Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†BUNG, adj. Tipsy. Given as Eng. slang in Farmer and Henley, but not admitted as St.Eng.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 359:
What Soger when with Wine he's bung Did e'er complain he had been dung?
Hence bungie, adj., “fuddled; another low word; but not expressing so great a degree of intoxication as [Bung-fu']” (w.Sc. 1825 Jam.2). Also found in Bdf. dial. in form bungi (E.D.D.).
[Bung = the stopper of a cask or barrel, appears first in Eng. c.1440 in Promp. Parv. (N.E.D.) and in O.Sc. c.1500–c.1512 (D.O.S.T.). It is poss. that bung = tipsy, may be a reduced form of Bung-fu', adj., 2, intoxicated, but the earlier date for Bung would seem to make this uncertain.]
