▪ I. gair Sc. and north. dial.
(ger)
Also gare.
[a. ON. geire wk. masc., of the same meaning = OE. gára gore n.]
An isolated strip of tender grass.
| 1807 A. Duncan Dis. Sheep in Prize Ess. Highl. Soc. Scotl. III. 524 Heath intermixed with gairs, that is, strips of very fine grass. 1818 Hogg Brownie Bodsbeck I. 37 They had amaist gane wi' a' the gairs i' our North Grain. 1880 Edwards Mod. Scot. Poets I. 34 The martyrs..For⁓gathered on some green gair. 1882 J. Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 452 These ‘green gairs’ and the patches of marshy ground broke up the continuity of the heather. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., A gair is a bright, green, grassy spot, surrounded by bent or heather. Also an irregular strip of green turf running down the side of a moorland hill. |
▪ II. gair
see gare.