but and ben

noun

A two-roomed cottage; a small house or shack

“to live but and ben”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

noun
  1. ScotlandA two-roomed cottage; a small house or shack

    It was no more than a butt and a ben, with a rickle of sheds behind it where old Pooty kept his cow and a bit donkey that was nearly as old as himself […]

    1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 30
    1 more example

    Whether the old lady had caught cold the time she moved, or whether her ailing frame had been simply worn out, she never seemed to thrive after leaving the little but and ben she had so long lived in.

    1898, Elizabeth Grant, Memoirs of a Highland Lady, Canongate, published 1995, page 339
adverbbut and ben (not comparable)
  1. not comparableIn the inner and outer parts of a building

    to live but and ben

Cite this entry
APA

but and ben. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/but%20and%20ben

MLA

“but and ben.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/but%20and%20ben. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “but and ben,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/but%20and%20ben.

Source: but and ben on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.