"That is, such as wealth and prosperity make worse, or who insensibly go behind in the world."-- Kelly.
He's a poor beggar that canna gang by ae door.
He's a poor man that's never missed.
He's a proud beggar that maks his ain awmous.
That is, he is proud or well pleased who succeeds in realising his own expectations or wishes.
He's a proud horse that winna carry his ain corn.
He's a sairy cook that canna lick his ain fingers
He's as bare as the birk at Yule.
He's as bauld as a Lammermuir lion.
"A sheep is called a Lammermuir lion; and the proverb is applied, in a sarcastic way, to a boasting or assuming person, or to a braggadocio fellow, who is a coward at bottom."-- G. Henderson.
"As fierce as a lion on Cotswold."-- English.
He's as gleg as a gled.
He's as happy as a dead bird.
He's a selfish skyte that cares but for his ain kyte.
He's as fu' as a fiddler.
Equivalent to being as "drunk as a lord."
He's as gleg as M'Keachen's elshin, that ran through sax plies o' bend-leather into the king's heel.
Quoted in the Heart of Midlothian when Sharpitlaw, accompanied by Ratcliffe and Madge Wildfire, go to Muschat's Cairn in search of Robertson.
He's as hard wi' me as if I had been the wild Scot o' Galloway.
He's a silly chield that can neither dae nor say.
He's as stiff as if he had swallowed the poker.
He's as welcome as snaw in hairst.
He's as welcome as water in a riven ship.
He's auld and cauld, and ill to lie beside.
He's awfu' big ahint the door.
To be "big ahint the door," is to be very courageous when there is no occasion for it.
He's a wise man that can tak care o' himsel.
He's aye for out o' the cheese-fat he was moulded in.
"'Keep back, sir, as best sets ye,' said the bailie, as Andrew pressed forward to catch the answer to some question I had asked about Campbell; 'ye wad fain ride the forehorse an ye wist how. That chield's aye for being out o' the cheese-fat he was moulded in.'"-- Rob Roy.
He's aye wise ahint the hand.
"Ye noo hae hit the nail upo' the head,
I better wi' less travel micht hae deen,
Had I been tenty as I sod hae been;
But fouks, they say, are wise ahint the han',
Whilk to be true unto my cost I fan."-- Ross's Helenore.
He's as wise as Wudsie's calf, that kent milk frae water.
He's been at the kirk o' Crackabout, whaur the kail pat was the minister.
He's better fed than bred.
He's blind that eats marrow, but far blinder that lets him.
He's but Jock the laird's brither.
"The Scottish lairds concern and zeal for the standing and continuance of their families, makes the provision for their younger sons very small."-- Kelly.
He's cooling and supping.
"That is, he has nothing but from hand to mouth."- Kelly.
He's cowpet the crans.
"It's a great misery to me that I hae nae books to let you look ower to see my losses; but what gude, when I think on't, would the sight o' losses do to you? It wouldna put a plack in your pouch--aiblins every twa or three pages ye wad see this ane or that ane cowpet the crans, and deep in my debt."-- Laird of Logan.
He seeks nae mair than a bit an' a brat.
Meaning that he is content with little.
He's either a' honey or a' dirt.
He is either exceedingly affectionate and kind, or vice versa.
He sell't his soul for a cracket saxpence.
He's failed wi' a fu' hand.
When a man "fails wi' a fu' hand," he defrauds his creditors with the assistance of the Bankruptcy Act.
He's frae the tap o' the wing, but ye're a greyneck quill.
Meaning, we presume, that a man is not so good as he would like to be thought, or as some person he may have compared himself with.
He's free o' fruit that wants an orchard.
He's fond a' barter that niffers wi' Auld Nick.
He's gane aff at the nail.
Or "destitute of any regard to propriety of conduct; mad; wrongheaded; tipsy."-- Jamieson.
He's gane a' to pigs and whistles.
"Hech, sirs, what a kyteful o' pride's yon'er! and yet I would be nane surprised the morn to hear that the Nechabudnezzar was a' gane to pigs and whistles, and driven out wi' the divors bill to the barren pastures of bankruptcy."-- The Entail.
