Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

JOCO, adj. Also jocoe, jocko; jaco (Ayr. 1919 T.S.D.C. III.); ¶jacoo; jiko (Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond Bawbie Bowden (1922) 145); jecko; ¶jecove (Uls. 1931 Northern Whig (11 Dec.) 13). [dȝə′ko:] Jovial, merry, cheerful, pleased with oneself. Gen.(exc. I.)Sc.; “often said of persons exhilarated by drink” (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., 1942 Zai). Also phr. to be quite joco, to be easy and indifferent (Arg.¹ 1930).m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 248:
We gaed sidey-for-sidey through the park quite jacoo.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 167:
Getting a hue of toddy when we gaed hame to the hottle, we were quite joco owre the auld-time cracks.wm.Sc. 1904 H. Foulis Erchie xix.:
He . . . was sittin' there as joco as ye like in his stockin' soles.Lth. 1914 C. P. Slater Marget Pow 120:
He appeared, quite joco, about tea-time.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
“They're unco joco” (said of a married man paying attention to a spinster).Bnff. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 35:
“You twa are unco joco; fat's on the go? . . . Annie has promised to be my wife.”m.Sc. 1958 F. Urquhart Dying Stallion (1967) 114:
With Maggie sitting fair jecko in the sidecar.m.Sc. 1999 John Milligan Fifteen Scots Poems 12:
Onyway, there he was, quite jocko, stiff as a stookie
Fixed in a commanding place in the majestic sky
Like a visiting airy-plane in a small vista of Princes Street.