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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡HINNIE, n., adj. Also hinny; hin(n)ey, hinni; henny (n.Sc., Fif. 1825 Jam.); †hynie, ¶hinee (Rnf. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 39); hunie. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. honey. Ppl.adj. hineyed, hinnied, hennied. [Sc. ′hɪne; s.Sc. ′hɛnɪ]

Sc. form of Eng. honey. Also fig.wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 51:
"That's so, Jock." Nuneaton's hinney had flattery in it, as well as malice and conceit.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web iii:
There's far, far mair tae a wird than the sayin or spellin o't. There's the wird-picturs it paints; there's the souns an the echoes o souns it strikks; there's the feelins that cluster roon it like bees aroon hinney; ...

Sc. usages:

I. n. 1. As a term of endearment: sweetheart, darling (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., hinni; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Gen.(exc. n.)Sc. Also common in n.Eng. dials. Honey in this sense has been reintroduced into colloq. Eng. from U.S. Occas. used in pl. as an excl. of surprise (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).Sc. a.1776 Herd's MSS. (Hecht 1904) 148:
“My hinnie, my life, my dearest,” quoth he, “I'll make ye be fain to follow me!”Edb. 1801 H. Macneill Songs 64:
He clasp'd her, he press'd her, and ca'd her his hinny, And aften he tasted her hinny-sweet mou.Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality iv.:
And now, hinny, gang awa', and serve the folk, but first bring me my dinner.Dmf. 1822 A. Cunningham Tales II. 326:
Gawain — hinnie, have ye forgotten how many bowls of curds . . . I have stolen from our penurious board to feed ye in the glen?Slk. 1899 C. M. Thomson Drummeldale 1:
Ay, hinnie; we'll sune be there now.Abd. 1920 M. Argo Makkin' o John 17:
Weel, weel, hinnie, dinna vex yersel'.Sh.⁷ 1932:
'Wiss, hinny, 'at du wid ging ta da paet-kro an' bring me a backpaet.Ags. 1945 Scots Mag. (April) 38:
There noo, ma wee Angus. Ye're nearly aff. Sleep soun', hinny. wm.Sc. 1989 Anna Blair The Goose Girl of Eriska 140:
'Tak' another drink then, hinny.'

Phr.: a' (nothing but) hinny and jo(e), exceeding fondness or affability, “giving the idea that no language is used but that of endearment” (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Ags., m.Lth. 1957).Sc. 1698 Letter in Atholl MSS. (31 Jan.):
Nou there was nothing but hony and joe.Slk. 1818 Hogg Wool-Gatherer (1874) 67:
She's no muckle to lippen to, unless it come frae her ain side o' the house; an' then she's a' hinny and joe.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 188:
It hadna been a' hinny an' jo wi' us; we had had oor bits o' cast-oots, whiles, like ither folk.

