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[bas]
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Sgailc air bois. Shaking hands on a bargain.
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[bas]
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Buailaibh ur basaibh. Clap hands.
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[bas]
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Bhuail i na basan. – She struck her hands.
Location: Killearnan
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[fead]
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Chan e fead a bhainne a tha muigh. – an expression used on a windy day. Literally the wind was stronger than the gentle wisps of air which you feel around your hands when milking.
Location: Barra, Northbay
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[fro-stick]
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Another thing that was used in connection with milk, I do not know the Gaelic name for it but in English it is called a fro-stick. In fact we used to have one here though I have not seen it for some time. I’ll try and make a drawing of one which will give you an idea what it looked like. It was used for what we called a ‘fuarag’. This was some cream in the bottom of a flat dish or any vessel with a flat bottom, you put the fro-stick in it and kept the handle tight between the palms of the hands and made a rubbing movement causing the fro-stick to go one way then the other continuing this for about five minutes, depending on the quality of the cream, until it almost reached the stage what we called the ‘bainne-briste’ stage. ‘Bainne-briste’ was when the milk was starting to change from milk to buttermilk. The ‘fuarag’ was the stage before that when the cream went sour and this was often taken. The material which went round the four spokes was the long hard hair at the end of a cow’s tail like a rope. It didn’t fall off as the ends of the spokes were scouped out cup shaped.
Origin: Inverness-shire, Nethy Bridge
Category: Crodh / Cattle
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[glan]
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Glan do lamhan. – Wash your hands.
Origin: Lochaber
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[glan]
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Nach bu ghlan a chaidh e ris. – How masterly he played him into his hands. Nach bu ghlan a chaidh e ris. – How masterly he has made it. How masterly ha made it.
Origin: [Lewis, Uig an Iar]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[glan]
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Bheil do lamhan sa glan? Are your hands clean?
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[làmh]
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Rug e air laimhe oirre. He shook hands with her. [NOTE in second hand: laimhe corrected to laimh.]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bloinig circe
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hen’s fat also used to relieve strains. Also used for cuts, especially hacks on your hands (gàgan).
Location: South Uist, Iochdar
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bodach-sàbhaidh
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Note: the figure of a man, its hands stretched out in front of it holding a stick which came down at an angle and passed under its feet. A potato, for balance, was stuck on its lower end. The man then was put standing on a line and it swayed backwards and forwards without toppling.
Origin: Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bonnach bois
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thick oatmeal bannock flattened between the palms of the hands and baked in front of the fire.
Origin: Lewis, Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bonnach-bois
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Note: a thick bannock made between the hands and stood upright beside the fire to bake.
Origin: [Lewis], Arnol
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bonnach-bois
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[bɔ̃n̪ɑxbɔʃ] Note: an oatmeal cake made with the hands (not using a “clàr-fuinne”) about 1" thick and stood beside the fire to bake.
Origin: Crowlista
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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breabadh
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Quot.: “breabadh-nan-eich”. Note: played by boys in Valtos. Two of the bigger boys got a hold of two small boys (one each), took them on their backs with their arms round their necks and held by the hands. The small boys then dangled behind them. The two sets then went back to back, the small boys kicking each other like horses.
Origin: Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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caoineadh
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weeping but also maybe caoineachadh – making it finer. (In making a bag for bagpipes after the skin was shred of the wool it was placed in alum and then dried. It was then stiff, but had to be teased and rubbed by the hands until it was like chamois, air a chaoineachadh.)
Location: South Uist, Bornish
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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car-cleitheadh
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[kɑɾklehəɣ] Notes: form of wrestling in which two people grip each other with hands and arms and try to get each other on to the ground. Feet used to trip.
Location: South Uist, Eochdar, Balgarva
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cas-an-fhithich
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this is an old term, it’s out of use here now but it may have survived somewhere else. I think it means a mark of a scar on the face or hands, the scriabadh form as if a bird (raven) scratched the face with its claws. A permanent mark. If you haven’t any other definition, I think you are quite safe with this.
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Coltas an Duine / Personal Appearance
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ceannabh a leas
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hands places on hips.
Location: South Uist, Garrynamonie
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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clibeach
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Notes: ‘clumsy’. My mother used it of hands especially, e.g. letting things drop (Keose). My father (Tong) tends to use it of feet as well. Dw. gives cliobach ‘clumsy, awkward’.
