Scottish word of the day: Glaister

Published on 11/12/2012 11:41

THIS week we’re likely to get a few glaistery starts to our days in Scotland. Our Scottish word for today - Glaister - means a sprinkling or thin covering of snow or ice.

It is perhaps a variation of glistening - a thin icy or snowy covering that glistens.

From “The Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century” by Henky Grey Graham: “Even in the West Kirk of Edinburgh at the middle of the century, the black semmet cowl cap with which the minister protected his head was in winter covered with a “thin glaister o’ sifted snaw”.