He's gane ower the buss taps.
"To behave extravagantly; to go over the tops of the bushes."- Jamieson.
He's gane to seek his faither's sword.
He's gane to the dog-drave.
He's got his leg ower the harrows.
He's got his nose in a gude kail pat.
Meaning that a person has been well provided for. Generally applied to a poor man who has married a rich wife.
He's gude that never failed.
He's his faither's better, like the cooper a' Fogo.
"Fogo is a small decayed village near Dunse. It appears that each generation of its coopers improved upon the plans or workmanship of their ancestors, and the son became better than the father."-- G. Henderson.
He's horn deaf on that side o' his head.
That is, he has already made up his mind upon that matter.
He should be seldom angry that has few to mease him.
He's idle that might be better employed.
He's ill-faur'd that dogs bark at.
"'I have had that wad sober me or ony ane,' said the matron. 'Aweel, Tib, a lass like me wasna to lack wooers, for I wasna sae ill-favoured that the tikes wad bark after me.'"-- The Monastery.
He's in the wrang when praised that glunshes.
He sits fu' close that has riven breeks.
"This elegant speech was made by the Earl of Douglas, called Tineman, after being wounded and made plu~onei at the battle of Shrewsbury, where
'His well-labouring sword
Had three times slain the semblance of the king.'"
Fortunes of Nigel.
He sits wi' little ease wha sits on his neighbour's coat tail.
He's John Tamson's man.
"'Atweel, Cuddie, ye are gaun nae sic gate,' said Jenny, coolly and resolutely. 'The deil's in the wife !' said Cuddie, 'd'ye think I am to be John Tamson's man, and maistered by women a' the days o' my life ?' 'And whase man wad ye be? And wha wad ye hae to maister ye but me, Cuddie, lad?'"- Old Mortality.
He's laid down the barrow.
That is, "he has cowpet the crans," q. v.
He sleeps as dogs do when wives sift meal.
Meaning that a person is very sharp, and that he, figuratively, sleeps with one eye open.
He's lifeless that's faultless.
Implying that no one is without fault.
He's like a bagpipe, ne'er heard till his wame's fu'.
He's like a chip amang parritch--little gude, little ill.
He's like a cow in a fremit loaning.
That is, strange, or out of place. "Fremit loaning," strange lane.
He's like a flea in a blanket.
He's like a singet cat--better than he's bonny.
He's like the craws, he eats himsel' out o' ply.
He's like the smith's dog--so weel used to the sparks that he'll no burn.
Spoken of people who are so much accustomed to tipple, that they never seem any the worse of it.
He's like the wife's bawty--kens naething about it.
He slippet awa like a knotless thread.
He's loose in the heft.
He's mair buirdly i' the back than i' the brain.
He's mair fleyed than hurt.
He's mair worth hanging than hauding.
He's nae gude weaver that leaves lang thrums.
No good workman who wastes material, or leaves work in a slovenly state.
He's nae sma' drink.
He's ne'er at ease that's angry.
He snites his nose in his neighbour's dish to get the brose himsel.
This rude but expressive saying is used when a person has done another an injury in order to benefit himself.
He's no a man to ride the water wi'.
"A phrase applied to one who, it is believed, cannot be depended on."-- Jamieson.
He's no a stirk a' the right stock.
"I was a friendless lad, and ye took me by the hand,-- and could I sit still and see scathe befa' my benefactor, I wouldna be a stirk o' the right stock, that's bred on the land o' Scotland."-- Sir Andrew Wylie.
He's no gude to creel eggs wi'.
"Not safe or easy to deal with."-- Jamieson.
He's no nice but needfu'.
He's no sae daft as he lets on.
He's no steel to the bane.
He's no the best wright that casts maist spails.
He's no the fool that the fool is, but he that wi' the fool deals.
He's no the happiest wha has maist gear.
He's no worth kissing caps wi'.
To "kiss caps wi'," is to keep company with, to associate together in drinking.
He's out and in, like a dog at a fair.