Location: Lewis
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cliobach
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clumsy in the sense of letting things drop from the hands.
Origin: Lochaber
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cluiche-chaorain
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a row of players sat with their hands cupped in their laps. A ‘caoran’ (fragment of peat) was passed surreptitiously from one to the other. One player was chosen to find where the caoran was. He went round, pointing to each in turn and was asked ‘Co aige tha e?’ If his guess was right, his place was taken by the player whom he had guessed. The caoran was secretly passed around again and the game restarted.
Origin: Leòdhas [Lewis], Uig
Category: Cur-seachadan: Dèideagan, Geamaichean is Farpaisean / Recreation: Toys, Games, Contests
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cnaimh-golaigein
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a child on the shoulders of his father, sitting with a foot on either side of his father’s neck, and the father having the hands of his son or daughter holding them above his head. Also termed ‘casa-golaigein’. In other words the father’s head between his son’s or daughter’s feet.
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cnaplach
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knotty. Female (suffering) in particular with rheumatic effects as lumpy hands, lumps of rheumatism ailment. An inactive female is sometimes described by a person of a similar movement in the case of action to be taken and that person not approving to her as: A chnaplach a tha thu ann, in this circumstance, etc.
Location: Harris, Scalpay
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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crannspogan
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[kɾɑ̃ũ̟spɔɡəṉ] Quot.: “air do chrannspogan”. Note: sitting on one’s heels with, perhaps, the hands on the ground as well. (cnàmh-spogan?)
Origin: [Lewis], Arnol
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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crogan sgaoilte
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the opposite to safe hands.
Location: South Uist, Bornish
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cruimhean
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[kɾũ̟ĩɑṉ] Quot.: “Feuch an dean thu cruimhean.” Note: bringing the tips of the fingers and the thumb together. Very difficult to do if the hands are cold.
Location: Lewis, Uig, Crowlista
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cràgaire
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a male of extra large hands. [SLIP: ‘Man with extra large hands’.]
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cròcaireachd
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displaying with the hands.
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cuaran
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Quotation: pl. [ku̜əɾɑ̃nʹ]. Notes: bandages on hands or feet. Also used of wrapping on hands when gutting herring.
Origin: South Uist
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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deireadh
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Quotation: deireadh an t-sìl. Notes: very poor seed which rose to the top when using the criathar. Lifted off with the hands.
Location: Skye, Staffin
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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dòrn-fhuar
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Quot.: a’ toirt a mach an dòrn-fhuar. Note: trial of strength involving the twisting off with the bare hands of the lower part of the cow’s leg at the knee.
Origin: Carloway, Doune
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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eamsagan
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in context of someone dancing and referring to the quick movement of the feet and hands. Also applied in everyday life when someone puts him/herself in a humorous physical position.
Location: South Uist, Stoneybridge
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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fafan
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Quotation: Tha [fɑfɑ̃ṉ] air mo làmhan. Notes: chafing of the hands.
Origin: North Uist
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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fafanaich
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weather-beaten, rough hands. “Bha fafanaich air mo làmhan.”
Location: North Uist, Grimsay, Gearradh Dubh
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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gual
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a smudge on the hands or face (not of coal as coal had never been in use of old in Point, Lewis). Anyone having a smudge on the face and not knowing of it would be told: “Cuir do làmh far am beil an gual ort agus gheibh thu do roghainn”. ‘Gual’ is also the black formed on the outside of pots and pans exposed to an open flame. Still also ‘gual’ was the name for cold peat embers. Sgùradh le gual – before the advent of abrasive cleansers, a damp cloth dipped in a very finely crushed cold peat ember would be used on metal in place of sand paper or emery paper. And ‘gual’ for something burnt to a cinder – “Chaidh e ’na ghual dubh.”
Origin: Eileanaich [natives of Lewis]
Category: Taigh Gàidhealach / House and Furnishings
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leum a mhaide
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leum mach as a bhalá, held by both hands.
Location: Leodhas [Lewis], an taobh siar
Category: Cur-seachadan: Dèideagan, Geamaichean is Farpaisean / Recreation: Toys, Games, Contests
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liut
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[lʹu̟t̪] Quot.: “Gheibh do liutan e!” Note: taken to be synonymous with “làmhan” (hands).
Origin: Carloway, Doune
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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lunn
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that part of the oar which you gripped with your hands.
