An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language / in which the words are explained in their different senses, authorized by the names of the writers by whom they are used, or the titles of the works in which they occur, and deduced from their originals

by John Jamieson

BOUR, BOURE, s. A chamber; sometimes a retired apartment, such as ladies were wont to possess in ancient times.
Douglas.

A. S. bur, bure, conclave, an inner chamber, a parlour, a bower. Teut. buer, id. Dan. buur, conclave, Su. G. Isl. bur, habitaculum. Isl. jungfrubur, gynaeceum, ubi olim filiae familias habitabant; literally, the young lady's bower. Hence bour-bourding, jesting in a lady's chamber, Pink.

BOURACH, BOWROCK, s.
1. An inclosure; applied to the little houses that children build for play, especially those made in the sand, S.
Kelly.
"We'll never big sandy bowrocks together."
S. Prov. Kelly.
2. A crowd, a ring, a circle, S. B.
Poems Buchan Dialect.
3. A confused heap of any kind, S. B.
Such a quantity of body-clothes as is burdensome to the wearer, is called a bourach of claise; Ang.
Statist. Acc.
4. A cluster, as of trees, S.
Ferguson.

A. S. beorh, burg, an inclosure, a heap; Su. G. borg.

Burrach'd, Bourach'd, part. pa. Inclosed, environed, S. B.
Ross.

BOURACH, BORRACH, s. A band put round a cow's hinder legs at milking, S.

Gael. buarach.

BOURBEE, s. The spotted Whistle fish, S.
Sibbald.

To BOURD, v. n. To jest, to mock, S.
Ramsay.

Fr. bourd-er, id. But this seems to be merely an abbrev. of behourd-ir, bohord-er, to just together with lances. Bohord, behord, is originally a Gothic word, as being used by old Northern writers.