2. Combs.: (1) henny beik, see Byke, n.¹; †(2) hinny-blob, -blab, (a) a drop of honey; fig. as a term of endearment; (b) a big yellow variety of gooseberry, Ribes grossularia (Sc. 1886 B. & H. 265, honey-blob; Ant. 1902 E.D.D.; Ayr., Dmf. 1919 T.S.D.C. III. 19). See also Blob, n.⁴; †(3) hinney-cherrie, a sweet variety of cherry, Prunus avium. Used fig. in quot.; (4) honey-doo, sweetheart (Ags. 1957); †(5) hinney drap, honey-drop, (a) a mole, a birthmark; (b) = (2) (b); (6) honey-flower, a flower yielding honey; (7) hinnie (-y) -kame, -kaim(b), honeycomb (Ags., Ayr., Rxb. 1957); (8) hinney-lee, a flowery meadow; †(9) hinnie-mark, = (5) (a). Cf. Ger. honig-flecken; †(10) hinnie month, the first month after marriage, the honeymoon. Obs. in Eng. since early 18th c.; ¶(11) honey-oil, v., to flatter, “butter up”; (12) hinny-pear, honey perr, a sweet edible variety of pear (Edb., Ayr., Kcb., Rxb. 1957); (13) hinnie(-y)-pig, (a) an earthenware vessel used for storing drained honey (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 270, 1930 H. Maxwell Place Names Gall. 158; Abd. 1957); (b) = (14); (14) hinnie(-y)-pots, a children's game (Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Sc. 1826 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes 299; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., obsol., Rxb. 1957). See A. B. Gomme Trad. Games (1894) I. 219–21 for full description and also Gall. quot. above; (15) hinnispott = (5) (a) (I.Sc. 1902 E.D.D.; Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), Sh. 1957); (16) hinni(e) wa(a)r, -wir, hinny-, hineywir, a kind of edible seaweed, Alaria esculenta (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 106; Sh., Cai. 1957). See Ware, seaweed. Also fig. in pl. = rags and tatters, bits and pieces, hence phrs. to ging (pit) to hinniewaars (hinnovers) (Cai. 1957).(2) (a) Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 323:
Long have I courted thee, Lucky my love, . . . And a honeyblob ay, unto me ye doth prove.Sc. 1843 Sc. Songs (Whitelaw) 142:
Words sweeter far than honey blabs Fa' saftly on my ear.Dmf. Ib. 463:
I'll keek in her e'e, an' aiblins may pree The wee hinny blobs o' her mou', her mou'.(b) Sc. 1746 H. Walpole Letters (1820) I. 144:
He stopped . . . to buy honey-blobs, as the Scotch call gooseberries.Ags. 1823 A. Balfour Foundling II. 88:
Rysarts as red as blood; an' grosers an' hinny blobs that wad gar a body's mou' water.(3) Dmf. 1810 R. H. Cromek Remains 7:
Her lips were cloven hinney-cherrie, Sae tempting to the sight.(4) Edb. 1866 J. Smith Poems 20:
Come, kilt yer coats, my wally gowdie! My honey-doo! my auld howtowdie!(5) (a) Sc. a.1803 Bondsey & Maisry in Child Ballads II. 283:
Here she is, my sister Maisry, Wi' the hinney draps on her chin.(b) Per. 1881 D. MacAra Crieff 233:
One day she had been pulling the fruit, and had nearly filled a large bowl with the luscious “honeydrops.”(6) Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 36:
All sorts of honey-flowers, marigolds, pansies, roses, clover, and what not.(7) s.Sc. 1857 H. S. Riddell Psalms xix. 10:
Sweeter alsua nor hinnie, an' the hinnie-kaim.Edb. 1864 A. Logan Musings 22:
While she its rosy lips doth pree, Mair sweet than hinny-kame.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 16:
When, galrevitchin' at my grandfather's honey-kaimbs, I had gotten the colic.(8) Sc. 1817 Scott Letters (Cent. ed.) IV. 383:
I see all the blue-bank the hinny-lees and the other provinces of my poor Kingdom waving with deep rye-grass and clover.(9) Sc. a.1803 Young Benjie in Child Ballads No. 86A. vii.:
There a hinnie-mark on her chin.(10) Sc. 1702 Atholl MSS. (14 Oct.):
His wife was illplesed with his Jorny . . . but if she had gone with him she would not have ben so I fear hunie month is over.Sc. 1769 D. Herd Sc. Songs 40:
The honey-month is done, jo.Kcb. 1806 J. Train Poet. Reveries 65:
Sic her fortune was, poor hussy, Ere the hinnie month was gane.(11) Edb. 1900 E. Strain Elmslie's Drag-net 24:
Hoo I saft-sawdered an' honey-oiled that man.(12) Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. i. i.:
And O! her Mouth's like ony hinny Pear.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 120:
Henny pears to melt into your mou.Dmf. 1845 Stat. Acc.² IV. 60:
“The . . . honey pears” which were produced in the orchard . . . must not be entirely overlooked.Rnf. 1870 J. Nicholson Idylls 76:
Her wee mou' as red as June roses, An' ripe as a sweet hiney-pear.Gsw. 1987:
Honey pears are still sold as such in Glasgow. Gsw. 1993 Herald 18 Sep 21:
Several prominent Glasgow businessmen were to be spotted yesterday in streets of the city toting baskets of pears - quite normal, I'm told, for the third Friday of September, but none of them uttering the traditional city vendor cry of "honey perrs". It was the day in which the ancient Trade Incorporations of Glasgow meet to elect their office-bearers for the coming year. Tradition holds that each craftsman leaves the meeting with a gift of pears. (13) (a) Edb. 1895 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 199:
Ye're a' after this Bill o' Tod-Lowrie's, like flees to the hinny-pig.(b) Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 270:
Hinnie-Pigs. . . . The boys who try this sport sit down in rows, hands locked beneath their hams. Round comes one of them, the honey-merchant, who feels those who are sweet or sour, by lifting them by the arm-pits and giving them three shakes; if they stand these without the hands unlocking below, they are then sweet and saleable, fit for being office-bearers of other ploys.(14) Sc. 1821 Blackwood's Mag. (Aug.) 36:
A' the Birds in the Air, and a' the Days of the Week, are also common games, as well as the Skipping rope and Honey-pots.Rxb. c.1840 Trans. Hawick Arch. Soc. (1908) 76:
Other games, races of all kinds, leaping of all kinds, wrestlings, putting, duck, hinnie pots, etc, etc.Sc. 1850 H. Miller Schools iii.:
He would play out half a game at marbles, or honey-pots, or hy-spy.(16) Ork. 1849 D. Landsborough British Sea-Weeds 111:
In Scotland in the Lowlands, it [Alaria esculenta] is by some called badder-locks, and hen-ware, which may be a contraction of honey-ware, the name given to it in the Orkney Islands.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (18 March):
A twal fit plank . . . wi' da “claeks” hingin' frae him laek hinniwirs.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 34:
Hinniwirs wis a better tonic fur wis dan aa da Krushed Salts an' idder truck it doo sees in every paper.

II. adj., from the n. used attrib. Sweet as honey. Used both lit. and fig.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 268:
Ah, fleechin' Jamie! had your hinny tale.Ayr. a.1796 Burns Yestreen I had a pint o' Wine ii.:
Was naething to my hiney bliss Upon the lips of Anna.Slk. 1810 Hogg Forest Minstrel 129:
Wi' hinny words I row'd my tongue.Gall. 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 373:
Wheesht ye! hinny pet! we mauna divall.ne.Sc. 1929 M. W. Simpson Day's End 42:
An' the red bit floo'er o' your hinny mou'.