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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GIB, n.² Also gibb, gibbie, gibby and comb. gib(b) cat (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 225, gibb-; m.Dmf.³ c.1920). A tom-cat, esp. one that has been castrated (Sc. 1808 Jam., gib(bie); Cai. 1900 E.D.D.; w.Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 348, gib(by); Ork., Peb., Kcb., Dmf. 1954); a pet name given to a cat. Also in Eng. dial. [′gɪb(i)]Abd. 1764 Letter in R. Fergusson Poems (Grosart 1879) xlvi.:
She is suspicious of having offended her by saying something she has thought hurtful to Gibbie [a cat]'s character.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 176:
For him a shepherd's collie durst na bark, Nor a loving gibb-cat gie a mew.Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan I. ii.:
The warst word I hear is witch, and the warst deed that's done to me is hunting my gib-cat and pouing my plums.Kcb. 1898 Crockett Standard Bearer vii.:
I had been sitting, demure as a gib cat.Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. viii. 321:
A hale lock mair o' sic nonsince aneuch tae mak' a gibbie speu.

Phr.: †gibby with the girds, a long pudding of the haggis order tied at intervals with string.Gall. 1822 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 423:
Suffice it to say, that neither haggies nor pudding, of every rank and authority, from the plebeian “white hause”, up to the imperial “gibby with the girds”, were absent.