a., adv. and sb. Sc. Also 4–9 laich(e, 5 laych, 4 lawch, 5 lauch. [See LOW a.]
A. adj. = LOW a. in various senses: Near the ground, not elevated; † inferior in rank or quality; not loud.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 651. And it, that wondir lawch wer ere, Mon lowp on loft in the contrere.
c. 1375. Sc. Troy. Bk., II. 1719. Now as hillis hie yt schauris Now set laich with ane noþir skift.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, X. 622. The lauch way till Enrawyn thai ryd.
1581. Satir. Poems Reform., xliv. 119. Go hence then, lounis! the laich vay in Abyssis.
1582–8. Hist. Jas. VI. (1804), 75. Finding the lentell stane of the bak zet to be sumquhat laiche.
1693. Scot. Presbyt. Eloq. (1738), 124. Christ … rode upon an Ass, which is a Laigh Beast.
1728. Ramsay, Last Sp. Miser, xxv. Sic are but very laigh concerns, Compar’d with thee.
1753. Scots Mag., April, 162/2. The commissioners … shall meet in the laigh council-house, Edinburgh.
1816. Scott, Antiq., i. A sharp-looking old dame … who inhabited a ‘laigh shop,’ anglicè, a cellar.
1881. Stevenson, Thrawn Janet, Wks. 1895, III. 253. It’s a lang, laigh, mirk chalmer. Ibid., 257. When a’ of a sudden he heard a laigh, uncanny steer upstairs.
1894. Crockett, Lilac Sunbonnet, 74. One of the farms at the ‘laigh’ end of the parish.
B. adv. In a low position; to a low point; in a low tone.
1583. Satir. Poems Reform., xlv. 349. Laich in a lymbus, whair they lay.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., VII. 2. Quhen he saw the vertues of the Bruse … and how laich [he] was brocht.
1792. Burns, Bessy & Spinnin Wheel, i. I’ll set me down and sing and spin, While laigh descends the simmer sun.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. 18. Speyk laicher, man; she’ll maybe hear ye.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, 20 But—laigh in your ear, man —I’m maybe no very keen on the other side.
C. sb. a. A hollow. b. A low-lying ground.
1[?]. Chart. Aberbrothok (Advoc. Libr. MS.), 79. Passand eist downwart to the greyn laigh to Gemylis myr.
1768. Ross, Helenore (1789), 47. A burn ran in the laigh, ayont there lay As many feeding on the other brae.
1798. Statist. Acc. Scot., XX. 232. The whole laigh of Moray had been covered with the sea in the year 1010.
1811. G. S. Keith, Agric. Surv. Aberd., 172. Low wet lands, called laighs.
