Glossary

To the Principal and Professors of the University of St Andrews,
on their Superb Treat to Dr Samuel Johnson

The text of this poem comes from Poems by Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson, ed. Alexander Manson Kinghorn and Alexander Law (Scottish Academic Press, 1974). The same text is used in Christopher MacLachlan, ed., and intro., Before Burns; Eighteenth-Century Scottish Poetry (Canongate Classics, 2002). The glossary here is drawn from the one in Poems by Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson, supplemented by the one in Before Burns, here marked with (B).

gawsy>stately
cawsey> street
dowy> gloomy
pang’d> packed
lear> learning
Regents> university teachers (B)
kep> meet (B)
Fifan> of Fife
jingle> ring, jingle
ingle> fireside (B)
fleg> scare away
craigs> throats
roup> hoarseness
reeking het> steaming hot (B)
crieshy> oily
beeking> warming
gin> if
loun> rogue
sican> such
gust the gab> delight the palate (B)
tent> heed
hamel> homely (B)
rax’d> stretched
wyme> belly
steive and swank> firm and strong (B)
tottled> boiled
scything> seething
ca’d> mixed ( B)
ingans> onions
truncher> wooden platter
gilpy> rascal
flead> flayed
hirsle> rustle (B)
brose>porridge (B)
clag> stick to
routh>plenty
drouth> thirst
reaming> foaming (B)
thraw> twist (B)
brize> squeeze
pegh> pant
quegh> drinking cup (B)
Girdle farl> oatcaks
maugre> despite
wame> stomach
gard> made
Greilian crafts> boats from Crail (B)
skate-ruples> skate-tails (B)
willawins> alas
birky>fellow
eistacks> dainties
in pet> like pets (B)
het> heat
cog> wooden dish
cutty> short
cottar>peasant (B)
pease-clods> coarse pease-meal rolls
kail> colewart (B)
devall> cease
daintiths> delicacies
mirk> dark
loun> rogue
rife> available (B)
meet your corning> get your deserts
caption> summons for debt
war> worse (B)
horning> being a rebel (RF); bankruptcy (B)
lounder> sound blow
tuizle> fight
gulzie> large knife
bicker> drinking cup
wizen> gullet