Blether, bledder, vb. to chatter, prate. O. N. blaðra, to talk indistinctly, blaðr, sb. nonsense. Norse bladra, to stammer, to prate, Sw. dial. bladdra, Dan. dial. bladre, to bleet. Cp. Norse bladdra, to act foolishly.
Blether, sb. nonsense. Burns 32, 2, 4 and 4, 2, 4. O. N. blaðr, nonsense. Probably the Sco. word used substantively.
Blome, sb. blossom. Bruce, V, 10; Dunbar, I, 12. Same as Eng. bloom from O. N. blómi.
Blome, vb. to flourish, successfully resist. Douglas, IV, 58, 25. "No wound nor wapyn mycht hym anis effeir, forgane the speris so butuus blomyt he." Small translates "show himself boastfully." The word blómi in O. N. used metaphorically means "prosperity, success."
Blout, blowt, adj. bare, naked, also forsaken. Douglas, III, 76, 11; IV, 76, 6. O. N. blautr, Norse blaut, see Cl. and V. The corresponding vowel in O. E. is ea: blēat. The O. N. as well as the N.N. word means "soft." The O. E. word means "wretched." In Sco. blout has coincided in meaning with blait. The Dan. word blot is, on account of its form, out of the question.
Bodin, adj. ready, provided. Douglas, III, 22, 24; Dunbar, 118, 36; Wyntoun, VII, 9, 213. From boðinn, boðja (E.D.D.).
Bolax, sb. hatchet. Jamieson. O. N. bolöx, a poleaxe, Norse bolöks, O. Sw. bolöxe, bolyxe, O. Dan. bulöx, Dano-Norse bulaks. Ormulum bulaxe (see further Brate).
Bole, sb. the trunk of a tree. Isaiah, 44, 19. O. N. bolr, the trunk of a tree, Norse bol, bul, O. Sw. bol, bul, Sw. dial. bol id.
Boldin, vb. to swell. Douglas, II, 52; I, II, 130, 25. Norse bolna, older bolgna, Dan. bolne, M. E. bollen (also bolnin). The Sco. word has developed an excrescent d after l. In Lindsay, 127, 3885, boildin, adj. pp. swollen.
Bolle, sb. a measure. Bruce, III, 221; Wyntoun, VII, 10, 519, 521, 523. O. N. bolli, a vessel, blotbolli, a measure, Sw. bulle. Rather than from O. E. bolla (Eng. bowl).