stot

plural stots

1. obsoleteAn inferior horse.
2. An ox or bull.
3. regionalA heifer.

   Rory would never have believed that his half-hour had been a twelvemonth, "did not the calves grown now into stots, and the new-born babes now toddling about the house, at length convince him that in his single reel he had danced for a twelvemonth and a day."

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 387

plural stots · alternative stott

1. Northern EnglandScotlandA bounce or rebound.

   Instead of dropping the golden cones safely into his bag he let them dribble out of his hands so that, in the expectancy before the violence of the storm, the tiny stots from one transfigured branch to another could be clearly heard.

   1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 148

2. biologyA leap using all four legs at once.

present singular third person stots · participle present stotting · participle present stottin · participle past stotted · past stotted · alternative stott

1. Northern EnglandScotlandintransitiveTo bounce, rebound or ricochet.

   ‘I've plenty of money in my bank – and I have my cheque book here – could one of you cash a cheque for five pounds? – I promise it won't stot.’

   1996, Alasdair Gray, “Lack of Money”, in Every Short Story 1951-2012, Canongate, published 2012, page 285

2. Northern EnglandScotlandtransitiveTo make bounce, rebound or ricochet.
3. Northern EnglandScotlandtransitiveTo stumble.
4. intransitivebiologyTo leap using all four legs at once.

   1 more example

   This vigorous and conspicuous leaping in front of a predator is analogous to bird alarm calls, in that it seems to warn companions of danger while apparently calling the predator’s attention to the stotter himself. We have a responsibility to explain stotting Tommies and all similar phenomena, and this is something I am going to face in later chapters.

   1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 14

   Synonyms: pronk

5. obsoleteTo strike, push, shove.First known use –16th c.