Glossary Of Scottish Words Used By Robert Burns: H-Words

H-Words

by Robert Burns

Ha'
Hall.
Ha' Bible
The great Bible that lies in the hall.
Haddin'
House, home, dwelling-place, a possession.
Hae, ha'en
To have, to accept; haven.
Haet, fient haet
A petty oath of negation; nothing.
Haffet
The temple, the side of the head.
Hafflins
Nearly half, partly, not fully grown.
Hag
A gulf in mosses and moors, moss ground.
Haggis
A kind of pudding, boiled in the stomach of a cow or sheep.
Hain
To spare, to save, to lay out at interest.
Hain'd
Spared; hain'd gear, hoarded money.
Hairst
Harvest.
Haith
A petty oath.
Haivers
Nonsense, speaking without thought.
Hal', or hald
An abiding place.
Hale, or haill
Whole, tight, healthy.
Halesome
Healthful, wholesome.
Hallan
A particular partition wall in a cottage, or more properly a seat of turf at the outside.
Hallowmass
Hallow eve, the 31st of October.
Haly
Holy; haly-pool, holy well with healing qualities.
Hame
Home.
Hammered
The noise of feet like the din of hammers.
Han', or haun', han's breed
Hand; hand's breadth.
Han'-afore's
The foremost horse on the left hand in the plough.
Han'-ahins
Hindmost.
Hanks
Thread as it comes from the measuring reel, quantities, etc.
Hansel-throne
Throne when first occupied by a king.
Hap
An outer garment, mantle, plaid, etc.; to wrap, to cover, to hap.
Hap-shackled
When a fore and hind foot of a ram are fastened together to prevent leaping, he is said to be hap-shackled. A wife is called the kirk's hap-shackle.
Happer
A hopper, the hopper of a mill.
Hap-step-an'-loup
Hop-step-and-leap.
Harigals
Heart, liver, and lungs of an animal.
Harkit
Hearkened.
Harn
A very coarse linen.
Hash
A fellow who knows not how to dress nor act with propriety.
Hast
Hastened.
Haud
To hold.
Haughs
Low-lying rich lands, valleys.
Haurl
To drag, to pull violently.
Haurlin'
Tearing off, pulling roughly.
Haver-meal
Oatmeal.
Haveril
A half-witted person; half-witted, one who habitually talks in a foolish or incoherent manner.
Havins
Good manners, decorum, good sense.
Hawkie
A cow, properly one with a white face.
Heapit
Heaped.
Hearse
Hoarse.
Heather
Heath.
Hech
Oh, strange, an exclamation during heavy work.
Hecht
Promised; to foretell something that is to be got or given; foretold, the thing foretold; offered.
Heckle
A board in which are fixed a number of sharp steel prongs upright for dressing hemp, flax, etc.
Hee balou
Words used to soothe a child.
Heels-owre-gowdie
Topsy turvy, turned the bottom upwards.
Heeze
To elevate, to rise, to lift.
Hellim
The rudder or helm.
Herd
To tend flocks, one who tends flocks.
Herriet
Sold out.
Herry
To plunder; most properly to plunder birds' nests.
Herryment
Plundering, devastation.
Hersel',hirsel'
Herself; a flock of sheep, also a herd of cattle of any sort.
Hessel
So many cattle as one person can attend.
Het
Hot, heated.
Heugh
A crag, a ravine; coal heugh, a coal pit; lowin heugh, a blazing pit.
Hilch, hilchin'
To halt, halting.
Himsel'
Himself.
Hiney
Honey.
Hing
To hang.
Hirple
To walk crazily, to walk lamely, to creep.
Histie
Dry, chapt, barren.
Hitcht
A loop, make a knot.
Hizzie
Hussy, a young girl.
Hoast
Cough.
Hoble
Totter.
Hoddin'
The motion of a husbandman riding on a cart-horse.
Hoddin'-grey
Woollen cloth of a coarse quality, made by mingling one black fleece with a dozen white ones.
Hoggie
A two-year-old sheep.
Hog-score
A distance line in curling drawn across the rink. When a stone fails to cross it, a cry is raised of, A hog, a hog, and it is removed.
Hog-shouther
A kind of horse-play by justling with the shoulder; to justle.
Hoodie-craw
A blood crow, corbie.
Hool
Outer skin or case, a nutshell, pea husk.
Hoolie
Slowly, leisurely.
Hoord
A hoard, to hoard.
Hoordit
Hoarded.
Horn
A spoon made of horn.
Hornie
One of the many names for the devil.
Host, or hoast, hostin'
To cough; coughing.
Hotch'd
Hitched, turned topsy-turvy, blended, mixed.
Houghmagandie
Loose behaviour.
Housie
Diminutive of house.
Hove, hoved
To heave, to swell.
Howdie
A midwife.
Howe
Hollow, a hollow or dell.
Howebacki
Sunk in the back, spoken of a horse.
Howff
A house of resort, a hiding-place.
Howk
To dig.
Howkin'
Digging deep.
Howkit
Digged.
Howlet
An owl.
Hoy, hoy't
To urge, urged.
Hoyse
A pull upwards.
Hoyte
To amble crazily.
Huchyalled
To move with a hilch.
Hughoc
Diminutive of Hughie, as Hughie is of Hugh.
Hums and hankers
Mumbles, and seeks to do what he cannot perform.
Hunkers
Kneeling, and falling back on the hams.
Hurcheon
A hedgehog.
Hurdies
The loins, the crupper.
Hushion, or hoshen
A cushion, also an old stocking, with the foot, or sole of the foot, worn out.

Source:

The Poetical Works Of Robert Burns
Copyright 1910
Ward, Lock, and Co., Ltd