orra, a. Sc.
(ˈɒrə)
Also 8 ora, orrow.
[Of unascertained origin.]
= odd a., in various senses: esp. 4, 7, 8. orra man (also orraman) = odd man: see odd 8 d.
| 1728 Ramsay Twa Cut-purses 5 And lay out ony ora⁓bodles On sma' gimcracks that pleas'd their noddles. a 1774 Fergusson Leith Races Poems (1845) 30 Their orra pennies there to ware. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 188 Come an' spend a' ye're orrow hours 'Mang groves an' glades. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Scot. Poetry IV. (Gloss.), Orrow man, a day labourer. 1814 Scott Wav. ix, May-be catching a dish of trouts at an orra-time. 1864 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 615 After sixty..he continues to work as what is called an orra man, that is, he does all sorts of odd jobs about the farm. a 1867 E. Smith Mem. Highland Lady (1898) ix. 161 Orraman means the jobber or Jack-of-all-trades. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xxvii. 285, I daresay you would both take an orra thought upon the gallows. 1937 F. Niven Staff at Simson's xxv. 243 Of his return the cashier was made aware by the arrival in his office of the odd-job man—the ‘orra man’. 1955 in Sc. Nat. Dict. (1965) VI. 494/2 (Advt.), Orraman (married) or Orrawoman required for Hillhead, attend some cattle in winter. 1973 Courier & Advertiser (Dundee) 14 Feb. 1/3 (Advt.), Tractor-Orraman wanted for intensive livestock and cropping. |