As a child I remember my father saying, “Oh, it's a beezer the day”, meaning that the weather was extremely cold.

The Scottish National Dictionary defines the word as: “a smart fellow, or anything bigger or finer than usual.” The Oxford English Dictionary gives its first example as Scots but only covers the meaning “A smart fellow; a person, a ‘chap'” as in this example from J L Waugh's Cracks wi' Robbie Doo (1914): “Weel dune, Robin Hood; dash it, man, but you're a beeser.”

An earlier example can be found in the Dundee Evening Telegraph of the 25 June 1902: “If you should get into her debt she's a fair ‘beezer' I believe. I've been told — I've always paid up myself — that she makes it devilish hot for those who do not pay up their instalments.” This, again, clearly describes a person but an earlier example, also from Dundee, describes an action of bowling in a cricket match: “There ye are, man. Jist look at that ane. Ay, that wis a ‘beezer'.” (Dundee Evening Telegraph 10 July 1911). Earlier still, also from the Angus area, comes an example of something well done during a game of bowls: ‘A grand bool, a reglar beezer,' (Arbroath Herald and Advertiser for the Montrose Burghs, Thursday 12 October 1893).

The origin of the word, although obscure, seems to lie in the Tayside area of Scotland and was probably popularised throughout the country by the children's comic The Beezer published by Dundee-based D C Thomson 1956-1993.

Scots Word of the Week is written by Pauline Cairns Speitel of Scottish Language Dictionaries