Auld Reekie
Preserved but no longer current.
Edinburgh old town; so called because it generally appeared to be capped by a cloud of "reek" or smoke. Aulic Council (Lat. aula, a court). The council of the Kaiser in the Holy Roman Empire, from which there was no appeal. It was instituted in 1501, and came to an end with the extinction of the Empire in 1806, though the name was afterwards given to the Emperor of Austria's Council of State.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Auld Reekie” mean?
Edinburgh old town; so called because it generally appeared to be capped by a cloud of "reek" or smoke. Aulic Council (Lat. aula, a court). The council of the Kaiser in the Holy Roman Empire, from which there was no appeal. It was instituted in 1501, and came to an end with the extinction of the Empire in 1806, though the name was afterwards given to the Emperor of Austria's Council of State.
Is “Auld Reekie” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.