What it means
A very Scottish intensifier meaning very, really, or absolutely. You stick it in front of adjectives and sometimes adverbs to crank the whole thing right up: pure brilliant, pure raging, pure dead funny. It's massive in Glasgow and across the Central Belt, and it works for praise, complaints, shock, or taking the piss. The tone does half the magic.
Usage examples
"Nae chance I’m going out, it’s pure baltic and I’ve only got a wee jacket. We’ll hit the chippy tomorrow when it’s no howlin."
"Saturday night at the pub in Govan was pure mental, three hen parties, two stag dos, and the band keeping us going till close, my feet are still recovering on Tuesday morning at the desk."
"Wait till you see the new Italian on Byres Road in Glasgow, pure brilliant, the pasta is fresh, the wine list is honest, and the waiter knew exactly which dessert to push at the end."
"That flat was pure roasting last night, had the windae open and still woke up sweatin."
"He was pure raging when they telt him the last train was cancelled, whole platform got the blast of it."
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