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babby
A babby is a slightly old-fashioned word for a baby.
bachle (pronounced baCH-l)
back court
The back court of a tenement building is the shared paved or grassy area behind
it.
backie
- In Dundee, Aberdeen, and elsewhere in the Northeast, a backie is the back court of a block of flats.
All the young guys played football, on the backies and on the green.
- A backie is also one of the many local terms for a piggy-back, which is also known as
a carry-code, a coalie-backie or
a cuddy-back in different parts of Scotland.
back of
the back of an hour is the time just after it, up until about twenty past.
I'll meet you at the back of eight.
baffie (pronounced baf-fi)
baggie
A baggie is a minnow, especially a large one.
bagpipes
The bagpipes, often called the pipes for short, are a musical instrument
consisting of a set of pipes through which air is blown from a bag held under the player's arm.
An individual instrument is known as a set of bagpipes. The type most commonly seen in
Scotland, the Highland bagpipes, has one pipe with holes in it, known as a chanter, which is used to play the melody, and three pipes tuned to a fixed
note, which are known as drones. The bag is filled by the player
blowing into it. There also exists a smaller instrument, the Lowland bagpipes, which is
sweeter toned and has the bag filled by a bellows which the player squeezes between his or her
arm and side. The small Irish uillean pipes are also encountered, mainly among folk
musicians.
ba' hair (pronounced baw hair)
A ba' hair is a rather indelicate term for a very small, almost imperceptible
distance; a whisker.
That just missed ma heid by a ba' hair!.
It literally means a male pubic hair.
bahookie (pronounced ba-hook-ee)
bailie (pronounced bay-li)
Bailie is an honorary title given to senior local councillors in some areas. It now
has no legal significance, although formerly bailies had some of the powers of a
magistrate.
bairn
In much of Scotland, a baby or young child is known as a bairn. In West Central
Scotland the term wean is used instead.
The wife's expecting a bairn.
...The bairns came home from the school.
baith (rhymes with faith)
ballon
A balloon is a Glasgow term for someone who is full of hot air and whose opinions,
although loudly and frequently expressed, are regarded as worthless.
ballop (rhymes with gallop)
In some areas, such as Galloway, the fly on a pair of trousers in known as a
ballop.
balmoral (pronounced bahl-maw-rul)
A balmoral is a type of round brimless cap, the top of which projects beyond the side
and has a bobble on it. It often has a checked band round the side, and is usually worn at a
slant. It is named after Balmoral Castle, a private residence of the British
royal family in Aberdeenshire.
bampot (pronounced bam-pot)
A bampot is a colloquial term for a foolish, stupid or crazy person, as are
bam and bamstick.
bandit
In the Glasgow area, any thing, person, or event that causes pain or outrage may be referred
to as a bandit, especially in exclamations such as ya bandit!.
Banff
Banff or Banffshire is a former county of Northeast Scotland, consisting of
part of the southern coast of the Moray Firth and the area inland from it. It is now
administered by Aberdeenshire single-tier local council.
banjo (pronounced ban-joe)
To banjo someone is a Glaswegian term meaning to hit them a single hard
blow.
Bankie (pronounced bank-ki)
A Bankie is a person from Clydebank.
bannock (pronounced ban-nok)
A Bannock is a round flat unsweetened cake which is made from oats or barley and
baked on a griddle.
Bannock is also short for Selkirk bannock, a type of round
fruit loaf originating in the Border town of Selkirk.
Bannockburn (pronounced ban-nok-burn)
References to Bannockburn are generally to the battle which took place near Stirling
in 1314, at which the Scottish army led by Robert the Bruce defeated an invading English army
and secured Scotland's position as an independent nation until 1707.
The present-day village
of Bannockburn is situated a few miles further down the Bannock Burn.
barkit (pronounced bark-it)
Barkit is a word used in the Northeast which means very dirty, used particularly of
something which is encrusted with dried-on dirt.
barley
"Barley" is a cry used, chiefly in the East of Scotland, to call for a period of
truce or temporary halt to a game among children at play, used, for instance, when someone is
hurt or needs to tie their showlaces.
baith (rhymes with faith)
baronial (pronounced ba-roe-ni-al)
The baronial style of architecture is one popular in the nineteenth century in which
buildings are ornamented with pseudo-medieval features such as turrets and mock battlements.
The magnificent turreted Scottish baronial style of the exterior of the
hotel.
barra (pronounced ba-ra)
A barra is a wheelbarrow.
Something which is right into one's barra is ideal and exactly in line with one's
interests or desires.
To fancy one's barra is to have an unduly high opinion of oneself.
In the Glasgow area a wee barra is an informal way of referring to any small person that
the speaker likes, or at least does not dislike.
The Glasgow flea market is known as The Barras.
barrie or barry (pronounced bar-ri)
Something which is barrie is very good or very attractive.
Your hair looks really barrir like that.
...We'd a really barrie time.
bashit
Bashit vegetables are ones which have been mashed.
bastartin (pronounced bass-ter-tin)
or bastardin (pronounced bass-ter-din)
Bastartin is a swear word used, like damned or bloody, to indicate dislike or
annoyance.
Watch whit yir daein wi that bastartin hammer!
bate (pronounced bait)
Bate is a Scots form of beat or beaten
bauchle (pronounced bawCH-l)
or bachle (pronounced baCH-l)
A bauchle was originally a shabby or worn-out shoe.
Nowadays the word bauchle is usually used to describe an ungainly or shabby-looking person, especially a small one.
bauldie or baldie (pronounced bawl-di)
Someone who is bauldie or bauldie-heidit is bald.
A bauldie is a bald person.
A bauldie is also a very short haircut.
You wouldn't notice I'd had my hair done even if I got a right bauldie, would
you?
bawbee (pronounced baw-bee)
A bawbee was originally a silver coin worth six Scots pennies.
Later, bawbee came to mean a halfpenny.
Although the halfpenny no longer exists, the word bawbee is still used to mean any small
amount of money, especially in phrases implying miserliness or shortage of money.
the current economic climate - otherwise known as a serious lack of bawbees
The coin was probably named after Alexander Orrok of Sillebawby, who became master
of the Scottish mint in 1538.
bawface
A bawface is a round, chubby face, or a person with such a face.
bawheid (pronounced baw-heed)
Bawheid basically means the same as bawface.
However, it can also be used as a cheeky form of address for a person.
beadle
A beadle, also known as a kirk officer or church officer,
is a paid official of the Church of Scotland, whose job includes assisting a minister with
administrative work and placing the Bible in the pulpit at the start of service.
beamer
A beamer is a red face caused by embarrassment or guilt, or something which is so
embarrassing or bad that it causes such a blush. The word is mainly used in the Glasgow area.
bear
A bear is a usually derogatory term for a wild and uncouth young man, particularly one who drinks a lot.
The bar closed long before the bears' drooth was assuaged.
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