▪ I. strunt, n.1 Now dial. (Sc. and north.)
(strʌnt)
[Cf. strunt a.; also Sw. dial. strunt stiff grass.]
The fleshy part of the tail of an animal, esp. of a horse; also, rarely, that of a bird. Hence, also, the whole tail.
| [1577: cf. strunt a.] 1610 Markham Masterp. i. ciii. 205 Feele all downe the strunte of his taile with your hand. 1674 Ray N.C. Words, Strunt: the tail or rump. 1679 Lond. Gaz. No. 1413/4 A gray Nag..with a sprig tail, and his Strunt groweth crooked towards the right buttock. 1788 W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 357 Strunt; the dock of a horse, independant of the hair, also the tail of slaughtered cattle or sheep, when the skin is taken off. 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Strunt, the rump of a bird. 1884 G. S. Streatfeild Lincolnsh. & Danes Gloss. 368 Strunt, the denuded tail of a quadruped or bird. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., Strunt, the bony, fleshy part of a horse's tail. ‘It's strunt's so long; it's a pity but what it were docked.’ ‘The hair's cutten off close agen the strunt's end.’ a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix (1936) 16 Wag thy [sc. a puppy's] strunt, then! |
▪ II. strunt, n.2 Sc. and north.
(strʌnt)
[Cf. strum n.4, stunt n.1 3.]
A fit of ill-humour or sulks; esp. in phr. to take the strunt.
| 1721 Ramsay Richy & Sandy 8 Wow man, that's unco' sad,—Is't that ye'r jo Has ta'en the strunt? 1776 C. Keith Farmer's Ha' lv, Take tent, and nae wi' strunts offend. 1776 Herd's Scott. Songs (ed. 2) II. 222 Fare ye weel, my auld wife, The steerer up o' strunt and strife. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 287 The Marquess took the strunt, and would neither ratify some further engagement which he had come under, nor stand to those he had subscribed on oath. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Strunt, a pique, pet. ‘He's teyun the strunts.’ 1895 P. H. Hunter James Inwick iii. 31 The laird took the strunt on the heid o't, an' gied ower comin to the kirk. |
▪ III. strunt, n.3 Sc.
(strʌnt)
[Of obscure origin.]
Spirituous liquor.
| 1786 Burns Halloween xxviii, Syne, wi' a social glass o' strunt, They parted aff careerin Fu' blythe that night. ? 1788 ― Meg o' the Mill 7 A dram o' gude strunt in a morning early. |
▪ IV. † strunt, a. north. Obs.
[Cf. stunt a.]
Stumpy.
| 1577 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 273, I geve and bequethe unto Christofer Wyvell..my dunne horse which was under strunte tayle maire. 1658 Franck North. Mem. (1694) 155 Let..your Hooks [be] well tempered..; their Points well drawn out, and as sharp as Needles, but their Birbs as stiff and as strunt as Bristles. |
▪ V. strunt, v.1
(strʌnt)
[f. strunt n.1]
trans. To cut short, esp. to dock the tail of (a horse or sheep). Hence ˈstrunted ppl. a.
| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 176/2 Terms used by Shepheards... Strunted sheep, is when their Tails are cut off to keep them from Dunging them, and breeding of Maggots therein. 1703 Thoresby Let. to Ray, Strunted pp., cut off short. 1828 Carr Craven Gloss., Strunt, to dock a horse's tail. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Strunt, to dock the tail of a horse; sometimes, though very rarely, used with regard to sheep also. |
▪ VI. strunt, v.2 Sc.
(strʌnt)
[Cf. strut v.; also Norw. strunta to walk stiffly as under a burden; to be haughty and stiff in manner (Ross).]
intr. To move with a self-important air.
The ordinary version of Muirland Willie (see 1st quot.) runs: The wooer he stept up the house.
| 17.. Old Song (Jam. 1808) The wooer strunted up the house. 1786 Burns To a Louse i, I canna say but ye strunt rarely, Owre gawze and lace. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 50 An to Strathfallan green burn-brae Fu' nimbly she [sc. a cow] did strunt. |