or chuckie stane A chuckie is a stone or pebble of throwable size: throwing chuckies in the water.
chuddie Chuddie is a name for chewing gum.
chum To chum a friend means to accompany them somewhere: I’ll chum you along to the bus stop.
chunty heid In Northeast Scotland, a chunty heid is a stupid person.
church officer or kirk officer Another name for a beadle.
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland is the established church in Scotland. It has a Presbyterian structure, with each congregation being governed by an elected body of elders, and a Calvinist doctrine. The Church of Scotland has the largest membership of any church in Scotland. The secession of the Scottish Church from Rome took place in 1560 under the leadership of John Knox. In 1840, in what came to be known as the Disruption, a split took place among Scotland’s Presbyterians and some members of the Church of Scotland left to form the Free Church. See Kirk.
chute (shoot) A chute is a playground slide.
City Chambers In Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, the City Chambers is the seat of municipal government.
clabber or glabber In Southwest Scotland, clabber is a word for mud, earth, or clay. [The word comes from the Gaelic clàbar meaning mud or a puddle]
clachan (klaCH-an) A clachan is a small village or hamlet. Clachan, being a Gaelic word, was first used of only Highland villages, but its use is now more widespread. [The word is Gaelic and means stone]
clack or claick In Northeast Scotland, clack is gossip or chat. To clack is to gossip or chat. [This sense probably developed from one of its original meanings: the clattering sound a mill makes when in motion]
Clackmannanshire (clack-man-an-sher or clack-man-an-shire) Clackmannanshire is a historic county in East Central Scotland at the northwest end of the Firth of Forth. It is now the name of a council area occupying much the same area as the old county.
claes (klaze) Claes are clothes. The saying back to auld claes and porridge means a return to normality after a period of jollity, celebration, or indulgence: After Hogmanay it’s back to auld claes and porridge for us.
claik See clack.
claim In Glasgow, to claim someone is to announce one’s intention to beat them up: You’re claimed after school.
clan In Scotland, a clan is a group of families with a common surname united under a single chief. Each clan member is, theoretically, descended from a single ancestor from whom the name of the clan derives. Members often bear the name of the founder preceded by Mac-, a Gaelic term for ‘son of’: MacDonald. The clan system went into terminal decline in the years following the suppression of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion and the process was accelerated by the Clearances, which forced large numbers of Highland Scots abroad to countries such as the USA, Canada, and Australia. Many of the descendants of these emigrants are proud of their Scottish ancestry and some occasionally return to Scotland for clan gatherings. [The word is from the Gaelic clann family]
clanjamfrie (clan-jam-free) or clamjamfrie Clanjamfrie is a word used to refer disparagingly to a group of people, especially if one considers them a rabble. A clanjamfrie is also a varied assortment of things; a mixed bag: The clamjamfrie of tenements, courtyards, and closes which forms Edinburgh’s Old Town.
clap
clap To clap an animal, especially a dog or a horse, is to give it an affectionate pat: It likes ye to clap its wee head. A clap is such an affectionate pat.
clappy-doo (clap-pee-doo) or clabby-doo A clappy-doo is a large black mussel. [The word is from the Gaelic clab enormous mouth plus dubh black]
clapshot Clapshot is a dish consisting of potatoes and turnips which have been boiled and then mashed together in roughly equal quantities: Lunch is fillets of cod served with clapshot, roasted peppers, and chilli oil.
clarsach (klar-saCH) The clarsach was the ancient Celtic harp of Scotland and Ireland. Its use has been revived by folk musicians in both countries this century. [The word is Gaelic and means harp]
clart or clort A clart is a lump of mud or something else unpleasant. A clart is also a dirty mess. [The word is perhaps from the Middle English biclarten defile]
clarty, clatty, or clorty Something that is clarty is messy or dirty: The Tourist Board’s inspectors are encouraged to give clarty accommodation the bum’s rush.
clavie (clay-vee) A clavie is a tar-barrel traditionally set alight in Moray on Hogmanay to bring good luck in the ceremony known as burning the clavie.
claw To claw something is to scratch it: He winna claw an auld heid.
claymore A claymore is a large two-edged broadsword used formerly by Scottish Highlanders. The later single-edged baskethilted sword is often called a claymore. [The word is from the Gaelic claidheamh mòr great sword]
Clearances or Highland Clearances The Clearances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the removal by landlords, often by force, of the inhabitants from some parts of the Scottish Highlands to make way for sheep and other more lucrative uses of the land. Many Highlanders were re-settled on poorer coastal land and encouraged to combine farming with fishing or kelp-gathering. Large numbers were driven off the land altogether and into emigration overseas or to the cities of the South.
cleek A cleek is a hook or any device shaped like a hook.
cleg or clegg A cleg is a horse-fly with a painful bite. [The word comes from the Old Norse klegge]
click If someone gets a click, they find themselves a person with whom they may establish an amorous relationship.
clint In Southwest Scotland, a clint is a cliff or crag. [The word is possibly from the Danish klint cliff]
clipe A variant spelling of clype.
clipshears or clipshear A clipshears is an earwig. [The name comes from the resemblance of the pincers at the tip of the creature’s abdomen to shears]
clishmaclaver (klish-ma-clay-ver) Clishmaclaver is a word meaning gossip or incessant chatter. [It is a combination of two Scots words, clish to repeat gossip, and claver to talk idly]
cloot Cloot is a Scots word for a piece of cloth or a cloth used as a duster, etc.: Dicht roon the sink wi a cloot.
clootie dumpling (rhymes with booty) A clootie dumpling is a rich dark fruitcake served as a dessert, like a Christmas pudding. It is boiled or steamed in a cloot or cloth. Until the recent past, clootie dumplings