BECK, _sb._ a rivulet, a brook. Jamieson. O.N. _bekkr_, O. Sw. _bäkker_, Norse _bekk_, O. Dan. _bæk_. Sw. _bäck_, a rivulet. In place-names a test of Scand. settlements.
BEET, _vb._ to incite, inflame. Burns, 4, 8. Same as _bait_, incite, q.v. Cp. Cu. "to beet t'yubm, to supply sticks, etc. to the oven while heating" (Dickinson).
BIG, BEGG, _sb._ barley. Fergusson, II, 102; Jamieson, Dumfries. O.N. _bygg_, Dan. _byg_. See Wall. Cp. Shetland _big_.
BEGRAVE, _vb._ to bury. Douglas, II, 41, 25; IV, 25, 22; IV, 17, 8. Dan. _begrave_, Norse _begrava_, O. Sw. _begrava_, _begrafwa_, to bury. Possibly not a loanword.
BEIN, BENE, BEIN, _adj._ liberal, open-handed, also comfortable, pleasant. Douglas, III, 260, 23; Fergusson, 108; Sat. P. 12, 43. _Beine_, hearty, in Philotus, II, is probably the same word. O.N. _bæinn_.
BEIR, _vb._ to roar. Douglas, II, 187, 1. See _bir_, sb.
BIG, _vb._ to build, dwell, inhabit. Dunbar T.M.W. 338; Dalr., I, 26, 19; Sco. pro. 5. O.N. _byggia_. See Wall. Sco. "to big wi' us," to live with us, cp. Norse _ny-byddja_, to colonize.
BIGGING, BYGINE, _sb._ a building. O.N. _bygging_, a building, habitation. Scand. diall. all have the form _bygning_, so O. Sw. _bygning_. The word may be an independent Sco. formation just as _erding_, "burial," from _erde_, "to bury"; _layking_, "a tournament," from _layke_, "to sport"; _casting_, "a cast-off garment," from _cast_; _flytting_, "movable goods," from _flyt_, "to move"; _hailsing_, "a salute," from _hailse_; and Eng. _dwelling_, "a house," from vb. _dwell_. Cp. however Shetland _bogin_.
BING, _sb._ a heap, a pile. Douglass, II, 216, 8. O.N. _bingr_, a heap, O. Sw. _binge_. Norse _bing_ more frequently a heap or quantity of grain in an enclosed space. O. Dan. _byng_, _bing_.
BIR, BIRR, BEIR, _sb._ clamor, noise, also rush. S.S. 38; Lyndsay, 538, 4280. O.N. _byrr_, a fair wind. O. Sw. _byr_. Cp. Cu. _bur_ and Shetland "a pirr o' wind," a gust. Also pronounced _bur_, _bor_.
BIRRING, _pr. p._ flapping (of wings). Mansie Wauch, 159, 33. See _bir_.
BLA, BLAE (blē), _adj._ blue, livid. Douglas, III, 130, 30; Irving, 468. O.N. _blá_, blue, Norse _blaa, blau_, Sw. _blå_, Dan. _blaa_. Not from O.E. _blēo_.
BLABBER, _vb._ to chatter, speak nonsense. Dunbar F., 112. O.N. _blabbra_, lisp, speak indistinctly, Dan. _blabbre_ id., Dan. dial. _blabre_, to talk of others more than is proper. M.E. _blaber_, cp. Cu. _blab_, to tell a secret. American dial. _blab_, to inform on one, to tattle. There is a Gael. _blabaran_, sb. a stutterer, which is undoubtedly borrowed from the O.N. The meaning indicates that.