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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BUBBLY-JOCK. Also  bubbly and bublie-cock, n.  Gen.Sc.

1. A turkey cock. Sc. 1858 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. (1862) I. iv.:
Her Grace turned to him and said, “Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock.”Sc. 2000 Scotsman (4 Jan) 18:
Indeed those of a Hibernian persuasion might even go as far as to say that there are a handful of events with Jambo connections since the Neepes and Tatties Handicap and the Bubbly Jock National Hunt Flat races are being run in celebration of a bunch of turnips and turkeys. I, of course, could not possibly comment on that. Sc. 2002 Aberdeen Evening Express (17 Dec) 2:
The biggest Christmas bird in Scotland is set to be sold off in an exciting Christmas auction. Weighing in at a colossal 67 pounds, the Inverurie-bred turkey is set to feed more than 100 people.
Two years ago, a Scottish-bred bubbly jock clocked up a hefty 64.5 pounds.Abd.(D) 1916 G. Abel Wylins fae my Wallet 44:
The bubbly habbert oot his jaw.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 13:
Fin they suffered, chukkens, dyeuks an wee bubblyjocks becam bluid-brithers, because they aa pined fur the same mither. m.Sc. 1986 Tony McManus in Joy Hendry Chapman 43-4 169:
This bubbleyjock has aye approuved her gentill weird,
Whan daith comes creepin on its reid wame, you sud see. wm.Sc. 1991 Liz Lochhead Bagpipe Muzak 4:
Wan heuchter-choochter singer who wis a dead ringer
For a cross between a pig in a tartan poke
And a constipated bubblyjock. Fif. 1909 Colville 130:
The former [the turkey-cock] was greeted with the execration, “Bubbly-jock, your wife's a witch, and a' your bairns are warlocks.”Lnk. c.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 57:
His nose was like a bublie-cocks neb.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail lxxvii.:
Howsever, . . . I request and hope ye'll bide wi' us, and help to carve the bubbly-jock, whilk is a beast . . . that requir't the skill o' a doctor, the strength o' a butcher, and the practical hand o' a Glasgow Magistrate to diject.

Used fig. to indicate something to be feared. The fig. usage derives from the phr. following, the earliest version of which occurs in Lockhart Scott xxxiv. Gsw. 1868 J. Young Poems 64:
We hae at times our "bubbly Jock" (Thanks to my het, unruly choler).Bnff.² 1936; m.Dmf.³ c.1920:
There's a bubbly-Jock at everybody's door. In phr.: sair hauden (hadden) doon (doun) by (wi') the bubbly-jock, “oppressed or overwhelmed with too much to do” (Bnff. 1860 (per Bnff.¹²); Bnff.², Kcb.⁹ 1936).Sc. 1858 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. (1862) I. v.:
There was a secret grievance which embittered his [the fool's] lot; and to his friend he thus opened his heart: — “Ae, ae, but oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi' the bubbly jock.” [Gen. attributed to Jamie Fleeman (1713–1778), the Laird of Udny's fool.]

2. A nickname for the Royal Scots Greys (The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards). Sc. 1914 R. Hodder British Regiments at the Front 11:
"Bubbly Jocks" is a nickname frequently used among themselves-a name derived from the fact that their dress in its general effect is not unlike that of the "Bubbly Jock" or turkey cock.