a. Sc. and north dial. Forms: 5 warsch(e, 6 wairsche, 7–9 warsh, 9 wairsh, wearsh, whersh, 8– wersh. [Prob. a contracted form of WEARISH. Cf. WERSHED a.]
1. a. Of persons: Sickly or feeble in appearance. Also Comb. wersh-like, -looking.
c. 1480. Henryson, Orpheus & Eurydice, 233. Lene and dedelike, pitouse and pale of hewe, Rycht warsch [v.r. warsche] and wan, & walowit as a wede.
1842. Carlyle, in Froude, Mem. (1884), I. 244. A harmless, intelligent enough, rather wersh-looking man.
1871. W. Alexander, Johnny Gibb, xli. 289. I thocht she was luikin’ warsh-like.
b. Physically weak or sickly; squeamish.
1755. R. Forbes, Ajax, etc. Jrnl. to Portsmouth, 29. It was enough to gi’ a warsh-stamack’d body a scunner.
1872. Mrs. Lynn Linton, Joshua Davidson, vi. 119. We were getting whersh and weak for want of food.
2. Destitute of savor; insipid, tasteless or sickly flavored; unsalted. = WEARISH a. 1. Also fig.
fig. 1599. Rollock, Serm. Epist. Paul, viii. Wks. 1849, I. 398. He callis it not simplie and bairlie with ane wairsche word, the gospell,… bot he callis it the licht of the gospell.
1618. W. Barclay, Well at King-horne, A vij. So ceasing to prosecute this warsh matter of water, I will never cease to continue Your L. most humble and obedient seruitour.
1633. W. Struther, True Happiness, 48. This was Balaams warsh wishing, his desires were so weak, that they pearced not his heart, how could they pearce the heaven?
1720. Ramsay, Wealth, 133. And Helicon’s wersh well thou ca’s divine.
1820. Blackw. Mag., VIII. 80. As articles, they were not so musty as those of the old Scots Magazine … nor so wersh.
1884. Swinburne, in 19th Cent., Oct., 556. Charles Reade’s Dominican is worth a dozen such ‘wersh,’ ineffectual, invertebrate studies.
lit. 1823. J. Wilson, Marg. Lyndsay, xxix. Water’s unco wersh, and does na sloken weel.
1831. Blackw. Mag., XXX. II. 345/2. Sage-stuffing and apple-sauce—without which indeed your goose is wersh.
1853. Sherer, Gold-Finder Australia, 261. It is my opinion, this mutton’s unco wersh, Watty. Ha’e ye ony saut?
1861. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. II. 61. It’s a’ vera true, but a kiss and a tinniefu’ o’ cauld water maks a gey wersh breakfast.
1921. Glasgow Herald, 2 May, 8. To be sure, unfermented wine is wersh stuff.
3. Of weather or wind: Unrefreshing; raw.
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., VII. vi. The breeze, as it comes from the surrounding lofty woods, is wersh.
1894. Crockett, Raiders, xl. 336. The yellow mist … had a wersh (raw) unkindly feel about it.