He's ower auld a cat to draw a strae before.
"The rents and the lands are but a sair fash to me," re-echoed Ailie; "and I'm ower failed to tak a helpmate, though Wylie Mactrickit, the writer, was very pressing, and spak very civilly; but I'm ower auld a cat to draw that strae before me--he canna whilliwhaw me as he's done mony a ane."-- Old Mortality.
He's ower-shot wi' his ain bow.
Overreached with his own weapons.
He's ower soon up that's hanged ere noon.
He's soger bred but major minded.
He's ta'en a start and an owerloup.
"The usual expression for a slight encroachment on a neighbour's property "-- Sir Walter Scott.
He speaks like a prent book.
He speaks in his drink what he thinks in his drouth.
He spoke as if every word would lift a dish.
In allusion to a person who has addressed another in a very pompous or affected manner.
He's poor enough that's ill faur'd.
He's poor that canna promise.
He's rich that has nae debt.
He's sairest dung that's paid wi' his ain wand.
That is, he suffers most who injures himself by his own folly, or by means which may have been intended to injure another.
He's silly that spares for ilka speech.
He's sometimes i' the air, but ye're aye on the grund.
He's the bee that maks the honey.
He's the best spoke o' your wheel.
He's the slave o' a slaves wha ser's nane but himsel.
He's twice fain that sits on a stane.
"That is, glad to sit down, because he is weary, and glad to use, because the stone is hard."-- Kelly.
He starts at straes, and lets windlins gae.
This saying is, we think, exclusively Scotch. It very briefly but pithily applies to those who, while anxiously correcting trifling errors, allow greater ones to pass unheeded who strain at gnats, and swallow camels.
He streaks reem in my teeth.
"Spoken when we think one only flattering us, and not earnest or sincere in what they pretend."-- Kelly.
He struts like a craw in the gutter.
He stumbles at a strae and loups ower a linn.
He's unco fond o' farming that wad harrow wi' the cat.
He's unco fu' in his ain house that canna pick a bane in his neighbour's.
Satirically applied to those who are unwilling to partake of a meal in a friend's house.
He's waur to water than to corn.
Fonder of his meat than his drink.
He's weel boden there ben that will neither borrow nor lend.
Meaning that a person must be very well off indeed who can afford to dispense with all assistance.
He's weel eased that has o' his ain.
He's weel worthy o' sorrow that buys it wi' his ain siller.
He's wise that kens when he's weel enough.
"This is a pitch of wisdom to which few attain."-- Kelly.
He's wise that's timely wary.
He's worth gowd that can win it.
He's worth nae weel that can bide nae wae.
He that ance gets his fingers i' the dirt can hardly get them out again.
He that bides weel betides weel.
He that bids me to meat wishes me to live.
He that blaws best bears awa the horn.
He that blaws in the stoor fills his ain een.
He that borrows and bigs, maks feasts and thigs, drinks an's no dry,--nane a' these three are thrifty.
He that buys a house that's wrought has mony a pin and nail for nought.
He that buys land buys stanes; he that buys beef buys banes; he that buys nuts buys shells; he that buys gude ale buys naething else.
He that can hear Dumbuck may hear Dumbarton.
Dumbuck Hill, in Argyleshire, is farther from Glasgow (the locale of this saying) than Dumbarton: proverbially applied to those who are better acquainted with circumstances than they pretend to be, but who, in their anxiety to gain more information, betray themselves.
He that canna do as he would maun do as he may.
He that canna gie favours should seek nane.
He that canna mak sport should mar nane.
He that cheats in daffin winna be honest in earnest.
He that cheats me ance, shame fa' him; he that cheats me twice, shame fa' me.
He that comes first to the ha' may sit where he will.
He that comes a' hens maun scrape.
He that counts a' costs will ne'er put plough i' the grund.
"He that forecasts all difficulties that he may meet with in his business will never set about it."-- Kelly.
He that counts without his host may have to count twice.
He that deals in dirt has aye foul fingers.
He that does as he's bidden deserves nae bannin'.
He that does his turn in time sits half idle.