Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
STOT, n.1, v.1 Also stott, stoat (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 180). Dim. stottie. [stɔt]
I. n. 1. A young castrated ox, a steer, bullock, gen. one of the second year and upwards (Sc. 1869 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 726; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson). Gen.Sc. Also in n.Eng. dial. Occas. †applied to a bull (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).
Per. 1726 Edb. Ev. Courant (21–25 April):
Milk Cows and Calves, yeld Cows, two and three Year old Stots, Queys, Stirks, and a good Bull. Gall. 1742 Session Bk. Penninghame (1933) II. 377:
Grass meal for two stots. Rnf. 1745 W. Hector Judicial Rec. (1878) II. 125:
Three stotts or head of black cattle. Slk. 1751 Border Treasury (17 Oct. 1874) 144:
Kiley stots that I am to winter till the 1st of April. Ayr. 1786 Burns The Calf iii.:
Forbid it, ev'ry heavenly Power, You e'er should be a stot! Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel ii.:
My cantle will stand a clour wad bring a stot down. Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 63:
Another slice of the stot, James. Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs 283:
The man may eithly tine a stot that canna count his kine. Arg. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Evid. IV. 3048:
Young animals under three years, heifers, stots, and queys. Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden (1922) 117:
He flew at Sandy like a rased stot. Sc. 1893 Stevenson St. Ives ix.:
You had best be travelling with the stots. Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 1:
Doddies an stirks an queys an stots. Cai. 1930 John o' Groat Jnl. (23 May):
He wid buy a stottie fae any sma' fairmer. Edb. 1940 R. Garioch 17 Poems for 6d. 7:
A makar is a rigglin amang stots. I.Sc. 1968 ,
Scotsman (14 Dec.) 15:
Orkney stots to ¥84 10s; Shetland stots to ¥81 10s. ... Black-polled stots to ¥106; black-polled stot stirks to ¥85 10s; black-polled stot calves to ¥56 10s.
Combs.: (1) Hieland stot, a bullock of the Highland breed. Gen.Sc. See Hieland, II. 6.; (2) stot beef, bullock beef. Also attrib. = tender; (3) stot-calf, a young male calf under one year old; (4) stot's-milk, unboiled flummery, Sowans, “ludicrously so named because it is a substitute for milk when it is scarce” (Lnk. 1825 Jam.); (5) stot-sticker, a slaughterer of cattle, a butcher. See Stick, v.1, 1. (1); (6) stot-stirk, a bullock in its second year (Lnk. 1955 Scotsman (20 May); Cai. 1971). Also in n.Eng. dial.; (7) wark-stot, a bullock used for yoking in a plough. See Wark.
(1) Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel v.:
I canna gang rowting like an unmannered Highland stot. Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxxv.:
There was a drove o' ramstaugerous, camsteerie vagabonds o' Heelan' stots. (2) Edb. 1819 Edb. Ev. Courant (1 April) 1:
For Sale, at their Stand, No. 1. Low Market, Edinburgh, superior Stot Beef. Edb. 1895 J. Tweeddale Moff 53:
A sort of stot-beef affection for the laird. (3) Sc. 1849 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 256:
A castrated male calf is a stot-calf. (5) Abd. 1900 Weekly Free Press (18 Aug.):
A mere stot-sticker bein' particularly gifted in guessin' heids. (6) Dmf. 1848 Eskdale Advert. (1 May):
2 Stot Stirks; 4 Calves. Inv. 1872 Trans. Highl. Soc. 45:
The “stot stirks”, as the breeders call them . . . are annually sold when about eighteen months old. Per. 1956 Scotsman (11 Feb.) 3:
Stot and Heifer Stirks. (7) Abd. 1903 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 90:
A pair o' gran' haims for his wark-stot.
2. Transf.: a stupid, clumsy person. an oaf, a blockhead (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc. Also in Eng. dial.
Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xv.:
Shentlemans, ye hielant stot! Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders v.:
The great stot of a farm lad. Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant ii.:
A fair stot at the uptak' o' oor guid Lallan!
II. v. Of a cow: to take the bull (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).[O.Sc. stot, a steer, c.1390, Mid.Eng. stotte, id., a horse, O.E. stott, a nag, poor horse, prob. cogn. with Norw., Swed. stut, O.N. stútr, an ox, bull. For fluctuation in meaning between horse and ox, cf. Staig.]
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"Stot n.1, v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2019 <https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/stot_n1_v1>
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