whatna

English

Alternative forms

• whaten, whatten

Contraction

whatna

1. (Scotland, Northern England, dialect, archaic) what kind of
   • 1878, Saxon, Galloway Gossip Sixty Years Ago, section 183:

     Whatna noise was that ye were makin'?

   • 1897, Allan, Poems, 13:

     O Jean, whatna time wi' thy sloth thou are wasting.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     'I kenna whatna man ye are,' he says, 'but ye have the skill of lassies' hearts. Tell me truly, is there no way to win her to common love?'