An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language
Chapter 31 : 2. An ill-natured person; one of a virulent or malignant disposition, S. A. S. _atter-c

2. An ill-natured person; one of a virulent or malignant disposition, S.

A. S. _atter-coppe_, _atter-coppa_, aranea, from _atter_ venenum, and _coppe_ calix, q. "a _cup_ full of _venom_;" like Isl. _eitrorm_ a serpent, i. e. "a poisonous worm."

ATTOUR, _prep._

V. ~Atour~.

ATWEESH, _prep._ Between.

_s.h.i.+rrefs._

Franc. _tuisc_, _entuishan_, Belg. _tuschen_, inter.

AVA', _adv._ At all, S.

_Ross._

Corr. from _af_ or _of_, and _all_.

AVAILL, _s._ Abas.e.m.e.nt, humiliation.

_Dunbar._

Fr. _aval-er_, _avall-er_, to fall down; _aval_, en descendant, au bas, en bas; _ad vall-em_; Gl. Roquefort.

_To_ AUALE, _v. n._ To descend.

V. ~Availl~.

_Douglas._

AUANT, AWANT, _s._ Boast, vaunt; Chaucer, id.

_Douglas._

AVANTCURRIER, _s._ One of the fore-runners of an army, the same perhaps that are now called picquet-guards.

_G.o.dscroft._

Fr. _avantcoureur_, from _avant_ before, and _courir_ to run.

AUCHINDORAS, _s._ A large thorn-tree at the end of a house; Fife.

AUCHLIT, _s._ Two stones weight, or a peck measure, being half of the Kirkcudbright bushel; Galloway.

AUCHT, AWCHT, (gutt.) _pret._ of Aw.

1. Possessed. _Auht_, id. R. Brunne.

_Wyntown._

2. Owed, was indebted, id. R. Brunne.

_Wyntown._

AUCHT, (gutt.) _v. imp._ Ought, should.

_Douglas._

_Auchten_ occurs in the same sense.

_Douglas._

A. S. _aht-on_, the third pers. plur. pret. of A. S. _ag-an_, possidere.

AUCHT, _s._ Possession, property; what is exclusively one's own. _In aw my aucht_, in my possession, viewed at its utmost extent, S.

V. ~Best Aucht~.

_Bannatyne Poems._

A. S. _aht_; Moes. G. _aigin_, _aihn_, peculiaris ac propria possessio.

AUCHT, (gutt.) _adj._ Eight, S. _auhte_, O. E. id. R. Brunne.

_Wyntown._

Moes. G. _aht-au_, A. S. _eaht-a_, Germ. _aht_, Belg. _acht_, Isl.

and Su. G. _att-a_, Gael. _ocht_, Lat. _oct-o_.

AUCHTAND, AUCHTEN, _adj._ The eighth. Isl. _aatunde_, octavus.

_Douglas._