Location: Eriskay, Na Hann [Haun]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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lurga-lom
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[ɫu̜ɾəɡə ɫ[ɤu̟]m] Quot.: a’ toirt a mach a’ lurga-lom. Note: when a beast (cow) was killed there was a test of strength only the strongest could attempt – that of severing the leg at the knee by twisting the lower part of the leg with the hands. (In Uig known as “a’ toirt a mach an dòrn bhuar”.) There is some confusion as to whether the knee joint or the “ankle” joint was the one severed – some say one, others the other. Puilean says definitely the knee joint.
Origin: [Ness]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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làmhchara
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[ɫɑ̃:xɑɾə] Quot.: “Tha e glé làmhchara.” Note: “He’s good with his hands.”
Origin: Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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maide-slathaig
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[mɑ̃dʹəˈsɫɑıɡʹ] Note: a stick used in thatching for arranging thatch in a place one could not easily reach with the hands.
Origin: [Lewis], Arnol
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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malcadh
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pressing with the hands. [NOTES: Slipped under ‘malc’. Quotation: a’ malcadh. Definition: To press with the hands.]
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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na basan
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palms of the hands.
Origin: Lochaber
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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plabag
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a baby girl indicating; ‘plabadh’ and perhaps ‘plabadaich’ in the form of movement of hands.
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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puingeadh
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(Staffin, Skye) The degree of cold which causes numbness. Such cold as leaves hands, feet, etc. numb. Tha puingeadh fuachd ann.
Origin: [Skye]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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riopair
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a towel consisting of an old sack. If you had been eating a meal such as herring you would clean your hands in this so as not to leave its smell on a cleaner towel.
Location: North Uist, Iollathraigh [Illeray]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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sgagaidhean
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chapped hands.
Location: South Uist, Peninerine
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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sgoultair
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shellfish. It has a stingy [sic] effect on the skin when handled, it leaves an after effect of sting. Fishermen use lubricating oil on their hands for a soothing formula when after having contact with them from their nets. As an emergency, engine oil is used by the fishermen, when any other oil isn’t available.
Location: Harris, Scalpay
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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sgràbair
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scraper; associated with a person continually of [sic] collecting anything he may lay hands on.
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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sgrùbail
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feeling your way with your hands. “Bha mi sgrùbail ’san dorchadas airson àit’ anns an suidhinn.”
Location: Benbecula, Creagorry
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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siol
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Quotation: deireadh an t-sìl. Notes: very poor seed which rose to the top when using the criathar. Lifted off with the hands.
Location: Skye, Staffin
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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slaod
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a tall, lazy person always with his hands in his pockets.
Location: North Uist, Grèinatobht [Grenitote]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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smàglach
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as much as could be lifted between the two hands – of potatoes, or herring, or grain etc.
Origin: Eileanaich [natives of Lewis]
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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smèileabanachd
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[smɛ̃ləbɑṉɑk] Quotation: Sguir dha do smeileabanachd [sic]. Notes: interfering, usually with the hands, and annoying people.
Location: Lewis, Barvas
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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smùg
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Quotation: “Tha e air na smùgan.” Notes: said of a child crawling on hands and knees before it starts to walk.
Origin: Drumguish, by Kingussie
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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spògladh
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[spɔ:ɡɫəɣ] Quot.: “a’ spogladh” [sic]. Note: groping or trying to find something with the hands without much direction.
Origin: [Barvas]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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steòrnadh
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waving of hands.
Location: North Uist, Sollas, Malagleit [Malaglate]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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stgudadh
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[sic] struck. Cha [sic] a sgudadh a mach ás a làmhan. [NOTES: ‘Cha’ was corrected to ‘Chaidh’ possibly by a second hand. The slip has ‘Chaidh…’ Definition: It was struck out of his hands.]
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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sùsagh (a phùil)
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marking out, with a spade, on the turf the area of peat to be cut. [NOTES: two second hands at work. In black ink: the grave accent in ‘sùsagh’ circled and ‘susadh’ added underneath; in red: ‘phuill’ written above ‘phùil’.]
Location: Harris, Bernera
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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taosgnadh
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the movement of the hands on dough when baking. [SLIP: Movement of hands on dough when baking. Knead (?).]
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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ulpag
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[u̜ɫpɑɡ] Note: a big stone but a size which can be lifted with two hands.
Origin: Carloway, Doune
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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éulach
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pain in hands from cold; also eanglach, ionglach; péileadh (Perthshire).
Origin: [Strathglass]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous