ÙSLAIG, 17, a great hulk of a slovenly woman. B’i ’n ùslaig ghrànnd’ i. Rubha na h-Ùslaig, a place name in Eriskay.
Dwelly has for ùislig: Object of terror. Bu tu an uislig! what an awe-inspiring object you were!
Pàdruig Moireasdan uses it in this sense in Bodach a ‘ Phuill Mhonaidh, 1977:
I saw this year a big, beardless old man
And I was terrified by the ùslaig
After sidling up to tell me the story
It wasn’t long before he asked me for my pipe.
Ùslaig was noted down in Iochdar in 1987-88 as “a useless woman”.
I asked around in Eriskay but couldn’t find Rubha na h-Ùslaig.