Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
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.

HIZZIE, n. Also hizz(e)y; hissie, -y; huzzie, -y; hussie, -ey. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. hussy.

1. Used with jocular or slightly disparaging force for a woman, esp. a young frivolous woman, a servant girl. Gen.Sc. Occas. of female animals.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 28:
E'en gar the hissie come hither.Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 28:
Three young giglet hissies.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 154:
If a poor man want a perfect wife, let him wale a weel blooded hissie wi' braid shouders an thick about the haunches.Hdg. a.1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 109:
The landwart hizzy winna speak.Rxb. 1811 A. Scott Poems 128:
“Thou faithless hizzie,” Jamie cry'd, "Is this thy plighted troth to me?”Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xv.:
The death of the grey mare, puir hizzie, was naething till't.Ags. 1853 Montrose Standard (4 Feb.) 8:
A cumskarry hizzie wi' a tongue like the clapper o' a mill.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 26:
At this the hizzies frae the big hoose, in the pew ahint, a' nudged ane anither an' giggled.Kcb. 1911 G. M. Gordon Clay Biggin' 22:
They stepped alang, licht an' free, . . . clean shanket hizzies baith o' them.Abd. 1920 C. Murray Country Places 38:
. . . a beggar hizzie Cadgin' the country side.wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 87:
James looked at Ann Muir that springtime afternoon and instead of the blowsy hizzie he expected to see, he found a thin girl with frightened tears in her golden brown eyes, whose lips trembled when she tried to speak. Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 9:
There wis a young red-heided hizzie on the finnin machine, wha hid a face on her like a pig. em.Sc.(a) 1991 Kate Armstrong in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 112:
Ye're aye dead busy, ye daft auld hizzy,
Tryin tae mak me speak braw;
Ye'll sune be deid, an aa the wards in yer heid
Ll've deed an a.

Hence hizzie-fallow, hussy-fellow, a man who interferes with or undertakes women's duties (Lth., w.Sc. 1825 Jam.); an effeminate man or mannish woman.Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 466:
There is some sort of false odium attached to men milking cows. His companions would call him hizzy fallow and other nick-names, and offer him a petticoat to wear.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail xxxv.:
What's t'ou doing there like a hussy-fellow? . . . leave the bairn to the women.Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan II. iii.:
She's just a real hizzie-fallow — half man and half woman, wi' pantaloons where she should have petticoats.

2. A woman of bad character (Sc. 1808 Jam., hissie, hizzie). Gen.Sc.Ayr. 1790 Burns To a Gent. 31–2:
If that daft buckie, Geordie Wales, Was threshin' still at hizzies' tails.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie ciii.:
De'il an the like of that hizzy was e'er in ony creditable family.Sc. 1896 Stevenson W. of Hermiston vii.:
Making a mess o' himsel' wi' nesty hizzies.Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant x.:
But perhaps I'm Jael, the hizzy Jael.

3. A pocket-case for holding needles, thread, etc., a housewife, a pouch (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 278, huzzy; Sc. 1825 Jam., hussey, huzzie; Ork., Cai. 1957). Comb. hussy-case. Rare and obs. in Eng.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xxix.:
And I have seen the Queen, which gave me a hussy-case out of her own hand.Kcd. a.1826 J. Burness The Recruit 32:
I hae a ring, 'tis either gowd or brass, A thimble, hussey, and a keeking glass.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 16:
My answer to every advice was, I kent what I was doin' — did I never see my mither makin' a hussey?Bnff. 1880 J. F. S. Gordon Chrons. Keith 164:
The Daughter unwarily displayed a well-filled Purse or “Huzzie,” and remarked that she could lend money, if she knew where to find good Interest.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick xii.:
He coft me a bonny hussie to mind me o' the day.