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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LUGGIE, adj., n. Also luggy; loogie; loggie; lowgie. [′lʌgi; Mry. ′lugi; Fif. ′lʌugi]

I. adj. 1. With characteristic ears, because of length, shape, colour or the like, as a prop. name in 1734 quot.; also having only one ear (Fif. 1958; Mry. 1961, loogie).Ork. 1734 P. Ork. A.S. 65:
One black horse called Luggie, Eight pound eighteen shilling.

2. Having ear-like flaps or projections, luggit (see Lug, v., 1. and Combs.). Hence luggie-kep, -spade (Ork. 1961).Abd. 1903 J. Milne Myths 14:
A blow from a “luggie cog,” that came from the “rances” of the dresser table.Bnff. 1960 Banffshire Jnl. (26 Jan.):
We experienced bitterly cold winds as a rule and “luggie” bonnets were almost a necessity.

II. n. 1. A small wooden dish or vessel with one or two handles formed from the projection upwards of one or two of the staves (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson, luggie, lowgie; Cai., Bnff., Kcd., em.Sc.(a), Lth., Rxb. 1961), freq. one used for serving milk with porridge. Hence luggie-fu, the contents of a luggie.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shep. iii. ii.:
The Green-Horn Spoons, Beech-Luggies mingle On Skelfs foregainst the Door.Sc. 1749 Caled. Mercury (14 Sept.):
A new shearing Hook and a small Wooden Dish (a Luggie) lying by them.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 211:
Your taunts, that seenil hae been seen Awa frae luggie, quegh, or truncher treein.Ayr. 1787 Burns To a Haggis viii.:
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware, That jaups in luggies.Kcb. 1814 W. Nicholson Poems 116:
Here glancin' trenchers in a raw And luggies laid in order.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin iv.:
Mrs Williamson ran to the door for a luggie-fu' o' water.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb iv.:
He . . . took up his horn spoon and “suppit” his porridge from a dainty wooden “caup”, the milk that seasoned it being contained in a smaller “timmer luggie.”Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 105:
His spitefu hert rins ower wi ilty Like frothe oot ower a barman' luggie.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 66:
Leddy Susannah . . . syned her face every morning in a luggiefu' of sow's milk.Uls. 1908 A. M'Ilroy Burnside i.:
Rows of porridge luggies were to be seen cooling on the window-sills.Ags. 1920 D. H. Edwards Muirside 252:
A twenty pence luggie for fifteenpence an' a porritch-stick into the bargain?

2. A similar vessel of a larger size, used esp. as a milking-pail (Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 32; Ags., Fif., Lth., wm.Sc., Gall. 1961; Arg. 1990s), or for slops, as in dirty luggie, see Dirty, 2. (4). Hence luggieful, a pailful.Ayr. 1866 Trans. Highl. Soc. 76:
Some auld crummies . . . will beat them out and out in giving a regular and lengthy yield of big luggiefuls.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Bog Myrtle xiv.:
Kit Kennedy took a milking-pail, which he would have called a luggie.Rxb. 1910 Trans. Hawick Arch. Soc. 8:
Milkers were in attendance each provided with creepie or crackie-stool, and wooden luggie. wm.Sc. 1989 Anna Blair The Goose Girl of Eriska 95:
In the byre she looked at them miserably as she set down her creepie-stool and luggie ... with the swollen fingers, thick as the teats of the cow she began to milk.

3. From Lug, n., 1.: a game in which one of the players is led round a circle of the others by the ear, repeating a rhyme, and stops before another player who has to repeat the rhyme correctly, or if he makes a mistake, has then to be led round in turn (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.); the player who is led round (Edm.).

4. The horned or long-eared owl, Asio otus, so called from the projecting tufts of feathers on its head (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 324; Dmf. 1910 H. S. Gladstone Birds Dmf. 174).

5. From Lug, n., 3. (2): a peat-spade (Ork. 1929 Marw., Ork. 1961).

6. A lodge or hut in a garden or park (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.); any similar small cottage with one chimney-stack at the side and hence fancifully resembling 1. (Per., Edb. 1961). Cf. Knog, n., 2.

7. From I. 1. used attrib.: a nickname for a person with prominent ears (w.Lth. 1961).