleeing without wings.
Nae fools like auld anes.
Nae faut that the cat has a clean band, she sets a bannet sae weel.
"Ironically spoken to them who pretend to do, have, or wear what
does not become them."--_Kelly._
Nae friend like the penny.
Nae gain without pain.
Nae great loss but there's some sma' 'vantage.
Nae man can baith sup and blaw at ance.
That is, sup his soup and cool it together; or, plainly, do two
things at once.
Nae man can live langer in peace than his neighbours like.
"For an ill neighbour, with his scolding noise, complaints,
lawsuits, and indictments, may be very troublesome."--_Kelly._
Nae man can mak his ain hap.
Or plan his own destiny.
Nae man can seek his marrow i' the kirn sae weel as him that has been
in't himsel.
"Spoken to those who suspect us guilty of a thing in which they take
measure of us by their practices and inclinations."--_Kelly._
Nae man can thrive unless his wife will let him.
Nae man has a tack o' his life.
Nae man is wise at a' times, nor on a' things.
Nae mills, nae meal.
Nae penny, nae paternoster.
Nae plea is the best plea.
Nae rule sae gude as rule o' thoom--if it hit.
Nae service, nae siller.
Nae sooner up than her head's in the aumrie.
Applied to lazy or greedy servants; implying that the first thing
they do in the morning is to go to the "aumrie" or cupboard for
something to eat.
Nae swat, nae sweet.
Naething but fill and fetch mair.
A philosophic way of meeting troubles. If a thing be wrong done, do
it over again; or if it be lost, procure another.
Naething comes fairer to light than what has been lang hidden.
Naething comes out o' a close hand.
Naething freer than a gift.
Naething is got without pains but an ill name and lang nails.
Naething is ill said if it's no ill ta'en.
Naething is ill to be done when will's at hame.
Naething like being stark dead.
Meaning there is nothing like doing a thing thoroughly. "A vile,
malicious proverb," says Kelly, "first used by Captain James Stewart
against the noble Earl of Morton, and afterwards applied to the Earl
of Strafford and Archbishop Laud."
Naething's a bare man.
"A jocose answer to children when they say they have gotten
nothing."--_Kelly._
Naething's a man's truly but what he comes by duly.
Naething sae bauld as a blind mear.
"Who so bold as blind Bayard?"--_English._
"Ignorance breeds confidence; consideration, slowness and
wariness."--_Ray._
Naething sae crouse as a new wash'd louse.
"Spoken of them who have been ragged and dirty, and are proud and
fond of new or clean clothes."--_Kelly._
Naething sooner maks a man auld-like than sitting ill to his meat.
"To sit ill to one's meat, to be ill fed."--_Jamieson._
Naething to be done in haste but gripping fleas.
In his introduction to Henderson's _Proverbs_, Motherwell relates a
humorous anecdote in connection with this proverb. An indefatigable
collector of "rusty sayed saws," a friend of his, was in the habit
of jotting down any saying new to him on the back of cards, letters,
&c., and thrusting them into his pocket. On one occasion he had an
altercation with a stranger at a friend's house. The quarrel
becoming warm, ended by Motherwell's friend excitedly handing the
other (as he thought) his card. On the gentleman's preparing to
vindicate his honour next morning, it occurred to him to learn the
name of his antagonist. On looking at the card he found no name,
but, in place of it, traced in good legible characters, "Naething
should be done in a hurry but catching fleas." The effect of this
was irresistible, and the result an immediate reconciliation.
Naething to do but draw in your stool and sit down.
Everything is so far advanced that the finishing stroke only is
wanting. Applied to a man who is courting a widow or spinster
already in possession of a well-furnished house.
Naething venture, naething win.
Nae weather's ill an the wind be still.
Nae wonder ye're auld like, ilka thing fashes you.
That is, because you allow every little trifling occurrence to vex
you.
Nane are sae weel but they hope to be better.
Nane but fools and knaves lay wagers.
Henderson, in his _Proverbs_, reads "poets" for "fools," possibly as
a hit upon some of his friends, several of whom were poets of local
celebrity.
Nane can mak a bore but ye'll find a pin for't.
Meaning that none can find fault with you but you will be able to
give an excuse for it. "As soon find hare without a mense as you
without excuse."--_English._
Nane can play the fool sae weel as a wise man.
Nane can tell what's i' the shaup till it's shelt.
That is, in the husk until it is shelled.
Nane kens whaur a blister may light.
Narrow gathered, widely spent.
Nature passes nurture.
Nearer e'en the mair beggars.
Nearer God's blessing than Carlisle fair.
"You need but go to your closet for the one, but you must go out of
the kingdom for the other."--_Kelly._
Nearer the bane, sweeter the flesh.
"And for eating--what signifies telling a lee? there's just the
hinder end of the mutton-ham that has been but three times on the
table, and the nearer the bane the sweeter, as your honours weel
ken; and--there's the heel of the ewe-milk kebbuck, wi' a bit o'
nice butter, and--and--that's a' that's to trust to."--_Bride of
Lammermoor._
Nearer the rock, the sweeter the grass.
Nearest the heart, nearest the mou.
"Spoken to them who, designing to name one person, by mistake names
another, perhaps a sweetheart."--_Kelly._
Nearest the king, nearest the widdy.
"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._