Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) gives many senses for this word, ranging from “to plunge or thrust (a thing) into a (liquid), to submerge quickly” to “set down suddenly and heavily, to plump, plank, or slap down” and “to hit with a thump, punch”.
An early example references fisticuffs and comes from A Dialogue between a Country-Man and a Landwart Schoolmaster of 1705, written under the pseudonym of The Observator: “I … gave the other such a Thwack with my Ploot Staff, that he dropt his Durk and fell down half dead”. (A ploot staff is the plunger in a churn.)
Plowt can also mean “a noisy fall, especially into water; a splash, plop”. An Edinburgh example from 2003 gives us: “A plowt or twa o tabasco sauce on yer spaghetti sauce maks aw the difference”.
It can be applied to the weather too: “a heavy shower or cascade, a downpour of rain thunder-plump”. This sense ranges from the 18th century, with the following from 1740 found in The Manuscripts of the family of Atholl at Blair Castle: “We had that day a great plout of rain which did not last”.
More recently, The Herald of June 2002 recorded: “Encamped in Aberdeen while the Kirk takes its ball back, MSPs were given a warm welcome and a useful guide to the city’s climate. This listed 10 ways of describing the weather to local cabbies, including three different ways of saying ‘it’s ceaselessly raining’: ‘it’s stottin’, ‘it’s jist hale watter’ and ‘fit a richt plowt’”.
Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.
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