A Scots Dialect Dictionary. Compiled by Alexander Warrack, M.A. (W.
and R. Chambers. 7s. 6d. net.)—This dictionary is described as comprising the words in use from the latter part of the seventeenth century down to the present day. There has been no attempt to define the localities of the words or usages. In practice such attempts do not attain satisfactory results. Words ascribed to a county or district as peculiar are often recognised as used in quite distant localities. The volume, which takes in both ordinary and literary language, will be found to repay study. Of course it will be found that some words included in "Scots Dialect" are used elsewhere. "Gain," for instance, in the sense of " near, straight, direct," is a very common expression, as e.g., "the gainest way" in the northern and north midland counties of England. Sometimes we may find curious differences. To "bottle" is a Scots expression for " to bundle up hay or straw for cattle." But though the verb is recorded, the substantive, which is quite commonly used in England, is not.
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