Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1721-1730, 1786-1894
[0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
†HANGIE, n. Also hangy. [′hɑŋi]
1. A familiar name for a hangman. Hence hangie's beads, — branks, — gravit, used jocularly for the hangman's noose. Applied to the devil in phr. auld Hangie (Cai. 1902 E.D.D.).Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 24:
That curst Correction-house, where aft Vild Hangy's Taz ye'r Riggings saft Makes black and blae.Sc. a.1730 A. Pennecuik Coll. Sc. Poems (1787) 10:
That day when Meg sair tasle got, Wi' Hangie's beeds about her throat.Ayr. 1786 Burns Address to the Deil ii.:
Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee, An' let poor, damned bodies bee.Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 41:
For ye may play some rackless pranks, . . . For whulk ye may wear hangie's branks.Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 80:
Gin hangie ha'ena the hap to tie Aroun' his neck the halter. . . .Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 73:
Chaps wha should, handy, Get hangie's gravit.Slk. 1835 Hogg Wars Montrose I. 106:
I'm one o' the auld baillies, and deacon convener o' the five trades o' the bee [? free] Calton, a better kind man than you, Mr Hangie.Inv. 1865 J. Horne Poems 151:
To finish my sangie, Gude keep you frae hangie.Fif. 1894 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxiv.:
Gin he had been a condemned criminal standin' on the staps o' the gallows . . . an' momentarily expectin' Hangie to pu' oot the pin an' set him a' dancin' upon naething.
2. A hanger-on, one who obtained a place in a public conveyance for less than the usual fare or travelled free.Sc. 1802 Session Papers, Givan v. Jaffray (12 Nov. 1805) App. 19:
Robert Hooper askd him, whether, since he had come out by the fly, he had come honestly, or as a hangy? which question the deponent considers as meaning, whether John had paid the full hire, or merely a small consideration to the driver, or nothing at all.Sc. 1856 W. Chambers Peebles 6:
Walking a short way out on the public road, they tried the chance of getting a ride by bribing the driver with a shilling; and by a hangy of this kind, the Fly was on one occasion robbed of the mail-bag.
3. A drift-net (Bwk. 1956). Cf. Hang-net.Sc. 1889 Scottish Leader (11 March) 5:
The use of the hangie or drift-net on the waters of the Tay.
4. A rabbit snare (Ags. 1956).
[Eng. hang, v. + suff. -Ie = someone or something connected with, engaged in, as in Clockie, Coachie, etc.]
