Scotsman
(ˈskɒtsmən)
Forms: 4 Scottis man, 5 Scottys man, Scottes man, Scotesman, 5–6 Scottisman, Scottesman, 6 Scotisman, 7 Scotts man, 7–8 Scots-man, 6– Scotsman.
[f. Scots a. + man (orig. two words).]
a. = Scotchman.
| c 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 8 Quhen he herd schir Philip say, That Scottis men had set ane day To fecht [etc.]. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxi. 401 Þar Scottismen fel gret tyn⁓saille. c 1490 Paston Lett. III. 366, I conceyve also that the same Thomas is noysed in Norffolk for a Scotesman borne. 1515 Minute of Council in G. Douglas Wks. (1874) I. Introd. 61 My Lord Gouernour traistit nocht that ony Scotisman in the realme wald sek help at Inglismen in his doingis. 1548 W. Patten Exped. Scot. D viij b, But what saynte so euer he bee, he is sure no Scottes mans frend. 1565 Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. iii. xxi. 97 These priestes were called Cedda, Adda, Betti, and Diuna, who was a scottes⁓man borne, the other thre english. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 441 Books and Treatises published by Scotts men. 1780 Mirror No. 82 The Earl of Bute, who was both a Scotsman and a favourite. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iv, Are not we, like them, Scotsmen and burghers of Edinburgh? 1902 Gairdner Eng. Ch. 16th Cent. xiii. 246 The Protector might..have reckoned on the devotion of a little band of Scotsmen in a Scottish stronghold by the sea to assist him. |
b. (Also Flying Scotsman.) Now the more usual form of (Flying) Scotchman: see Scotchman 1 b.
One of British Rail's express trains from London to Edinburgh still bears this name, though the particular steam locomotive so named was withdrawn from service on 14 Jan. 1963.
| 1879 G.N.R. Tourist-guide 1 The splendid express known as the ‘Flying Scotsman’. 1932 P. Bloomfield Imaginary Worlds 34 Pretending..that our O gauge railway round the nursery floor is really the line taken by the ‘Flying Scotsman’. 1936 J. Masefield Let. from Pontus 57 On the railway beside us the Scotsman went by. 1952 A. Anderson Flying Scotsman 3 Our train is the Flying Scotsman which has left King's Cross at 10 a.m. daily for over 90 years. 1962 C. H. Ellis Flying Scotsman i. 11 The Special Scotch Express sooner or later became the ‘Flying Scotch Express’, which in turn was transformed into ‘Flying Scotchman’ and later still, probably when English people began to read Robert Louis Stevenson, into ‘Flying Scotsman’. That eventually became the official title. 1974 Times 7 Dec. 3/2 The Flying Scotsman..the majestic old LNER puffer... The Flying Scotsman..is at present stabled steamless at Carnforth. |
Hence ˈScotsmanship, the nature or quality of a Scotsman.
| 1828 Examiner 56/2 If there is gallantry in Dudley, conceit in Ellenborough, Scotsmanship in Melville. 1894 R. Wallace in Life & Last Leaves (1903) 485 ‘Proud’ of his Scotsmanship, he might [etc.]. |