FOILEAG, 122: Boireannach foileach salach mu bhiadh ’s mu na h-uile car feadh taighe, [an untidy dirty woman for food and for any kind of housework].
FOILEADH, 121, a slight amount of boiling (M.E.); but it means, doing any work hurriedly and carelessly, as baking and washing and carpentry, etc, etc. Cf. foileag. Cha tug mi dha ach foileadh do bhruich, [I only gave it a quick boiling]. Cha tug i ach foileadh do ghlanadh air an taigh, [she only gave the house a quick clean]. Cha d’rinn e ach foileadh do chàradh air an sgothaidh, [he only gave the boat a rough mending]. [Cp. A.M.D. Ist ed. glossary foithlidh, ‘acting imperfectly, in a hurry’; A.D. 32, ’S tric e ’ga fhoileadh ’sa ghaorr].
FOILEACH, 60, full of flaws. Obair fhoileach might be said of bad carpentry or masonry. See Foileag, 122.
Dwelly has foileadh: “Act of roasting or broiling hastily on embers; acting hurriedly or imperfectly”, but foileag takes a different angle: “cake suddenly and imperfectly toasted; little cake; hastily-made cake. Interestingly, Dwelly also notes that it’s pronounced fòileag in Poolewe, which is closer to the faoileag pronunciation I have heard in Eriskay.
One person I spoke to [Eriskay] said her daughter was a foileag – “she’s always on the go” – and all her various activities were listed. It wasn’t meant negatively at all.
This was noted in Ness, Lewis, in 1972: a woman busy with the housework. “What are you doing?” “Nothing, dear, but foileadh and botching.”
Another woman from Eriskay tells me that her mother understands foileach as rubbish that has been left by other people.
